Changing The Game

ChristchurchNZ hosted Changing The Game, a morning centred around women’s sport, with the ultimate goal of increasing representation of women in all aspects of sport. It brought together an inspiring panel of wāhine to engage in meaningful conversation and spark positive change in Ōtautahi and Aotearoa.  

While there has been progress in recent years, representation of women and girls in sport needs to increase, and not just in players but in coaches, referees and umpires, management, through to governance roles. Changing The Game brought together many people within these roles, as well as local parents of young players, keen supporters, dedicated volunteers, retired players and local sport organisers. 

The panel consisted of Former Black Fern and trailblazing coach Cheryl Smith, recently retired Black Fern and rugby legend Kendra Cocksedge, academic researcher in the field of wellbeing and resilience Dr Lucy Hone and visionary founder of Sow a Lyttel Seed Noraini Milne. Brodie Kane was the MC for the event, with her passion and love for women’s sport shining through all morning. 

An open and honest discussion kicked things off when each panel member gave their perspective on the topic: "Why it is important to have more women represented in all aspects of sport." 

“If you can see it, you can be it,” was Kendra’s simple yet powerful message. After becoming Rugby World Cup 2022 champions, she saw a shift in the way the nation viewed women’s rugby. It showed her how important it is for young girls to see female athletes competing and succeeding and how inspiring the next generation became part of her legacy and mission.  

Noraini is the manager of Christchurch’s first Muslim women’s volleyball team and spoke passionately of the role sport plays in uniting people of all backgrounds and cultures. For her, having more women involved in sport means women from all backgrounds and all cultures having a place on a team and belonging there. “It’s the best therapy I have, the sisterhood bonding and spiritual growth that can happen is amazing. And it shows young girls wearing a hijab that they can play too.” 

Cheryl, who after retiring from the Black Ferns and coaching multiple teams spent 12 years as president of the Kaikohe Rugby Football Sports Club, discussed the importance of a grassroots approach when it comes to supporting and growing women’s sport. “You have to find the people in your community, and get to know them, make them feel welcome. It starts at grassroots.”  

A powerful conversation was shared between the panel and the audience, covering topics from the high-performance sport world and working to close the gender gap in sport, to health-related challenges such as how women can learn to train in sync with menstruation and menopause. 

The sense of positivity and community in the room was uplifting and a message that wrapped up much of the discussion was, ‘Keep doing it our way, ladies. It’s beautiful and it’s special. Be available and connected to the community. Be empathic, emotional and have fun. Men’s and women’s sport are not the same and that’s a good thing. Let’s celebrate the differences and unique aspects of each.’ 

Through a fun (and highly competitive) quiz the audience learnt more about the current statistics around representation of wāhine in sport here in Canterbury. Here a few that were shared:  

• The gender split of female representation across all aspects of sport in Canterbury is 41% female to 59% male 
• Juniors (U13) is the age group with the highest number of female members in sport clubs in Canterbury. As age increases, unfortunately so does the gender gap 
• Females out-represent males in one aspect of sport here in Canterbury, paid staff. That includes paid roles such as administrators, trainers, accountants and development leads 
• Coaching is very much male dominated with just 24% being female 
• Female representation on sport boards here in Canterbury is 44% female 
• Only 34% of senior roles in sport organisations are held by females 
• In Aotearoa, women's sport receives 28% of the sport news coverage - 7x the global average 

Everyone left with a beautiful set of poi made by tamariki at local kura - Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Waitaha, as well as a spark of motivation, a rediscovered passion for sport, and an appreciation for women everywhere who fearlessly work to break the glass ceiling, be it on a football field, in a board room or somewhere closer to home.  

“It was fun, we laughed, and we talked about hormones, periods and menopause. Loved the fact that there were a range of ethnic groups present, they are not very visible and hard to connect with - this could open doors for all of us.”  

“I've been involved in paid Sports Administration for about 20 years. At one point I looked around the room and it blew my mind how diverse the women involved in sport are now. Years ago, it was women trying to fit into a man's world - now it is women making it our world and I absolutely loved seeing that.” 

“I just graduated uni with a sport coaching degree and had thought I didn’t want to get into a ‘career job’ just yet, but this helped me decide that the sooner I get into it the sooner I can start making a difference.”