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For children in Hong Kong, sports are pretty low priority.
Growing up, Alicia Lui was encouraged in her schoolwork and extracurricular activities but discouraged from any sports that might make her calves big or were otherwise considered too unfeminine. #impact Podcast co-host Amanda Williams met up with Alicia to hear her story.
Recent surveys of young Hong Kongers by Women in Sports Empowered HK (WISE HK), the not-for-profit she founded in 2017, shows that not much has changed in traditional attitudes and family influences. It’s WISE’s mission to change that and help every woman and girl find their sport.
Alicia Lui, Founder of WISE HK
In this episode, you will learn
- The value of team sports in girls’ development and in women’s sense of community
- How to get involved in team sports
- How you can question traditional mores when you have a clear purpose
- The lessons from the field or pitch or court that can that be brought back into the workplace
- Why women are often less willing to captain a sports team
Alicia Lui is all about encouraging women to do sports
FROM CORPORATE CAREER TO IMPACT-FOCUSED WORK
Alicia had a pretty typical Hong Kong upbringing and pursued a successful career at a multinational, working in Hong Kong and Beijing. She realised it wasn’t quite making her happy though.
While in Beijing, she got involved in the “Lean In” movement and started thinking more about women’s empowerment. She decided to trade in the corporate career for something more impact-focused.
When she arrived back in Hong Kong, after being away for quite some time she needed to rebuild her social network and she wanted to get more engaged in the community she grew up in.
At a tournament in Guangzhou March 2018
“HK is my community, but my community in HK is the people I play sports with”
Alicia sees team sports as a way for people to engage in their community and find some belonging. Women benefit from the social network, as well as the shared learning and shared goals that being part of a team provides.
The message of supporting each other and getting better together is one of the drivers of their Mother/Daughter Sports Days. These target local Hong Kong families and work to break down some of the stereotypes around sports.
EMPOWERING ROLE MODELS
Alicia had some great motivation and role models when it came to setting up WISE. She took inspiration from Billie Jean King’s Women’s Sports Foundation and the UK’s Women’s Sports Trust. She talked to corporates that supported those organisations in the US and UK, but found that they didn’t do anything in Hong Kong. Alicia was able to pick the best bits of those organisations and localise it to address Hong Kong’s specific difficulties in getting women and girls involved in sports.
Winning Spirit prize at HKHAG 2018
“There’s a sport out there for everyone”
BUILDING COMMUNITIES AND BRIDGING GENDER GAPS
Alicia explains that one barrier is that women and girls just don’t have the necessary exposure to the many team sports on offer. She points to the lack of mainstream female athlete role models in Hong Kong, as well as limited accessibility and promotion. This is something else WISE is trying to change with their athlete profiles and blogs about new sports opportunities.
WISE is hosting a panel discussion on the June 9th at theDesk in Causeway Bay, “Why girls should play sports: sports to enhance academic, health and wellbeing in life”. To help encourage parents to attend, WISE is running a simultaneous sporting activity for girls aged 6-14.
The impact of getting girls and women into sports goes beyond just improvement in personal health, wellbeing and performance at school or work. The UN Sustainable Development Goals point out that getting women involved in sports helps build communities, bridge gender gaps, and get communities to care more about their local environment.
That’s reason enough for us at #impact Podcast to lace up our shoes!
There’s a sport out there for everyone, says WISE founder Alicia Lui #sportsforeveryone Share on X
Having a blast at the workout session.
Got some time to give this episode a listen? Scroll all the way up and press play. Then you will also hear what advice she would give her younger self and who Alicia’s sporting and empowerment idols are.
Our learnings from this episode. Have something to add? Get in touch with us here!
impACT – Our ideas to make change
- Never been a team sports fan? Give something completely different a try. Alicia has played ultimate frisbee, on women’s and mixed gender teams, since 2004. Other sports increasing their women’s offerings in Hong Kong include Aussie Rules Football and Ice Hockey.
- Remember to encourage the young girls in your life in their athletic pursuits.
- If you have an idea to improve your community, just get started. As WISE founder Alicia said, there’s “never a right moment to start”.
Recording while taking a walk with Liz Steiger, Imperial Glamour Club
