Sport is a powerful tool in inclusivity

Equity is a powerful norm. While the human race keeps stretching its limits to the level of artificial intelligence, hanging on to the dying traditions of male superiority looks archaic. Instead, the message of inclusivity and understanding is becoming a reality and a way of life.

Understanding the above, especially in the Asian region, mainly West and Central Asia, even the Olympic Council of Asia and the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC Sri Lanka), is looking to strike a realistic balance among genders. With that in mind the National Olympic Committee with the blessings of the OCA, conducted the ‘Activation Gender Equity in Sports in Sri Lanka through Volleyball’ under the theme of Pink Volleyball.

The effort and the task of the organisers is to create a grassroot program with the objective of creating awareness of sports participation of especially girls being inclusive in a game like volleyball, which is thus heralded as the national sport of Sri Lanka. The purpose was to get female volleyball athletes as much as male volleyball athletes involved in the sport. In reality to encourage playing a sport and starting young to think and behave as one composite society.

After a series of pocket preparations, the final program of the pilot project was held on 17 June at the Seevali Ground in Ratnapura. More than 600 schoolchildren from 50 schools in Ratnapura and Kegalle districts in Sabaragamuwa Province joined this pilot project.

Gender Equity Committee Chairperson Niloo Jayathilaka and Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation President Kanchana Jayaratne – both vice presidents of the NOC SL put a feather in their respective caps after the conclusion of this groundbreaking effort.

Prior to this the NOC SL Gender Equity Committee launched the “Girls on Par” concept in collaboration with Sri Lanka Golf and HSBC with an aim of promoting inclusivity. This program too involved the Junior Golfers or the fledglings between the ages of 9-12.

Initially the HSBC Future Lions Golf grassroots program was open to youngsters aged 9-12 years across the locations, subsequently Junior Golf Development Committee led by Chairperson Niloo Jayatilake, who is also the Chairperson of the Gender Equity Committee of the National Olympic Committee, stretched the concept further to bottle in the “Girls on Par” program to be run concurrently.

Once again, the idea behind this was to inculcate to the young minds that sport has no barriers and inclusivity and gender equity thus grows into Gender Equality – a concept that is bartered vigorously in the International Olympic realm.