THE SHE Program delivered by the Nelson Bay Hockey Club is reaching out to girls and empowering them, one hockey girl at a time.

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The club’s mentoring and confidence program kicked off on the weekend to an eager crowd of girls who had been awaiting the start of the program after delays due to Covid-19.

Roxy Gee Kay is a member of the club and delivered the program.

She told News Of The Area, “We found out that we were successful in getting the funding from the NSW Office of Sport back in the beginning of June, but we were unsure about whether we could go ahead with anything.

“So, we decided to wait until we were sure that what we were doing was going to work with Covid-19 restrictions.”

The club did make some adjustments to the program to allow for physical distancing and group meetings, but in the end they are pleased to have been able to deliver the program.

“We ran a pilot program last season at the club, and had such a great response that we decided to apply for funding so we could build on what we had started.

“We were thrilled to collaborate with Jen Baxter to offer high level hockey skills coaching to the girls, meeting one of the primary aims of the grant, which is to build confidence for the girls both on and off the field” says Roxy GK, Life Coach, creator, and facilitator of the program.

“The drop out rate of girls from sport peaks during the 13-18 age range, and we noticed that proved to be true with the data we had gathered at our local club level.

“We decided to target the girls in that age group and we had two primary aims to meet with the SHE (Social Hockey Engagement) Program.

“One was to build the girls confidence on the field with hockey skills as well as off the field with their own self-confidence, and to help them stay engaged and enjoying the game.

“The second aim was to connect the girls with each other and other girls and women within the club. We know that girls often are attracted to sport because they want to play sport with their friends, so the second aim was to facilitate stronger connections and relationships,” she said.

Connection to community is especially important for young people during the COVID-19 crisis, programs like the Nelson Bay Hockey Club’s SHE program create positive connections and assist in building confidence and resilience.

By Marian SAMPSON