With participation levels in women's rugby skyrocketing, a former Wallaroo has created her a program to help young female players thrive on and off the field.
Key points:
- Kirby Sefo has started a program to help young women overcome financial and social challenges
- Sefo is a former Australian 7s and Australian XVs Wallaroos player and skippered the Queensland Reds Super W team in 2018
- Sefo hopes her program will be rolled out across schools, sporting clubs and workplaces
As one of the first women to go professional in Australia's Rugby 7s competition, Kirby Sefo says her progression in the sport was not without "teething problems".
"The obvious one was pay parity," she said.
"It was hard, it was really hard to try and have the same commitment levels [as the men], the same schedules, the same training hours travelling on a fraction of what they were receiving."
Keen to ease the way for other women, Sefo used time off the field while injured to develop a program called Subbed which would inspire and support girls who had a keen interest in the game.
"It's a space where we can share our own experiences and stories in sport and, through those stories, we can promote conversations, education and empowerment for young women around four topics of conversation," Sefo said.
Playing rugby is the ice breaker, but the initiative is about more than just developing future stars of the game.
It is designed to help teenage girls discuss mental health, cultural diversity, sexuality and relationships and overcome social or financial barriers that may prevent them playing sport.
"We use sport as a vehicle to elevate those conversations," she said.
"I don't really care what sport they play — I just think sport in its entirety is such a positive way to harbour good intentions and it's a good space for us to be able to educate them."
Finding support through sport
The six-week pilot program is being pitched at community groups, high schools and even workplaces to help young women like 15-year-old Dynasty Tamihana, from Brisbane.
"It's really good just knowing that you have that kind of support," Dynasty said.
"Kirby was pretty much someone that helped me get into rugby and now actually, I love it. I love playing.
"Rugby can help you just get away from everything that's happening outside the game — just knowing that you can just go to play and get … in a different headspace."
Dynasty's teammate Selu Tepania-Maama said she had also found support through playing sport with other young women.
"It helped me a lot to develop as a player and as a person. Kirby herself has even helped me a lot with my school work," she said.
According to the latest figures from Queensland Rugby League (QRL), 7,459 females registered to play rugby in 2019.
That is up 29 per cent from the code's goal of 5,763 female registrations in the same year.
On average, the QRL receives an additional 1,000 registrations each season, but it is wary of the impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on that momentum.
The code recently released its Female Strategy for 2020 to 2022 and QRL managing director Rob Moore said it was already planning for the years beyond that.
"There is still a lot of work to be done across all aspects of women's rugby league," he said.
"Retention is a big part of this strategy as we look to grow participation right across the game with more players, coaches, officials and volunteers becoming involved for longer periods."