This Girl Can
“You just feel so free, it’s just amazing”
This video features Burton SC OnBoarder, Nieve Ball, along with fellow junior female club windsurfers, as they take to the water and reveal what windsurfing means to them.
“I’ll be going along really fast and then my friends will go past and we will just both smile and something we can share together which is really cool.”
As the epitome of 'This Girl Can', Nieve was a runner-up for the Panerai Challenger Trophy in 2020, winning £2,500 for her own windsurfing plus £5,000 to further the club’s OnBoard aims. This enabled the club to buy windsurf sails, a board as well as communication equipment.
A dedicated team of windsurfing instructors and volunteers at Burton SC offers taster sessions and a wide range of training for juniors. Half a dozen younger children, plus more than 10 older ones aged from 12-17, many of whom are now working towards instructor and powerboat qualifications to support the club’s windsurfing provision.
Burton SC junior provision for windsurfing continues to grow from strength to strength. This year it became a Midlands training base for the Techno 293 squad and the IQFoil class, with the new RYA Regional Training Group for junior windsurfers also regularly at the club.
The club also hosted the British Youth Sailing Windsurfing Regional Junior Championships 2020 and has previously seen a number of its young windsurfers achieving selection to squads, with older juniors also developing their instructor skills to bring on the next generation.
Launched in 2015, This Girl Can is a Sport England campaign to get women and girls moving, regardless of shape, size and ability. This Girl Can celebrates active women who are doing their thing. Find out more here.
Windsurfing Olympic Bronze
Perhaps Nieve and friends will one day join the likes of British Windsurfer, Emma Wilson, who won an Olympic bronze medal for windsurfing at Tokyo 2020. Emma becomes the only second British female windsurfer to win an Olympic medal. Congratulations Emma!
It’s a family windsurfing affair with Emma’s brother a professional windsurfer, along with Emma’s mother, Penny Way, who competed in two Olympics, finishing sixth and seventh at the 1992 and 1996 Games in Barcelona and Atlanta.
New OnBoard windsurfing cards
New OnBoard Improver Windsurfing Session cards are now available and have been sent to all OnBoard clubs. Designed to bridge the gap between RYA Stages 2 & 3, we hope the cards will help encourage regular participation through focused sessions with specific themes.
This new set contains six cards which are packed full of features to help plan and deliver windsurfing activity. The cards contain ideas to inspire and motivate new and experienced instructors alike, which will help young windsurfers improve their knowledge and skills.