Meetings of influencers looking to contribute ideas on the next stage of development for Women in Sport in Ireland have been taking place across the country over the past few weeks.
The National Indoor Arena at the National Sports Campus was the first venue for around 50 leaders from the wider world of sport at NGB, local authority, sport Ireland and media level to talk, listen, share and perhaps inspire ‘what next’.
This was followed by events in Limerick and Sligo and one for younger girls to contribute their thoughts back at Abbottstown this week.
Sport Ireland has commissioned Clansult and SOS Sports, led respectively by Lisa Clancy and Sarah O’Shea to produce a report looking at what can be done.
There is an online survey which has now gone live and we would urge you to engage and have your say. You can access the survey here.
They are taking in information from best practice around the world and looking at how advances can be made in terms of governance, leadership, performance, coaching, influencing and other key areas ahead of a report to be published in the Autumn.
There will be no magic bullet solution. A quick shout out of positives and negatives at the start of the first session showed that we have a good understanding of the landscape in its broadest sense but it is in drilling down through specifics that trends will emerge.
In order to make progress, you have to be fully aware of where you are at any given moment.
This new initiative, under the heading of #WeAreSport promises to discover that and to draw a map of where we go to next. It’s important to do it, and important to get it right.