{"id":9085,"date":"2018-10-17T10:45:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T10:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sistersnsport.com\/?p=9085"},"modified":"2018-10-17T10:45:47","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T10:45:47","slug":"goingtothegame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sistersnsport.com\/coaching\/2018\/10\/17\/goingtothegame\/","title":{"rendered":"Going to the game…She needs to see it"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘If she can’t see it, she can’t be it’<\/h1>\n

On Saturday I took my 5 year old daughter to the Copper Box for the British Fast5 Netball Allstars.\u00a0 I was excited for her to go to a big arena and so with my sister and Mum we headed down to London on the train.<\/p>\n

I felt this was a big deal – I was excited about how far the game had come with a huge showcase at The Copper Box, excited she could see some amazing players, be inspired by fantastic athletes and see some close competition. Annie was also very excited \u2013 Thunder Bear in hand \u2013she was off to watch her favourite sport and support her team \u2013 but for her it was no biggie!\u00a0 She was going to the game \u2013 just like her brother does.<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t thinking about how great it was to see female athletes at a great venue, or that Sky Sports were showing the event, or how many seats were filled or that it was such a professional, well-organised event \u2013 (excellent job by Matchroom<\/a>) \u2013 she was just going to watch Thunder \u2013 going to watch her team play.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s when I realised we were going in the right direction \u2013 making going to the game, normal.<\/p>\n

Annie loved the whole day – when Josie Huckle sat next to us and chatted to her about the game – she was awe-struck, when Caroline O Hanlon had a photo with her \u2013 she couldn\u2019t stop smiling, when she met Karen Greig and Sharni Leyton \u2013 she beamed that these players and coaches had spoken to her – she wanted to be a netballer.\u00a0 Through watching the awesome talent on display she was inspired by these great athletes and through how approachable they were she believed it was actually possible to be them one day.<\/p>\n

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Twitter erupted throughout the day \u2013 I mean did anyone mention Sharni Leyton was playing\u2026 Everyone was talking about the awesome talent on court in Sharni Leyton, Cat Tuivaiti, Ash Brazill, Anna Thompson, Stacey Francis, Shelby-Ricketts and the ridiculous shooting from Rachel Dunn and Karyn Bailey.\u00a0 Everyone was talking about what a brillant atmosphere there was and what a great event it was.\u00a0 We all showed up and it was great!\u00a0 We all came away thinking \u2013 we need to do this again!<\/p>\n

On Monday, the #20×20 campaign from the Federation of Irish Sport<\/a> was launched \u2013 it shows strong girls who love sport.\u00a0 They love playing and they love watching \u2013 but their role models are all men.\u00a0 Through the strong tagline – \u2018If she can\u2019t see it, she can\u2019t be it\u2019 \u2013 it makes us realise that as well as the media – we need to make sure our girls need to SEE elite women in their sports \u2013 so they can aspire to be them and believe it is possible.<\/p>\n