The Western Cape Provincial Sports Confederation (WCPSC) has embarked on a mission to register 10,000 more girls in sport through its XMG initiative, with a major focus on making it easier for women and girls to find sporting opportunities close to where they live.
At the centre of XMG is a new proximity-based club finder, designed to connect women and girls with sports clubs and programmes across the Western Cape.
Making Sport for Women and Girls Easier to Find
One of the challenges facing women and girls who want to participate in sport is simply knowing what opportunities are available in their area. The XMG club finder addresses this by creating a central database of sporting clubs that provide participation opportunities for women and girls.
Adding a club is simple. Federations or clubs can drag a pin across the XMG map and place it directly on the club’s location. The system then records and pins that location, making the club discoverable through the proximity-based search. A woman, parent or young girl looking for a particular sport can then search the platform and find participating clubs closest to them.
The concept is simple:
LIST. PIN. FIND. JOIN.
LIST – Clubs and federations list clubs available to women and girls.
PIN – Simply drag the pin on the map to the club’s location and the system records it.
FIND – Women and girls search for a sport and discover club opportunities closest to them.
JOIN – Women & Girls connect with the club and start their sporting journey.
From Interest to Participation
XMG is not only about promoting women’s sport. The objective is to turn interest into actual participation. A young girl may see a sport at school, on television or on social media and decide that she would like to participate. The next question is often: “Where can I play?” The XMG club finder is designed to provide that answer by helping users identify sporting opportunities in their own communities.
Clubs and Federations Have a Role to Play
For the system to work effectively, sporting federations and clubs need to ensure that clubs with women’s membership options are listed and correctly pinned. Federations are urged to share the XMG initiative broadly across their structures, clubs, members and communities to ensure that as many opportunities as possible are listed and that women and girls know where to find them.
The more clubs that are pinned, the stronger and more useful the XMG network becomes. The information will also help WCPSC and sporting federations identify where opportunities already exist and where further development may be required.
The Target: 10,000 More Girls
The goal is clear: 10,000 more girls participating in sport. XMG provides a practical way to support that target by making the journey from wanting to participate to finding a club as simple as searching for a sport, finding the nearest opportunity and getting involved.
WCPSC President JP Naude said: “The maths is simple: 160 federations × 6 new girls per month × 11 months = 10,560 new girls. And we know each federation has multiple clubs, so reaching 10,000 More Girls is an achievable target if we all play our part.” XMG – 10,000 More Girls in Sport is an initiative of the Western Cape Provincial Sports Confederation (WCPSC) Gender Commission.
Visit the XMG Club Finder:
xmg.wcpsc.co.za
