Equip for Equality in Practice

European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF)
Sarah Townsend, co president EGLSF / President Activ’Elles04
Hugh Torrance, co-president EGLSF / Executive Director at LEAP Sports Scotland

When sport provides the inclusive environment to allow us to be our authentic selves, it brings more players to the game, it keeps us more engaged over a longer period, it elevates the status of sport.  Sport cannot reach its full potential without being inclusive.

Rashan McDonald
Senior Community Development Coordinator at Palace for Life Foundation, Sport and Recreation Alliance Youth Panel Member, London FA Youth Council member

I believe the main barrier(s) to achieve equality within sport consists of previous prejudices about gender, culture  and sport , so we have try to develop another view that EVERYONE can get Involved in EVERY SPORT to ensure equality can be developed in all sports. I also believe socio-economic factors take a big toll as well, so with our knowledge and power we should be looking to develop more funding and opportunities to enable equality in sport.

Pieter Smets 
Staff member Sport at Demos

For me, “equality within sport” means that every actor on the playfield, from individual to organization and institution, has maximum chances to participate. We have to recognize that at the moment chances are not equal: some people and organizations in the field remain in a marginal position and their true potential is often unseen. Equality is about providing and stimulating chances and opportunities to empower that potential, from enabling people to participate until facilitating co-creation and better representation in boards and larger institutional sportstructures.

Elizabeth Pike
Professor of Sport, Health and Exercise and Head of Research Unit in Sport, Physical Activity and Ageing at the University of Hertfordshire, Co-founder of the Anita White Foundation

To give an equal opportunity to all in sport, we should engage beyond the sport movement to ensure that actions are inclusive of all cultures and identities, sustainable, involve systemic reform to the structure and values of sport, and harness the power of sport as a driver for social change and equity.

Lene Knudtzen
Head of Public Cooperation at MentorDanmark, Former Project Manager at OMBOLD

To achieve quality in Sport we need to make sure that EVERYONE regardless socioeconomic status, gender, race, sexual orientation etc. have the opportunity to participate in a safe sports community chosen out of interest. We can make that happen.

Elien Moerman
Sport technical officer integration policy at Parantee-Psylos

We believe that a person with a disability or vulnerability should be able to choose to play sports with other athletes with a disability/vulnerability or together with non-disabled athletes. Our integration policy aims at broadening the opportunities for persons with disabilities to engage in sport activity.

Jäger Thomas
Project Leader MOI at Lebenshilfen Soziale Dienste GmbH, former Team Manager at Homeless World Cup Team Austria

Sport for all“ has to be more than just a motto – everybody has to be welcome, sports have to reflect the “colorfulness” of the society – that´s inclusion, that’s the aim!

Marianna Sikorowska
Non-Executive Director at British Kickboxing Council, Grants Officer at London Marathon Charitable Trust

There are various barriers and imposed thresholds that cause disadvantage to a wide range of individuals. Intersectionality is often overlooked when working towards the removal of barriers, eg. Muslim women and girls, a disabled person representing an ethnic minority group, an older person with low income, etc. 

While some of the barriers are practical, such as lack of access to transportation and infrastructure, especially for people with limited mobility, insufficient financial resources, lack of time, care duties and safety, other barriers are more personal, eg. self-confidence, body image, peer pressure. Finally, we should not forget about cultural prejudices like the male-dominated image of sport, sexual harassment and abuse incidents, assumptions about ethnicity.

Lara Lill 
Director, Global Active

Sport is one of the most powerful platforms for promoting equality and empowering people. It has many benefits including improving physical and mental health, transforming lives and building confidence. Equality within sport is about fairness, removing barriers and changing the culture to one that values diversity and enables the full involvement of disadvantaged groups in every aspect of sport.

Elsa Arapi
Women’s Sport Project Lead, EBU

Equality within sport means that the achievements of sportswomen and girls are not ignored or underreported. That their stories are told, their talent is celebrated, and there are no barriers to what they can be and can achieve.

Jorge Pina
President, Jorge Pina Association

I think the sports movement has been working towards being more inclusive, but there are many policies that need to be changed. Organizations need to organize themselves to receive any type of person and be able to offer equal opportunities to practice sports.

Play International
Germain Peyraud, Pedagogic coordinator – Mission France

Society mentalities are one of the main barriers to achieve equality within sport : beliefs, traditions, patriarchal culture, stereotypes due to all these discriminations towards these communities. The orientation of some non-inclusive government sport policies continue to reinforce them.

Centre for Ethics in Sport (ICES)
Laura May, Policy and communication officer

Why is inclusive sport important? First, everyone should be able to engage in sport. Second, (gender) equal sport organisations tend to have more attention for the prevention of and reaction to transgressive behaviour and abuse. Being more inclusive can thus be a preventative measure against transgressive behaviour in sport!

Emine Bozkurt
Chair of the European Commission’s High Level Group on Gender Equality in Sport

Imagine women and girls participating in sport at the same levels as men and boys. Imagine more women in leadership positions bringing positive change to the sports world. Imagine female football players getting the same prize money as men, women Olympic gold winners getting the same rewards as men, women beach volleyball players having the same sport outfit rules as men, women athletes getting the same media coverage as men…

That for me is equality within sport, together with countless other examples of this kind, examples in which we, women, simply deserve to be treated equally. 

Imagine all this becoming a reality, let’s just make it happen! Together we can!

Sallie Barker
Chair, ENGSO Equality Within Sport Committee
Finance and Governance Director, World Lacrosse
Chair, British Blind Sport

Equality is about recognising and removing the barriers faced by all those involved or wanting to be involved in sport.  It is also about changing the culture of sport so that everyone can take part in whatever way they wish.

Tarja Krum
Sustainability manager and Project leader at Finlands Svenska Idrott (Swedish Sports Federation in Finland) ENGSO EWS Committee member

Equality within sport has no end station. Thereby we (sports clubs, -federations, individuals and municipalities) need to do daily concrete actions at all levels and in all fields of sport. Together we can achieve more equal sports, that is safe and welcoming for all.

Jennifer Browning
International Relations Advisor, UK Sport

It’s exciting to see a growing realisation amongst sports leaders that equality isn’t a ‘nice to have’ or something extra, but instead that it’s fundamental to everything we are trying to achieve in – and through – sport.

Rejhan Halili
International relations manager, Kosovo Olympic Committee, Member of the Women in Sport Commission, International Committee Mediterranean Games ICMG, Member of the ENGSO Equality within Sport Commission.

To me, ‘equality within sport” means that  sport unites us all! Together we are stronger, let’s  do it!

Angélica Sáenz

EWS researcher

Angélica Sáenz is a PhD student at the faculty of physical activity and sport sciences at the University of Valencia. She is currently researching about sexual and gender diversity in physical education and sport.  She is a researcher in the Equality Within Sport EWS committee – ENGSO, she has been working as a sports administrator at the Club Esportiu LGTBI+ Samarucs Valencia since 2020  and she is a lecturer at the Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia de Colombia (UNAD) and UNISPORT the first business school in the sports sector. She is a member and researcher of the first Spanish Research Network on LGTBIQ+, Physical Education and Sport (LGTBIQ+EFD) and collaborates with some Erasmus+ projects for inclusion and diversity in sport.

Helena Thomas

Business Support Manager, LEAP Sports Scotland

Helena Thomas started playing hockey at school, and over the past 40+ years played for a variety of clubs. She retired in 2017 as she began her social transition but was encouraged to join a Glasgow based club in 2019 and has become a regular member of their 4th XI, taking part in league competitions throughout the season. She also umpires, coaches and was manager of the Scotland Over 35s squad at the 2022 World Cup.

Olga Lopresti

Referent and sport administrator, School Of Martial Arts Koshido Budo in Sicily, Referent of champion Club ASD Falco, Italy

Olga Lopresti works as a referent and sport administrator at the School Of Martial Arts Koshido Budo in Sicily. She’s 4th dan and master of Koshido Budo. She is also working on research about the development of life skills using martial arts. She has been working in primary school and university. She is the referent for implementing the action plan of the EQUIP project in Sicily, focusing on the topics of disability and socio economic issue, implementing local actions also in partnership with other associations of the territory. 

Eda Emirdag

Chair of Roller Derby Nederland

Eda started Roller Derby in 2013 as a skater. Through roller derby, she learned about empowerment of women, LGBTQI+ community and body-positivity. From time to time, she questioned her own biases. As chair of Roller Derby Nederland, she strives to create a safe space for every roller derby participant in the Netherlands.

Claire Lalande

Operations director Greece, Yoga and Sport With Refugees (YSR)

Originally an Engineer in Physics, Claire became a yoga teacher, and started volunteering regularly on the Greek islands of Lesvos and Samos as a yoga teacher with Yoga and Sport with Refugees (YSR), and also as an interpreter, or in distributions. Since she first volunteered, Claire has trained in humanitarian action, and worked with several NGOs in Greece. Claire joined the Yoga and Sport with refugees’ team in 2022 as Director of the Operations in Greece. She is now based in Athens, and is responsible for the operations in Athens, Ioannina and Lesvos. YSR is an organisation providing access to sports to asylum seekers and refugees in Greece and in France, with a team of coaches with a refugee background.

Hristina Hristova

Communications Officer, European University Sports Association (EUSA)

The Inclusion in Sport (iSport) project was one of the first ones she got assigned when she started her position as Communications Officer at European University Sports Association (EUSA ) a year ago, and it has been such a great experience so far. This project is great itself and she is so happy to be part of it, as one of the many steps that EUSA and its partners on the project, make towards inclusion, diversity and empowerment of equal opportunities for all. It also showed her a lot of new ways on how to work on inclusion in sport through different new tools. She has worked both in Macedonia and Slovenia with many marginalized groups throughout the years, such as refugees, members of the LGBTQ+ community, children with disabilities and young girls with different ethnic backgrounds. With them she was mostly working on inclusion, re-socialisation and integration in the society and helping them towards the path of equal opportunities for employment, education, sporting activities, social life activities, medical assistance and breaking the barriers of cultural differences and creating a bridge between the both worlds. Through this work she gained a lot of experience, knowledge and ideas on how to tackle different topics with different tools through sport, social life, field work, workshops and sharing of best practices.

Munro Stevenson

Participation and Engagement Manager, LEAP Sports

Munro has been involved in LGBTIQ+ inclusive sport for eight years, predominantly in rugby union. He sat on the founding committee of the Glasgow Alphas RFC, Glasgow’s inclusive rugby club, associated with International Gay Rugby and LEAP Sports Scotland. When he moved to Edinburgh he joined the Caledonian Thebans RFC, soon moving onto the committee. Through LEAP Sports he represented Scotland’s clubs at the EGLSF annual general assembly for four years. Currently he is LEAP Sports’ Participation and Engagement Manager, leading the charity’s community and events work.

João Pedro Jorge

ICSS Project Support Consultant

João is passionate about matters relating with Culture, Education, Youth and Associative movements. Addressing public entities gave him extensive experience in the field of youth policies and inter-generational dialogue. Volunteering in various youth and social organizations allowed him to acquire experience on cultural policies, youth movements and build-up of social networks. His focus on social innovation, entrepreneurship and capacity building led to the implementation of Youth Forums and the coordination of good practices guides in the field of youth policies.

Andreas Katsaros

Hellenic Paralympic committee

My name is Andreas Katsaros I am the treasure of Hellenic Paralympic committee. I was born in Thessaloniki Greece in 1987. I graduated from American college Anatolia in Thessaloniki. I studied science of law at university of Thessaloníki. I am a lawyer. I am a Paralympic medalist I won the silver metal in swimming 50 meters backstroke category S1. I am a member of board of the Hellenic Paralympic Committee since 2017. I was born with cerebral palsy and I am tetraplegic.