13 November 2018

The other day, FISA announced that the organisation has joined forces with the Women’s Sports Network (WSNet) to highlight the issues around teenage girls and sport. This has seen the development of the ROWMoJo initiative.

Teenage girls continue to drop out of sport or fail to engage competitively for a wide range of reasons. Anxiety, body image, menstruation, breast health and fear of failure can all impact how these young women develop in competitive sport.

The ROWMoJo initiative is a 50-page manual for parents, coaches and athletes to build stronger, confident movement skills coupled with other emotive issues such as: body image, diet, breast health, fit or thin, social media, training with menstruation, coach attitude, etc. ROWMoJo aims to help reduce anxiety and fear of judgement and help girls go on to be stronger, more empowered women in the rest of their lives.

At this year’s World Rowing Coaches Conference in Berlin on 21-23 November, a digital version of ROWMoJo by Dr Fiona Wilson will be free to download from the World Rowing website www.worldrowing.com.

ROWMoJo has been produced by a range of leading experts in collaboration with The Women’s Sports Network (@WSNet), The Women in Sport & Academic Network (@WiSEAN) and FISA.

‘National Rowing Federations work hard supporting the development of rowing infrastructure and putting coaching programmes in place. We’re trying to address some of the unique issues that impact girls in particular to provide them with opportunities to be their best selves. If you are able to practice sport in a positive and supportive environment you are more likely to continue, to improve, and to develop confidence becoming stronger, empowered young women and athletes,’ Tricia Smith, vice president of FISA, said.

Sally Kettle, associate director of WSNet, remarked: ‘As an extreme athlete – I rowed the Atlantic, twice and felt emotionally stronger, empowered and fulfilled by the achievement. I spent more than six months at sea in a rowing boat learning about myself, much of what I learnt is captured in ROWMoJo making it an ideal manual for girls who want to be stronger, more empowered women – as well as more effective rowers.’

For more information on The 2018 World Rowing Coaches Conference, please go here.