Over a six month period between October 2015 and March 2016, , funded by Sport England, which explored innovative ways to recruit, develop and retain women different backgrounds in coaching, activation and leadership. Each day this week in honour of our birthday we will be presenting some of the findings to you!

Creating the Right Image

Over a six month period between October 2015 and March 2016, sports coach UK supported seven projects, funded by Sport England, which explored innovative ways to recruit, develop and retain women different backgrounds in coaching, activation and leadership.

• Photos

Despite years of campaigning by women’s groups, we’re still constantly bombarded by airbrushed images of the ideal woman’s body in advertising and the media. However, the success of the This Girl Can campaign shows just how powerful pictures of real women of all shapes and sizes can be.

Unfortunately, a common complaint among the projects was the lack of available images of ordinary women engaged in sport and exercise. Given the fact that social media posts accompanied by strong images garner many more comments, likes and shares than those that just consist of text, there’s a need for projects to build up their own banks, and make them available to others.

You don’t have to be a professional to get some good photos to promote your project. Just follow our tips:

• Browse the This Girl Can images for some ideas of what works. You’ll notice that most focus in on an individual participant or small group. This often has more impact than a ‘busy’ photo with too many people.
• Make sure images reflect your local demographic and the type of women you want to target. The Team Beds and Luton project, which operates in an area with a high Muslim population, found an image of a Muslim woman stretching out in fitness wear gained the highest number of Facebook likes.
• Drab colours make for boring photos, so make sure you get some colour in your shots – ask participants to wear bright clothes.
• Taking good pictures of people in action can be tricky. Photograph a Zumba class and you may just end up with a lot of people striking very strange poses. You’re likely to get a better picture by asking participants to ‘freeze’ in a suitable Zumba-like pose.
• Get the leader in the shot to show she is a woman ‘just like them’ and not the stereotypical fitness instructor.
• Explain to the women what you’ll be using the photos for and ask if there’s anyone who would rather not appear in the pictures. Remember that there may be cultural sensitivities around appearing in photos.
• Pictures get more of a response if they’re tied to the local area, so try to have something in the background that connects the picture to your community. For example, photograph a walking group with a landmark or a recognisable section of the local park in the background. In an indoor venue, use a poster or banner, or find something that identifies where the session is taking place.
• Experiment with different camera angles and settings, and take lots of photos to maximise your chances of getting some brilliant ones.

 

•  Videos

• Professionally made videos

The cross-regional Project 500, running in the south-east since 2013, has invested £8000 in a to attract women into coaching. Through a ‘story’, the video conveys the message that ‘coaching’ is something women do all the time in their day-to-day lives. In addition to the main video a have been produced to share the coaches’ individual stories.

Of course, hiring someone to make a video for you doesn’t have to cost that much. Half a day’s straightforward filming by a local videographer, plus editing, is likely to set you back something in the region of £500. You need to be clear about the focus on the video and work up a brief, advises Louisa, and allow plenty of time – the Project 500 video took three months from commission to finished product. 

• Making your own video

You don’t need to be Sofia Coppola to create an acceptable video for use on social media, where viewers won’t much care about production values. A smartphone or basic video camera is all you need. Just make sure your message is clear – whether it’s to show people your dancercise class is full of women of all shapes, sizes and ages having fun, or what Nordic walking actually looks like. All you need is a short clip.

If you want to get more adventurous, there’s plenty of free video editing software that’s easy for beginners to use, such as Windows Movie Maker, Apple iMovie and Wondershare Filmora. With this, you can splice together clips of different activities and sound bites from participants, and add text to get your message across. Just remember to keep it short and sweet – definitely less than a minute.