THIS GIRL CAN logo
Two ladies walking
2 girls smiling and laughing
A lady pushing another lady in a chair
Two ladies posing with ping pong paddles
A group of adults on a boat

THIS GIRL CAN

No one gets to choose how you exercise other than you.

Your body, your call. And whatever that looks like, we think it’s worth celebrating. This Girl Can believes that there’s no “right” way to get active. However you jiggle, kick, lift, stretch, or sprint, it’s time to get moving how you damn please. This Girl Can celebrates active women who are doing their thing no matter how they do it, how they look or even how sweaty they get.

Research undertaken by This Girl Can shows that many women are put off taking part in physical activity due to a fear of judgement. This might be about the way the look when they exercise, that they’re not good enough to join in or they should be spending more time on their families, studies or other priorities. This Girl Can seeks to tell the real stories of women who get active or play sport in the way that’s right for them. They never judge and don’t care what other people think.

We’ve colated some stories and projects that This Girl Can have been working on in Manchester, helping Manchester women to move more and improve their lives and activity opportunies across our city. Click the drop down tabs below to find out more.

This Girl can have helped invite girls aged 14-16 to take part in 1 hour coach led cricket sessions at Blackley CC.  We would like to run 6 sessions before the Schools break for summer and a further 6 when they return in September.  This will be in conjunction with 4 local high schools (48 sessions).

They have also helped invite ladies and girls in the Blackley area to take part in weekly fitness/cricket activities at Blackley CC that would end with a ladies softball open day/festival at the ground.

By the end of year 1 each new coach will have built up a community of between 60-90 women, attending between 1-3 BFA Bollyfit Active session per week, be an active member of the online communities and be receiving 1:1 mentoring when needed.

These new coaches will be part of the South Asian Community and have been participants of the BFA community.

Each coach will run 3 sessions per week, daytime evenings and weekends. We will aim to have 20 women in each session.

Areas TGC will work in:
– Longsight
– Levenshulme
– Burnage
– Cheetham Hill/Crumpsall,
– Chorlton/Fallowfield/Rusholme.

In schools holidays This Girl Can will plan Bollyfit Active Bootcamps for teenage girls.

CARIBBEAN AND AFRICAN HEALTH NETWORK (CAHN)

CAHN aims to provide a sustained, welcoming, and inclusive network of community centres/organisations offering of activities close to where a girl lives.

Their project will enable the least active girls aged 13-18, particularly those from lower income and diverse backgrounds, to try new activities in their communities, to find what they love to get active, and stay active.

Activities include:
– Netball
– Football
– Handball.

CITC will deliver a free, weekly active session for Mums/Guardians/Female adults for 30-45minutes per week with a focus on families from low socio-economic, and underrepresented communities.

This session will be inclusive to all activity levels with a fun football focus and teamwork built in.

Mums, Guardians and Female adults will have the ability to drop their children to their football session and then take part in their own active session before collecting their children again all within the same venue.

The project will also offer a route onto a leadership course for those under 25, to get involved in coaching on the Girls empowerment project.

EP target young women aged, but not exclusively, 15-29 residing in the Regeneration areas of: Levenshulme, Ardwick, Longsight, Rusholme, Moss Side & Hulme

The 1hr 10 mins training sessions would run 2-3x per week, coached by a fully qualified current professional boxer/Thai boxer.

Various aspects of striking, movement and defending will be taught with the aim of teaching the young women HOW to use the new skills they learn. Both in a sporting context but also in evading attacks/defending themselves in general day-to-day life.

EP’s aim is for the training to be continual as we develop from small group training to Coach education and creating a talent pathway to some of our affiliated sporting teams
for;
– Boxing
– Basketball
– Football
– American football

The club aim to:

– develop a sustainable futsal offer for young girls in Manchester aged 16-18 years.

– establish weekly recreational coaching sessions for young players delivered with Manchester Futsal Club Coaches.

– progress this forward to establish a girls futsal league that focuses on 16-18 years age group to bring a wider community of young players closer to futsal.

Manchester Futsal Club will capture qualitative data in the form of short form videos utilising women club players to ‘tell their story’ citing all of the things they enjoy about futsal.

Rainbow Haven provides advice, support, education and activities for refugees and displaced people in Manchester, Salford and beyond. We work with women who face many barriers to getting active – language barriers, finding childcare, affording classes or equipment, having local knowledge of where to exercise – and especially, the confidence to try exercising.

Contemporary Dance – An empowering physical activity for woman who are predominantly inactive and are of BAME heritage.

Trauma-informed yoga – Trauma informed yoga can gently guide PTSD sufferers towards recovery in an informed and safe way, by combining knowledge of the neuroscience, psychology and physiology of trauma with yogic techniques.

Shake the Dust – A new form of exercise which focuses on activating the nervous system, using the physical body to aid mental health and well-being.

Walking ESOL – Rainbow Haven would like to take our English classes out into the world, to get women thinking about ways to learn English every day, feel confident understanding their local environment, and engage their brains and bodies at the same time.

Self-defence and basic Martial Arts –  Rainbow Haven have successfully run three online self-defence taster sessions, teaching women and girls how to notice dangerous situations, use their voices to stand up for themselves when threatened, and defend themselves if attacked.

Exploring the local area – Talking to  participants over the last year, they have found that many of them are uncertain about accessing green space near them, or don’t know where to find their local park, and lockdown rules have only exacerbated this.

Background – Research shows that there is demand for the women and girls game in South Manchester, this has been borne out by the development of two sections at Didsbury and Broughton Park Rugby Clubs.

The purpose of the project is to provide rugby related activity to women in both local universities by way of “give it a try” events working with the Sports team and the Universities Rugby Union intern officer funded through a partnership between the RFU and both Universities.  Those taking part would then be invited to club based activities which will link to the Women’s sections at both clubs.

Didsbury and Broughton have a desire to develop their girls sections so that a clear pathway is established for girls wishing to play the game through to the senior game.  Both clubs are looking to establish non-contact sections so that they engage with Females who do not wish to play the full contact game.

Will focus on the South Moss Side M14 area, which is close to Platt Fields Park (<15>
Skate Manchester are focusing on the 13+ age range as this is often when physical participation rates decrease in girls.

In order to recruit participants Skate Manchester will flyer homes in the area and engage with community groups (such as Trinity House, Al-Furqan Mosque and others).

Due to a participant number cap, we will ask people to register their interest. Places would be limited to two per household in the case of numerous siblings wanting to take part.

1 week in August – comprising 6 days of complete-beginner sessions for girls and women aged 13+ at Platt Fields skatepark.

THIS GIRL CAN

No one gets to choose how you exercise other than you.

Your body, your call. And whatever that looks like, we think it’s worth celebrating. This Girl Can believes that there’s no “right” way to get active. However you jiggle, kick, lift, stretch, or sprint, it’s time to get moving how you damn please. This Girl Can celebrates active women who are doing their thing no matter how they do it, how they look or even how sweaty they get.

Research undertaken by This Girl Can shows that many women are put off taking part in physical activity due to a fear of judgement. This might be about the way the look when they exercise, that they’re not good enough to join in or they should be spending more time on their families, studies or other priorities. This Girl Can seeks to tell the real stories of women who get active or play sport in the way that’s right for them. They never judge and don’t care what other people think.

We’ve colated some stories and projects that This Girl Can have been working on in Manchester, helping Manchester women to move more and improve their lives and activity opportunies across our city. Click the drop down tabs below to find out more.

This Girl can have helped invite girls aged 14-16 to take part in 1 hour coach led cricket sessions at Blackley CC.  We would like to run 6 sessions before the Schools break for summer and a further 6 when they return in September.  This will be in conjunction with 4 local high schools (48 sessions).

They have also helped invite ladies and girls in the Blackley area to take part in weekly fitness/cricket activities at Blackley CC that would end with a ladies softball open day/festival at the ground.

By the end of year 1 each new coach will have built up a community of between 60-90 women, attending between 1-3 BFA Bollyfit Active session per week, be an active member of the online communities and be receiving 1:1 mentoring when needed.

These new coaches will be part of the South Asian Community and have been participants of the BFA community.

Each coach will run 3 sessions per week, daytime evenings and weekends. We will aim to have 20 women in each session.

Areas TGC will work in:
– Longsight
– Levenshulme
– Burnage
– Cheetham Hill/Crumpsall,
– Chorlton/Fallowfield/Rusholme.

In schools holidays This Girl Can will plan Bollyfit Active Bootcamps for teenage girls.

CARIBBEAN AND AFRICAN HEALTH NETWORK (CAHN)

CAHN aims to provide a sustained, welcoming, and inclusive network of community centres/organisations offering of activities close to where a girl lives.

Their project will enable the least active girls aged 13-18, particularly those from lower income and diverse backgrounds, to try new activities in their communities, to find what they love to get active, and stay active.

Activities include:
– Netball
– Football
– Handball.

CITC will deliver a free, weekly active session for Mums/Guardians/Female adults for 30-45minutes per week with a focus on families from low socio-economic, and underrepresented communities.

This session will be inclusive to all activity levels with a fun football focus and teamwork built in.

Mums, Guardians and Female adults will have the ability to drop their children to their football session and then take part in their own active session before collecting their children again all within the same venue.

The project will also offer a route onto a leadership course for those under 25, to get involved in coaching on the Girls empowerment project.

EP target young women aged, but not exclusively, 15-29 residing in the Regeneration areas of: Levenshulme, Ardwick, Longsight, Rusholme, Moss Side & Hulme

The 1hr 10 mins training sessions would run 2-3x per week, coached by a fully qualified current professional boxer/Thai boxer.

Various aspects of striking, movement and defending will be taught with the aim of teaching the young women HOW to use the new skills they learn. Both in a sporting context but also in evading attacks/defending themselves in general day-to-day life.

EP’s aim is for the training to be continual as we develop from small group training to Coach education and creating a talent pathway to some of our affiliated sporting teams
for;
– Boxing
– Basketball
– Football
– American football

The club aim to:

– develop a sustainable futsal offer for young girls in Manchester aged 16-18 years.

– establish weekly recreational coaching sessions for young players delivered with Manchester Futsal Club Coaches.

– progress this forward to establish a girls futsal league that focuses on 16-18 years age group to bring a wider community of young players closer to futsal.

Manchester Futsal Club will capture qualitative data in the form of short form videos utilising women club players to ‘tell their story’ citing all of the things they enjoy about futsal.

Rainbow Haven provides advice, support, education and activities for refugees and displaced people in Manchester, Salford and beyond. We work with women who face many barriers to getting active – language barriers, finding childcare, affording classes or equipment, having local knowledge of where to exercise – and especially, the confidence to try exercising.

Contemporary Dance – An empowering physical activity for woman who are predominantly inactive and are of BAME heritage.

Trauma-informed yoga – Trauma informed yoga can gently guide PTSD sufferers towards recovery in an informed and safe way, by combining knowledge of the neuroscience, psychology and physiology of trauma with yogic techniques.

Shake the Dust – A new form of exercise which focuses on activating the nervous system, using the physical body to aid mental health and well-being.

Walking ESOL – Rainbow Haven would like to take our English classes out into the world, to get women thinking about ways to learn English every day, feel confident understanding their local environment, and engage their brains and bodies at the same time.

Self-defence and basic Martial Arts –  Rainbow Haven have successfully run three online self-defence taster sessions, teaching women and girls how to notice dangerous situations, use their voices to stand up for themselves when threatened, and defend themselves if attacked.

Exploring the local area – Talking to  participants over the last year, they have found that many of them are uncertain about accessing green space near them, or don’t know where to find their local park, and lockdown rules have only exacerbated this.

Background – Research shows that there is demand for the women and girls game in South Manchester, this has been borne out by the development of two sections at Didsbury and Broughton Park Rugby Clubs.

The purpose of the project is to provide rugby related activity to women in both local universities by way of “give it a try” events working with the Sports team and the Universities Rugby Union intern officer funded through a partnership between the RFU and both Universities.  Those taking part would then be invited to club based activities which will link to the Women’s sections at both clubs.

Didsbury and Broughton have a desire to develop their girls sections so that a clear pathway is established for girls wishing to play the game through to the senior game.  Both clubs are looking to establish non-contact sections so that they engage with Females who do not wish to play the full contact game.

Will focus on the South Moss Side M14 area, which is close to Platt Fields Park (<15>
Skate Manchester are focusing on the 13+ age range as this is often when physical participation rates decrease in girls.

In order to recruit participants Skate Manchester will flyer homes in the area and engage with community groups (such as Trinity House, Al-Furqan Mosque and others).

Due to a participant number cap, we will ask people to register their interest. Places would be limited to two per household in the case of numerous siblings wanting to take part.

1 week in August – comprising 6 days of complete-beginner sessions for girls and women aged 13+ at Platt Fields skatepark.

THIS GIRL CAN logo
Two ladies walking
2 girls smiling and laughing
A lady pushing another lady in a chair
Two ladies posing with ping pong paddles
A group of adults on a boat