International Womens Day: Inspirational Women in Sport

For International Women’s Day this year, we wanted to take a look at some of the most inspiring and powerful women in sport at the moment. Women’s participation and impact in the sporting world is getting stronger and stronger each year and we can’t wait to see it get bigger and better than ever in years to come. 

There are too many powerful and inspirational women in sport to mention that we are in awe of, so for now here are our top tennis, rugby, and cricket female stars in sport at the moment that are role models for so many.

Inspirational Women in Tennis 

Emma Raducanu has sprung to fame over the past year. From her historic appearance at The Championships, Wimbledon in 2021 to becoming the 2021 US Open Champion, Emma has been the definition of inspirational this year.

An 18-year-old Emma arrived at the Wimbledon Grounds in June having just completed her A-Levels, and was excited to make her women’s singles Grand Slam debut as a Wimbledon wildcard just a few weeks later. Storming her way through her first few matches, Emma reached the fourth round of the tournament. It was at this moment that Emma became the youngest British woman to progress to the last 16 of Wimbledon in the Open Era as she took to Centre Court, a court that radiates such heritage and history in the world of tennis. But, the best was yet to come…

Coming away from Wimbledon with such confidence, self-belief and determination to do even better in the next tournament after her fantastic performance, Emma arrived in New York. The 2021 US Open was the next Grand Slam for Raducanu. Emma took each match point by point, game by game, focusing on breaking down her opponent to claim those crucial points. Win after win allowed Emma to progress to the quarterfinals, to both herself and the public’s surprise. However, this was not the end of the road. Raducanu battled through to the semi-finals and then to the final destination: the US Open final. As the vast majority of the world will know, Emma came out on top after a gruelling battle and lifted the US Open trophy with such pride and happiness.

Emma’s grit and determination throughout Wimbledon and the US Open was inspirational to say the least and has since inspired people of all ages to get into tennis, igniting a belief that you can achieve anything you put your mind to. 

Find out more about Emma Raducanu here.

Inspirational Women in Rugby

Women’s rugby is one of the fastest growing team sports in the world, and rightly so. The rise in coverage and exposure of the sport in recent years has been a long time coming and is providing a source of inspiration and hope for young girls all over the world. Making the world of rugby even more inclusive, World Rugby has become the first major sporting federation to adopt gender-neutral naming for tournaments, promoting greater equality within the sport. The sport is also introducing more full-time professional contracts to female players, a first for many clubs across the country and the world.

Zoe Aldcroft is an England Women’s rugby player (and an inspirational one at that). 2016 marked the start of Zoe’s England career, gaining her first England cap in the final four minutes of the England women’s national rugby team’s game against France, making her mark by scoring the try that won England the victory. A full-time contract was offered by the RFU in 2019 and Zoe has been thriving in the team ever since.

Zoe has had an incredible year, both individually and as part of the team. She has recently won the 2021 World Player of the Year, and after leading the Red Roses to an 89-0 victory over the USA on her 25^th birthday, Aldcroft has continued to shine in the England squad. Zoe has also established herself in a powerful England pack and has started all eight of England’s matches in 2021 – she certainly has the confidence of Simon Middleton, England Women’s rugby coach.

When we caught up with Zoe back in December 2021, she said that her fellow teammates have been fantastic, helping to make their recent successes possible.

What’s truly inspiring, and one of the reasons why Zoe is one of the most inspiring female athletes of the moment, is that one of her main reasons for playing is to help show young girls that it’s possible to play rugby, and that it’s actually cool to be a women’s rugby player. 

Find out more about Zoe here.

Inspirational Women in Cricket

Cricket is increasing in popularity among young girls at school. As more schools offer cricket to pupils in the sporting curriculum, a greater number of young girls are getting the opportunity to try the sport for themselves. The launch of the Dynamos and All Stars National Programmes has also given kids a chance to get active and learn the basic skills of cricket. Dynamos links directly to The Hundred, which aims to inspire more children to get into the sport and achieved record attendance at women’s domestic fixtures at the tournament in 2021, helping to raise the profile of the game and provide girls with more role models than ever before. 

One notable inspiration in women’s cricket is Heather Knight OBE. Heather has been playing cricket from a young age, and even turned down a place at Cambridge University to have more time to play cricket. She has played club cricket in Devon and country cricket for Berkshire, captained Western Storm in the Women’s Cricket Super League leading them to the title in 2017 and 2019, played domestically in Australia and now for England where she’s captain. 

As England’s women’s captain, Heather has helped to lead the squad for the last five years. She became the first female cricketer to take a five-wicket haul in an ODI innings and continues to perform on the pitch. In 2017, just one year after being appointed captain, England won the Women’s Cricket World Cup and Heather was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2018 New Year Honours list after the team’s success. Knight has now been named as England’s captain for the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, and we can’t wait to see her inspire more girls around the world as she leads the squad in 2022. 

Keep your eyes peeled for more inspirational women in sport in the next few months, as we take a deeper dive into the players of the moment.