Marcus Agnew: At last the focus moves to women and girls in sport

Marcus Agnew

Great to hear the government and Sport NZ launch their new strategy for women and girls.

We have definitely come a long way in recent years, but no doubt we still have a huge way to go before we get to true equality.

The very morning I was driving to work reflecting on the announcement, the news story on the radio was reporting on Breakers men's basketball team having a yoga stretching session after their flight home from Australia – really? I mean come on, are people really interested in that?

People will say, "oh but what you don't understand Marcus, is that it's market driven" people are more interested in men's sport, so they want to hear about the yoga session, and get a short quote on the radio from some American import.

I don't buy it, to me it reeks of lazy journalism, just go with what's easy, stay with the status quo.

Surely there was some news that could be dug up around women's sport – like I don't know, the Silver Ferns camp that had finally just thumped Australia in epic fashion?

Or where are we at with women's hockey (on the field, not off it) how is the Black Sticks squad shaping up, are there any potential bolters coming out of the recent National Hockey League?

Come on, pull your finger out, of course there is news there somewhere!

So good on Sport NZ and the government for pushing a women and girls strategy, it's about time.

The strategy is about enabling women and girls to realise their potential through sport and active recreation, and has three key areas – leadership, participation, and value and visibility.

They have picked up on the global momentum that is recognising the value in sport of in improving wellbeing and equity.

On the ground with our youth around the country there are some good signs, certainly here in Hawke's Bay we are breaking down some barriers, with an amazing amount of great young sporting girls training the house down in the temporary training gym that the Sir Graeme Avery led Hawke's Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust established; these girls are going great guns and really kicking butt.

Developing athleticism and strength, the type of training historically reserved for rugby boys, and sports such as weightlifting didn't even exist in the Olympics for females until as recently as the Sydney 2000 edition.

Right next door they have the inspiring and newly named EIT Institute of Sport and Health facility being constructed, which will be a brilliant space for so many more females, young and old, to help drive female sport and health in the region to new levels.

The coming secondary school sports awards are flooded with great performers across a wide range of sports, making it very difficult for the judges, with so many on show, there will be plenty of top athletes that won't even become finalists.

We need to continue this great momentum we have locally, and take it forward to national and international levels as well. In the media, at our local regional level the young female athletes get great coverage, but on the TV and radio at a national level, we still have a way to go.

Hopefully this new surge of hard-working and brilliant young athletes can help drive that change into a new era.

In an ideal world the young girls coming through will know no different, they wouldn't even ever realise there is a disparity, they would just come through and do their thing, and get the coverage and following that they deserve.

Sport Hawke's Bay has done a great job working with the codes to grow participation, and recognise excellence at the awards ceremonies, and now with the new facilities and services developing at the Regional Sports Park, we will have an increased number of those participants kicking on to higher performances and careers in their sport – driving increased female leadership and community wellbeing.

* Marcus Agnew is the health and sport development manager at Hawke's Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust and is also a lecturer in sports science at EIT.