Alongside our brilliant supporters across the UK, Women in Sport is lucky to have some incredible ambassadors who share our vision and champion our charity.
Explore their achievements and find out about their dedication to our cause below.
As a trailblazer in the world of athletics, Tessa has long been an inspirational figure, breaking barriers and championing the cause of women’s participation in sport. Forty years ago, at the Los Angeles Games Tessa won gold in the javelin and became the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal. To this day no other British athlete, male or female, has won Olympic gold in a standalone throwing event.
In her role as President, Tessa will lend her expertise, passion, and influence to amplify Women in Sport’s initiatives, drive positive change, and inspire women and girls to pursue their sporting dreams fearlessly, whether that is playing for a local team or participating at the Olympic Games.
“I have long admired the work of Women in Sport so am delighted to become an Ambassador for the charity during this landmark year. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of my Olympic gold medal win and the founding of Women in Sport, I am deeply committed to advancing our shared mission of empowering women and girls through sport. Together, we will continue to break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and create a more equal sporting landscape for all” says Tessa.
Jim Carter OBE, best known for his role as Mr Carson in Downton Abbey, is a lifelong sports fan and passionate supporter of women’s sport. Jim helped to establish the first women’s cricket team at his local club in Hampstead twenty one years ago, where his daughter, the actor Bessie Carter, proudly took to the field as opening bowler.
Along with our President Tessa Sanderson CBE, Jim will help raise the charity’s profile, reach new audiences and build support and funding for Women in Sport’s ground-breaking research and advocacy work.
“Watching my daughter play in one of the first women’s teams at our local cricket club was a proud moment. It reminded me that equality in sport doesn’t just happen, it has to be built, supported and celebrated. I’m honoured to help Women in Sport continue building that future” says Jim.
Becky supports our work to drive positive change from within the sport sector; making sport more accessible for women and girls, encouraging more women to choose sport as a career and to increase the visibility of women’s sport, in the media and in everyday life.
Becky competed in four Olympic finals, winning two gold and two bronze medals at Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012 respectively, and is a World, Commonwealth and European gold medallist. She was awarded the OBE in 2009.
Since retiring from competitive swimming in 2013, Becky works with and mentors elite athletes and the next generation of Olympic medallists. She has also set up her own learn to swim programme for children – Becky Adlington Swim Stars – which aims to see every child in the UK leave primary school being able to swim at least 25 metres. More than 5,000 children per week across the UK are now learning to swim through Becky’s programme.
Becky said: “I am so pleased to be able to support the vital work being done by Women in Sport to transform sport for the benefit of every woman and girl in the UK. As an athlete, and as a mum, I know first-hand how important it is for young girls in particular to have strong role models in their lives to encourage them to take part in sport. I hope that through speaking out in my role as Patron, I will be able to make a positive difference to the way women and girls experience sport, from the field of play to the boardroom. I’m delighted to represent this fantastic charity and looking forward to encouraging as many people as I can to support our work.”
Former England rugby union international Brian Moore is passionate about furthering the development of sport for women and girls. A trained solicitor, Brian has provided expertise to many charitable causes and last year sat on the committee that produced the Duty of Care Independent Report led by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson.
Brian said: “It is a great honour to have been appointed as a Trustee to the longest-serving charity in women’s sport. As a father to four daughters, I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with Women in Sport to help secure more opportunities for all women and girls to participate in as wide a range of sports as possible. All women and girls deserve to experience the freedom, fun and friendship that sport offers.”
Tanni is a former wheelchair racer who has played a pivotal role in transforming athlete safety through penning the Duty of Care in Sport Review, which made sport a safer and fairer place for hundreds of women and girls.
In her Paralympic career she won 16 medals, including 11 gold medals, as well as 13 World Championship medals.
Tanni has been a champion of our charity for many years, citing our research in her political life to inform others: “I’ve been involved in Women in Sport for many years and greatly value its independent voice. The charity does brilliant research and uses this both to champion women within sport and to expose the value of sport to girls’ and women’s wider lives. Sport really matters to life, yet all too often women and girls miss out. This has to change.”
As a young girl with ADHD and autism, growing up was tough with the constant bullying, destroying any self-esteem she had to the point she stopped going to school. Her parents simply didn’t know what to do with Emily and as a last resort they put her into several sports clubs. This was her saviour. Emily found her love for diving at the age of 7 and was a natural. However, by the time she hit 14, she was overcome with body confidence anxieties plus dealing with periods. This was enough for her to stop diving all together. Although her time at school was challenging on a daily basis, she always remained a high achiever.
In between the years of college and university, she tried kickboxing, gymnastics and then onto Powerlifting at university. This is where she reconnected with the love for sport again and found a sense of purpose. At the age of 25 (considered quite old for applying for scholarships) she secured a scholarship from British Powerlifting.
“I am so happy to be a Youth Ambassador for the charity. For me, promoting the power of sport to help young people with learning difficulties such as neurodivergent behaviours is so important to me. It’s great that charities like Women in Sport is passionate about celebrating the voices of girls and promoting role models, like me from the community.”
Emily now works in Programme Management for Children with Special Needs. As she rediscovered her love for sport through Powerlifting, she has accepted that it’s OK to be competitive/aggressive in sport, and that it does not make you any less feminine.
Thanks to an open-minded secondary school with lots of support in the PE department and supportive parents, Gabby’s teenage years were marked by a very positive experience with sports.
PE lessons were enjoyable and free from judgment, as boys and girls classes were separate. Girls at her school had the option to wear PE kits that made them feel comfortable ( shorts/ leggings / joggers) and sometimes offer multiple different options in the pe lessons ( in y10/y11 there was the option of: dodgeball, badminton, walking, table tennis and football)
Since the age of 9, Gabby loved to run and became a member of the Hallamshire Harriers running club in Sheffield and has recently been selected to join the England Running Talent Programme at the age of 16, where she hopes to aspires to run at an elite level.
At 14, Gabby started going to the gym with her mum who wanted company to make the experience less deterring. For Gabby, cherishing the time spent together was precious whilst staying active and maintaining her fitness for running.
Her passion for championing the need to provide teenage girls with more choices in PE is inspired by the example set by her school, which led to many girls to enjoy PE. I hope to keep the enjoyment of primary school sport and follow it through into secondary school, through hopefully encouraging secondary schools to put more thought into their extra curricular sporting departments, and giving a wider variety of sports. I feel that school sport is so important for making friends and it’s a way to take a break from study whilst staying healthy and I feel a lot more attention should be given to the sporting department within schools
Gabby, 17, is currently attending sixth form in Sheffield, studying biology, psychology, and sport, and plans to go to university to study psychology
My running club doesn’t offer set mother daughter sessions, but an online strength and conditioning session that I take part in Called ‘ graceful girls ‘ offers mums and daughter to participate together!
Sport has always been an integral part of Lauren’s life, and she has never let anything interfere with her dedication to it. Lauren began playing football at the age of 6 and loved trying out new sports, even earning a black belt in Jujitsu.
Playing at a semi-professional level brings significant pressure. She was regularly coached by male coaches, often lacking an understanding of the challenges female players face during their menstrual cycles, and the expectation to perform regardless. However, female coaches were more attuned to these issues.
This is what spurred on Lauren’s passion to help address inequality in sports, particularly in football for women and girls.
Her passion for sport persisted through her teenage years, despite the onset of puberty and menstruation, as she refused to let natural bodily changes dictate her participation in the activities she loves.
Lauren is studying Sport Science, Coaching, and PE at Loughborough University and is a semi-professional footballer for Loughborough Lightning.
Lisa played netball for several years but stopped due to A-level commitments, choosing to go to the gym to stay fit instead. She loved playing football at school when she was younger, though the boys didn’t pass her the ball much, being part of the team game was difficult.
Her journey with netball began to stay fit and socialise with friends, eventually leading her to play outside of school and even form a team. Accessing courts as a teenager presented financial challenges, however some of the team’s mums, who also played, would let them use the courts and often covered the costs. If it wasn’t for them, Lisa and her friends wouldn’t have been able to play.
Lisa frequently played with new people, adapting to unfamiliar situations, showing her determination to play the sport she loved.
Lisa’s passion for ensuring girls stay in sport and highlighting the barriers that hinder their access, based on her own experiences is something she’d love to elevate.
Lisa, 17, studied A-level Biology, Maths, Further Maths, and Chemistry in Sheffield with plans to attend university.
Lucy loved trampolining since the age of 8 and was very much the kid who was always running round or hanging off the nearest climbing frame. But that all changed once she got to high school! Like so many thousands of girls in the UK, Lucy stopped playing sport once she went through puberty. As a result, she developed Generalised Anxiety Disorder and becoming very body conscious. She hated the idea of people looking at her when she took part in sport, so she stopped participating for several years, worsening her mental and physical health.
Lucy later reconnected with exercise at university, after attending the fresher’s sports fair. As the university didn’t offer pole fitness, she was encouraged by the Students Union to set up the Pole Fitness society, creating a community of empowered female students enjoying physical activity, in a judgement-free and encouraging environment.
Sport during those university years was used as an excuse to keep fit and socialise, but more critical to that, she found that sport was a brilliant supporting player in managing her anxiety and body image issues too.
“I’m so happy that I stumbled across the Big Sister project in 2022 through a work contact – it was a great project to be part of. Now, through that work, I’m getting the opportunity to become a Youth Ambassador for Women in Sport, a charity that I really admire.
Now I’m older, sport has two main benefits – physical and mental. A) it keeps me fit and B) I use it to help keep all those old negative voices at bay. My experience is far from unique, and by talking about my own relationship with sport, food and body image, I want to help more girls feel confident to move their bodies in ways they enjoy and use sport to feel good on so many different levels.”
Lucy graduated with a BSc in Psychology with Forensic Psychology in 2021, and currently works for a STEM charity providing outreach work to schools.
Molly’s journey into sport started at primary school, where she discovered her love for cricket at the age of six. Fast forward11 years – Molly continues to play, in what is still very much a male dominated sport. Her first major accomplishment was when she secured a place in the Yorkshire Girls U13 Performance cricket team at the age of 12 and continued playing at a high level in her teens despite the challenges of male coaches, puberty, periods and everything that comes with “the time of the month”. Last year, Molly secured a spot onto the U18s Yorkshire County squad, which is a huge achievement. The support from her male coaches during her cricket journey have been amazing and continues on at Yorkshire County Cricket Club – where female coaches were first introduced to her.
Molly was introduced to the charity when her PE teacher told her about the Big Sister Project (*link to big sister page) and how she could get involved. Since applying for an ambassador role and being successful, Molly was heavily involved in shaping the project and is now delighted to be a Youth Ambassador for Women in Sport, as a result.
“I’m so excited to be a Youth Ambassador for Women in Sport. I’m really looking forward to championing the cause of the charity and further raising the barriers that girls face around gender equality, particularly in male dominating sports such as cricket.
I want more girls to understand the value of sport, I love the idea of young girls being inspired by my journey and hope a role model like myself will encourage more girls to get involved.”
Molly, an aspiring cricketer from Sheffield is currently at college studying A-level English Language, Biology and Psychology. In her free time, Molly volunteers as a level 1 qualified cricket coach because she loves inspiring more young girls to enjoy the game of cricket whilst allowing her to share her passion for the game.
Growing up, Nafeesa came up against several challenges in sport, however her biggest issue was the lack of role models in sport, that wore hijabs, but she wasn’t going to let that bring her down!
During her teenage years, Nafeesa also enjoyed playing netball for many years. However, playing netball came with its own challenges, including limited access to courts due to the distance and costs to hire. The frequent questions from coaches about her comfort in her hijab eventually led her to stop playing. Despite these challenges, Nafeesa’s resilience and passion for sports continue to inspire younger girls in the community.
Her love for archery started unexpectedly when she was accidentally locked in at school during an archery session. Mistakenly invited to join, she discovered a new passion and competed from ages 13 to 17. Though she now plays archery as a hobby, her competitive spirit remains strong.
Nafeesa, 21 is deeply passionate about connecting with younger people who share her heritage and is committed to charity work. A proud Brummie at heart, she is currently studying in Egypt to improve her Arabic.
Anisha’s relationship with sport varied from a young age, having enjoyed the competitive nature of netball, cricket, and rounders as a child for many years. As Anisha started university, sport became more of a recreational hobby, where she was able to engage more with Punjabi dance, perfect for making friends, having fun, and keeping fit.
She made some of her closest friends through participating in sport. However, like many teens when starting her period – she felt she could no longer participate in sport. She was amongst many girls who avoided physical activities during their period, once having her mother write a note to excuse her from PE. Eventually, Anisha realised that physical activity was very much possible during periods.
Anisha’s passion for addressing the stigma surrounding periods, stems from her own personal experiences of fearing periods and as a result quitting sport because of them. She wants to ensure more girls don’t follow this path.
Anisha, 19, is currently pursuing a Law degree in Birmingham.
Our Board of Trustees are responsible for ensuring that the charity fulfils its objectives.
