MANY people will have heard of the national This Girl Can campaign, with the memorable film seen over thirteen million times, inspiring hundreds of thousands of women to get active.

To support this campaign and to raise the profile of women getting active across the county, Suffolk Sport has recently launched the This Girl Can Suffolk Ambassadors project and is seeking inspirational women across Suffolk to tell their real life stories in a bid to get more women active across the county.

The campaign seeks females of any shapes or sizes, ages or abilities. Especially those who have not always been active but are trying their best to participate, speaking about relatable barriers they faced along their journey into activity; commitment, injury, and a lack of confidence. The ambassadors will help to inspire others to overcome their own personal barriers whether attempting something new or trying to stay active.

Suffolk Sport wants to celebrate active women in the county throughout the duration of this project with each This Girl Can Ambassador promoting physical activity and/or sport in their local area through social media whilst sharing their own stories that have made them active today.  

Some of the soon to be This Girl Can ambassadors, who have applied since the project launch, have spoke about the barriers they faced in participating and how they overcome these:

“First, I ran just three minutes at a time, mainly at night because I was embarrassed about my size. It was hard but I soon found I could run for longer”.

 “Until four years ago I had never joined a running club as I had assumed they were for ‘proper’ runners, not beginners like me. But I took the plunge and discovered the huge benefits for my fitness, endurance and mental well-being of being encouraged and supported with my goals”.

“Four years ago I had just come out of a destructive relationship. I lacked confidence, I was unfit and overweight having just started to wear a size 18. I started jogging with my Jack Russells. The weight started to fall off and my confidence grew and I felt able to join a local canicross groups social runs”.

“My main barrier to running is my own lack of confidence and fear of finishing last or looking ‘silly’ but I’m definitely improving every day”.

“I was going through a difficult patch in life, battling with depression and an all time low in self confidence. Having never touched a volleyball in my life, when I turned up I was a total beginner. But quite soon playing volleyball gave me something to be confident about.”

Suffolk Sport wants other women to be inspired by these everyday women who have managed to achieve great things within sport. 

Ambassadors need to be aged 16 and over to have a variety of different ages. For further information or to become an ambassador, please visit the website;http://www.suffolksport.com/tgcsuffolk or call Suffolk Sport on 01394 444311. 

Further information about the nationwide This Girl Can campaign can be found at www.thisgirlcan.co.uk