Two University of Lincoln alumni, Sophie Bartup from Grimsby Town Women’s FC and Amy Blinkhorn from Lincoln City Women’s FC have been working with Dr Julie Donald, Programme Lead for BA (Hons) Sports Business Management, (SBM), to develop online resources for our students to aid their understanding of engagement in sport and inclusive participation for all.
Sophie graduated in 2015 with a BSc, (Hons), in Sports Development and Coaching and Amy graduated in 2017 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts. Both play football and have used their own personal experiences to highlight the barriers that can exist when trying to access sport such as gender, religion and social class.
Sophie’s face to face presentation to Year 1 SBM students had to be postponed due to social distancing restrictions, so, she and Amy kindly worked with Julie to build up a bank of resources to be utilised by the current cohort and beyond. As well as creating an audio power point, students were allowed access to Amy’s dissertation showcase on the media’s portrayal of women in sport. In addition, they also produced a podcast where they can be heard discussing the barriers they have experienced as female footballers playing at County Level up to National League
Sophie commented “I have thoroughly enjoyed creating different resources, building on my own experiences, to highlight the importance of ensuring sport is inclusive specifically focusing on the drivers and barriers when it comes to participation. I am passionate about inclusivity within sport, primarily through my involvement creating Barton Inclusive Football Club, and I hope that the students took value from what I presented. Thank you to the University of Lincoln for welcoming me back.”
Julie added, “ My sincere thanks go to Sophie and Amy, these are fantastic resources. In my quest to produce high quality online material for my students, I received positivity and encouragement from people wanting to help and share their relevant experiences”