Final days to nominate your grassroots sporting heroes for International Women’s Day – and they could win £1,000
THIS International Women’s Day, Fabulous and The Sun are giving away £1,000 grants to ten deserving grassroots sporting heroes - and we need YOU to nominate them.
It could be the mum who always brings the match teas, the dad who’s learnt to referee or the caretaker who keeps the pitches in order, now is the chance to celebrate your local hero.
Our panel of famous sports and fitness stars will choose ten winners who will each receive £1,000 to invest back into their local sports club, event or project.
Ahead of the day, we spoke to our female Sun Sports journalists about their female sporting idols and how the Vickki Orvice scholarship has helped them succeed in their careers.
Isabelle Barker, The Sun’s Football Reporter, has always been passionate about girls’ and women’s football and playing it since she was young.
But she recalls being disappointed when she was younger by the lack of teams in the area, so Isabelle has always campaigned to see more women in the sports and journalism industry.
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Speaking of her female sports idol, Isabelle revealed it was Katie Taylor because she “brought women’s boxing to the 2012 London Olympics”.
Isabelle added: “She walked on in one of her fights to ‘It’s a man’s world’, I think that sums it up how inspiring she is.”
In 2019, Isabelle was awarded the Vikki Orvice scholarship which was set up in memory of The Sun’s trailblazing Athletics Reporter Vikki, who died in the same year.
Speaking of the scholarship, Isabelle says: “We’re really lucky at The Sun to have the Vikki Orvice scholarship because often a lot of young girls aren’t applying for roles in sports journalism.
“Just naturally, they aren’t really seeing the role models in the industry and therefore not really encouraged to apply for the job.
“So we’re really fortunate to have a scholarship just for women, I applied for that, had quite an intense interview process, it was a bit scary but I got involved with the team from there and everyone has been so supportive.”
In 2021, Sandra Brobbey became the second recipient of the Vikki Orvice scholarship, now she’s The Sun’s Women’s Football Reporter.
Speaking of the achievement, Sandra said: “It’s a huge honour to be following in the footsteps of an inspirational, highly regarded, and pioneering sports writer who blazed a trail for women hoping to work in sports reporting.
“I’m really pleased to be learning from and working with the best sports journalists in the country.”
Talking of her other female heroes, Sandra explained she had three, starting with Dame Sarah Story, as she’s “won multiple medals in the Paralympics for cycling.”
Sandra added: “You’ve also got Serena Williams, arguably one of the greatest tennis players of all time. She’s done so much for tennis and women’s tennis in particular on and off the court.”
And finally, Sandra said: “UFC fighter Crissy Cyborg just in terms of the longevity of her career, the amount of belts she’s won.”
So if you know anyone who deserves some praise for dedicating their time and effort to promoting sports for women and girls, nominate them!
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Nominations for our ‘Grass routes to Glory’ competition close at 23.59pm on Friday, March 1, 2024.
For full terms and conditions, click here.
