An Olympic Opening to LP Girls Can

To launch Leighton Park’s sixth LP Girls Can Week on Monday 13^th June, England Hockey Olympic Champions, Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh, joined us on the Park to share their personal sporting journeys, the value of teamwork and importance of failure.

“Difference is our greatest strength” reminded Kate in Collect, as she gave examples of the unique attributes offered by each member of her hockey team, both on and off the pitch.

On the subject of strengths, Helen remarked on the power of identifying your own aptitudes and shifting our mindsets; her question to students “Would you find it easier to list your strengths or weaknesses on this stage, right now?” naturally gained a bigger response for the latter.

Following an inspiring Collect, students were then eager to ask their burning questions in a more intimate Q&A session where the girls were even generous enough to pass around their 2012 London Bronze and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Gold Olympic medals, trustily kept in a pair of socks.

From “What is the greatest challenge facing athletes today?” to “How has being in a same sex relationship been received by the sports community?”, Kate and Helen gave considered answers that delved into social media, mindfulness and living in a heteronormative society.

Discussing a generally positive reception to their relationship, Kate touched upon the misconception that they are sisters because of their marital surnames; “I felt a little bit of what it was like to be othered and how uncomfortable that can feel at times.” Kate commented.

As the School simultaneously reflects on the notion of diversity as we celebrate School Diversity Week, a national celebration of LGBTQ+ equality, the question and its answer could not be more relevant to the conversations happening in education and on the Park.

On the importance of events such as LP Girls Can, Kate stated “I think in sport, participation but also coaching and governance of sport is still dominated by men and women are underrepresented in all of those areas. I think it’s vital that we focus our energies into levelling that up, and to giving women and girls those opportunities at every level and in every aspect of sport to enable women and girls to get all the benefits that you can from sport.”

Helen continued, “Kate and I really understand and appreciate what sport can give you. It’s not just the physical health that I think everyone would associate with sport, it’s the mental health as well, it’s also the teamwork, the friendships that you make, the leadership skills that you develop over time, its communication skills.”

“Kate and I have benefitted from all of those things from playing sport and everybody needs those opportunities and at the moment girls at a certain age don’t engage or start to stop playing sport and therefore there must be something that’s saying to them ‘sport isn’t a place for them’ and that’s what we need to change and we need to encourage girls from a really young age to help them stay in it when they get to that age when they begin to think ‘do I want to do this?’. We want them to love sport and continue to play for the rest of their lives.”