In research stated “ Only 25% of women in Cambodia who are in the top athletes and 10% are coaches“ according to peace-sport. So at the start of this school year, there is an exploration call Frisbee League in Cambodia that is a year-long project. In fact, I’m a part of this exploration and I want to change my province, my country and the world perspective on women in sport. I believe that this is only the beginning of getting more girls playing sport.
When we were young we always have activities or sports together. Two years ago, I realize that in sports like football and basketball, the practice was divided between girls and boys. Yet frisbee is the first and only sport that involved both girls and boys. What difference can I make by joining this project? Are there any girls in the rural area that love sports but don’t have the chance?
Afterward, I decided to interview the basketball coach on why does he have different practice for the girl and boy. “The reason is that basketball is a physical game, that sometimes they have to touch and bounce off one another” once said Jeff Boucher. But for the junior, it’s okay for them to play together since they are only the beginner and younger. Just like football year 1 practice, we didn’t divide the girl or boy team. As we get older and stronger, we started to divide girl and boy so that the girl would have more opportunities to play as well. Moreover, the boys are much stronger in term of strength, for safety reasons that’s why there is girls and boys team.
On the other hand, I also interview the frisbee coach he said: “Being a coach is a privilege because it allows me to introduce a mentality of this sport, play hard play well and with high spirit.” Ultimate frisbee for him means self referee that allows you to recognize your own false and except it. In liger, every Wednesday ASE we play frisbee and he loves to see the junior competition with the senior because by doing it this way, Junior can learn, play smarter to win senior. For senior allow them to learn to play smart and not underestimate the Junior. His last thought is Ultimate Frisbee is a fun and unique sport that is no barrier for all age, gender or size.
Let start! Frisbee or flying disc is a non-contact game, played on a field or indoor pitch. It does not have a referee which allow players to have conflict resolution and Integrities.
At the end of the game, we always have our spirit circle which we talk about the game, skills needed to improve, pointing out to players that tried their best that week and also keeping the girls empower.
After the spirit circle, we would do affirmation “ពេលដែលខ្ញុំនិយាយថា កម្លាំង អ្នកនិយាយថា នារី កម្លាំង! នារី! កម្លាំង! នារី! កម្លាំង កម្លាំង កម្លាំង! នារី នារី នារី” ៉៉Let’s all do this affirmation again “When I say Komlang to say Neary” Komkang! Neary! Komlang! Neary! Komlang Komlang Komlang! Neary Neary Neary! This translate to Girl power, we do this to support girls in sport and empowering them giving them opportunities in sport. As more girls from Kampong Speu joining frisbee will help us as show the government that we can implement this new sport into the curriculum. In order to reach the goals of 50 50% of boys and girls in 2025, which will help to reduce gender barriers in sport.
