Traditionally in small rural communities there is very limited opportunities for people to be physically active outside of mainstream sports and this is particularly problematic for women and girls.

The success of the “Move in the Morning” session offered last Saturday morning highlighted that there is a genuine interest from women and girls to stay physically active and to stay connected to their community; and with the support of dedicated community members this is possible, even in small rural communities.

Since the 2015 inquiry into Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation, the Victorian Government has been committed to increasing the number of women and girls participating in sport and active recreation, from grass-roots through to leadership roles, and they have partnered with local organisations like the Birchip Neighbourhood House to bring about change through the “Change our Game” initiative.

For many years, the Birchip Neighbourhood House has been fortunate to have worked with Brenda Doran, who has been committed to improving the physical and mental health of people in her community, helping them to stay connected and active through a broad range of activities.

Through the Birchip Neighbourhood House’s “Change our Game” initiative, Brenda has graciously turned her focus to mentoring Demi Foott and Madelyn Sinclair to ensure there is a succession plan for providing alternative and diverse physical activity options in the Birchip community.

Typically, girls and women in small rural communities would only have accessed physical activity opportunities through organised mainstream competitive sport such as netball, golf, bowls, hockey and tennis.

Increasingly though, these organised and competitive sports do not cater for the needs of everyone living in rural communities, particularly those who are marginalised, have a disability, aren’t able to commit to weekend sport or have no interest in the mainstream sports on offer.

This is especially common for girls in their teenage years, young mums and young professional women, who find that the commitment of regular training and competitive weekend sport is not conducive to combining work and parenting and, once females retire from main stream sports, there is reduced opportunities for them to participate in supervised or group training sessions, where they can enjoy the connections and peer support of other community members.

And for older women, who are not participating in golf or bowls, for a myriad of reasons, including physical limitations and ailments, work and commitments around providing childcare for grandchildren, there aren’t many alternatives for them to stay physically active.

Range of Programs

On Saturday at the “Move in the Morning” session, women and girls of all ages joined with Demi, Brenda and Madelyn to try a range of programs they are offering.

The morning began with a body bar session with Brenda and Madelyn, and then participants moved to a full body circuit with Demi.

Following these sessions, they could choose a high intensity body attack session with Madelyn or a lower-in-tensity aerobic activity with Brenda.

To finish off the morning, everyone joined with Brenda for a yoga session that incorporated lots of stretching and flow, which was just what they all needed at the end of the exhaustive exercise sessions.

At the end of the physical activity, participants were rewarded with a delicious breakfast provided and served by Birchip Playgroup members.

Next Term Classes

Brenda, Demi and Madelyn’s classes for next term can be found at www.facebook.com/birchiplifestyleandfitness or you can get in touch with the facilitators.

The facilitators are all very flexible in the delivery of their programs, offering early morning, day and evening classes, which cater for people who are working, parents who do not have the luxury of afterhours childcare and thus will more likely have alternative family care arrangements available at those times, and older adults who prefer not to go out at night.

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 24 March 2023.