The final set of learnings from our review of the WFSGI report focus on innovation.
Case studies include:
- Arena’s Modest Swimwear Collection: for many women, especially those from Muslim communities, cultural and religious beliefs make swimming feel out of reach. Arena designed a collection that caters to women from all cultural backgrounds, ensuring each piece met both modesty requirements and performance standards. Thanks to this collaborative effort, swimming has found a new, increasingly diverse audience.
- Nike Body Confident Sport: Data shows girls enter sports later and drop out earlier (at twice the rate of boys) with low body confidence as the leading cause. Nike also discovered that most coaches are not properly trained on how to coach girls. Nike partnered with Dove to create Body Confident Sport. This evidence-based set of coaching tools aims to boost body confidence, body image, and self-esteem in 11 to 17-year-old girls by giving coaches the tools to help shift the focus from what their bodies look like to what they can do. The tools and are now available in seven languages on a free-to-use website (www.bodyconfidentsport.com).
Learnings around innovation are:
- Innovation reaches its true potential when it’s personal. Connecting people with products and tools is important, but addressing real needs makes it transformative.
- To make movement truly accessible for all, we must innovate with purpose. That means staying curious, listening closely and designing alongside those who’ve been left out for too long.
- Creating products and tools isn’t just about safety – it’s about breaking down the barriers for those who’ve been held back from even starting.
- Let’s stay focused on identifying and addressing the gaps that remain.