Lauren is trying to change the way people think about girls and soccer. To effect powerful change through play, she’s started an exemplary movement, Every Girl Moves. The Festival motivates hundreds of girls ages 8-18 to jump into fun sports. It promotes inclusiveness and inspires young women to achieve their greatest athletic potential.
Lauren’s journey started when she crashed a football training session full of boys at the start of Year 7. She recognized the barriers that girls experience in their participation in sports. Since then, she’s become a Wonderer—a member of the Wonder Outside Leadership Academy, and their work continues to inspire her positive drive toward athletics. When she joined the youth service in Year 4, her life transformed. Being young back then, her formative years provided her thrilling chances to dive into numerous sporting arenas and hone her craft.
The Every Girl Moves event will be hosted at Les Quennevais School on Monday. These activities, including basketball, fencing, kickboxing and skateboarding, are just a few of the sports organizations that will be in attendance. Lauren has been proactive in organizing the event, running consultations across the island at different youth clubs and schools to encourage girls to attend.
It’s really amazing and there’s just so much to experiment with,” Lauren said, noting the diversity of sports options that exist for young girls today. At first, she thought that people just didn’t know about the opportunities available to them. Her consultations focused on more than just educating, but rather on rallying more people to get involved in this transformational initiative.
“We’re working to remove the stigma and engage more people,” Lauren said. She envisions Every Girl Moves blossoming into an animated movement. Most importantly, it will give girls the chance to explore different sports and meet their friends in an encouraging environment.
“Beyond participation, Lauren said she was shocked to learn about the wealth of local sporting talent in her lead-up to the event. ‘When we were organising this event I didn’t even know there was a Jersey cricket team – apparently they are really good and keep winning competitions,’ she noted.”
