By: Puspa, Grade 9, Pengalusan
This month, I joined my first sports competition with my school. It was a bit different compared to the usual ones since it was to promote gender equality, the main condition being that each team must include a minimum of 2 girls as team members. Although it was a bit odd in my school and my village, since I and my friends are already taught about gender, I was happy and excited to hear it because I think it’s not right that only boys get to play in sports activities.
Originally, the girls in my village never joined any sports competitions because they used to be very busy with house chores like bamboo weaving or not permitted by their parents, so they refused when we asked them to join. They felt weird about doing something that people used to say was the “boys’ thing.”
I was so excited to join the sports competitions with the girls. It was a lot of fun and everyone struggled and competed to make the goals, especially the girls because it was their very first time. There were two competing sports, volleyball and futsal, and luckily, my team - ALUS FC (Pengalusan and Cegi School) - took first place in the futsal!
We, the girls and the boys, learned together during the competition like how to do the movement and pass the ball. The girls need to join sports activities and I believe that they could be an athlete or a professional player in the future. The girls’ spirit is as high as the boys in sports. I cannot wait to win the next competition with them. •
Comments