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SPORT ADVOCATE: Kirsty Arbuckle has worked tirelessly to encourage more girls to play soccer.
2019 Sports Achievement Award
Kirsty Arbuckle
It isn’t hard to gauge the impact Kirsty Arbuckle has had on women’s sport in Whyalla … it is on show regularly around soccer fields in Whyalla.
Kirsty has been directly responsible for dozens of women and girl soccer players taking up the sport and donning the boots in local competitions. She has also been responsible for taking this talent even further to Whyalla’s own regional carnival and an historic state titles appearance by a Whyalla team.
The person nominating Kirsty for the Sports Achievement Award mentions the words passion and hard work in the nomination. There is no lack of these two qualities in Kirsty’s tireless efforts to promote and encourage women and girls in soccer.
“Kirsty is a single mum of three children with two daughters (aged 13 and 10) and is a strong advocate for healthy living,” her nominator said.
“She is passionate about girls having the same opportunities as boys and increasing the number of girls playing sport, soccer in particular.”
As a single mum studying at university, Kirsty has made considerable sacrifices to grow female participation in soccer in Whyalla. This is often at her own financial cost and all done in a voluntary capacity.
In 2017, Kirsty was one of two female soccer players playing in the Whyalla Soccer Association senior league competition. It was after attending a 'Females in Sport' community forum held by the Whyalla City Council to engage females and integrate them into local sporting clubs, that she became even more committed to promoting women and girls in sport.
In 2017, there were approximately 10-15 females registered under the Whyalla Junior Soccer Association (WJSA) across seven clubs and six age groups from under 6 to under 17. Kirsty's passion to grow female participation lead her to approach the WJSA to discuss ideas and ways to engage more females into soccer. Kirsty approached her soccer committee at Steel United and with their support began to campaign and promote girls in soccer in the hope of attracting some girls.
Using social media as a platform to engage with the local community to drive interest she was surprised with the number of people expressing interest.
“She is passionate about girls having the same opportunities as boys and increasing the number of girls playing sport, soccer in particular.”
Kirsty then began to develop her networks both at local and State level and made contact with some influential people such as Katrine Hildyard MP (Former Women in Sport Minister) and Christiano Dos Santos (former international professional footballer, now employed with Football Federation of Australia) to further grow this idea.
Kirsty approached school teachers and requested soccer be built into the physical education curriculum for semester one to assist in promoting further interest from girls.
Through this passion and hard work, in 2018 Kirsty was able to successfully establish three junior all girls’ teams at Steel United, playing under the team name 'Girls of Steel' in under 6, under 8 and under 10 age groups. With a total of approximately 40 female players registered in 2018 the interest continues to grow.
Kirsty has built up her skills further and become a Football Federation of South Australia skills acquisition accredited coach.
In 2018, Kirsty made history for Whyalla, taking the first ever all girls team to the South Australian Junior Soccer Association State Championships held in Adelaide and Country Championships in Mount Gambier. She took 15 girls away to each championship giving them an opportunity to play against other all girls teams and experience soccer at a higher level.
To help finance the venture, Kirsty successfully sought donations from local businesses and government grants to purchase uniforms and equipment.
“Kirsty works tirelessly, planning and taking training sessions, attending games, meetings, researching funding and other opportunities for the girls as well as being a positive role model while continuing to play senior soccer herself,” her nominator said.
“She also car pools players to training and games to eliminate barriers for players to attend and ensure it is inclusive to all people.
“The Whyalla community has benefited from the development of the girls’ soccer teams by demonstrating inclusiveness in a male-dominated sport.
“This has given the girls the ability to meet people and make new friends, develop discipline and team work as well as increase their self-confidence.
"Kirsty had a goal to implement a girl only team in Whyalla and is now focused on continuing to see this grow and develop each year.”
Kirsty will receive her award tonight (Friday, January 25) before being honoured again at the Australia Day celebrations in Ada Ryan Gardens tomorrow (Saturday, January 26).
READ MORE ABOUT THE AUSTRALIA DAY CELEBRATIONS
http://www.whyalla.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=182&c=72892