Gower Women's Surf Society (GWS) is thrilled to announce the award of 'Be Active Wales' funding from Sport Wales.
The surf club on the Gower Peninsula has received a share of National Lottery funding aimed at supporting grassroots sports clubs in Wales. The club is a community-based organisation that specifically seeks to create a safe and inclusive space for women & non-binary folk through board sports.
After entering a rigorous bidding process, GWS has been awarded a total of £6,240 by Sport Wales’ 'Be Active Wales' Fund. This money will help increase participation of skateboarding in Swansea for women & non-binary folk. While the club will be continuing their surfing mission, they want to increase the offer of skateboarding to the community.
Skateboarding (in particular surfskating) has directly transferrable skills for surfing. Skateboarding helps improve lower-body strength, balance, coordination and board awareness. The vision for this money is to purchase skateboards & surfskates as well as safety kit, hire out local skate venues including Exist, host lessons and collaborate with Skateboard GB to get community members qualified to become skate coaches!
Gower Women's Tirion Jenkins, whose bid was successful in securing this money for the society, writes -
"By offering sessions for women & non-binary folk, the club seeks to create safe, fun and inclusive spaces for more people to feel welcome in otherwise intimidating environments. As GWS has found with surfing, hosting inclusive lessons not only enables folk to get fit and learn a new hobby but most importantly offers a space for socialising and connections. This sense of community is vital for people's wellbeing. This, in turn, contributes to the continued participation of women & non-binary folk in sport".
Through distributing money from The National Lottery, the 'Be Active Wales' Fund offers clubs grants to get more people participating in sports, now and into the future. Gower Women's Surf Society is incredibly grateful for this opportunity and knows it will make a significant difference to the local community and beyond.
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To find out more about the 'Be Active Wales' Fund please visit www.sport.wales/beactivewalesfund
Image credits @debowsurf_photo on Instagram