THERE is an increasing amount of evidence supporting the idea that girls should participate in sports and physical activity.
According to the Solomon Islands national women senior player, Layda Samani, girls should develop a passion to participate in sports because it has far reaching benefits for their physical health and social wellbeing.
“Get yourselves to love sports; this is one of the important activities in life that you should not miss out on. Playing wide range of sports like football, tennis, athletics and others can give us many social opportunities to travel to new places and to meet people from other parts of the world.
“Sports participation creates healthy habits for life; it also establishes good physical health and fitness.
Girls and women who play sports have a more positive body image and experience higher states of psychological well being than girls and women who do not play sports. Over the past years, Solomon Islands have produced famous sports women: Weightlifter – Jenly Wini, Track and Field Athlete – Sharon Firisua and other female sport athletes.
Samani told Solomon Women Sports those girls who play sports hold a higher self esteemed compared to girls who do not play sports and physical activities in the lifetime.
“Girls who play sports have higher levels of confidence and self-esteem and lower levels of depression. It is important that girls develop a right mind-set to participate in sports because it has a lot of benefits and opportunities.
“I believe football is the perfect opportunity for girls to try something new and maybe even find their new passion, she added.
Samani is currently a senior player of the National Senior women’s soccer team and has in the past represented the country in the international football competitions.
“I have been involved in sports since 2006; I played both football and futsal.
“However, the peak of my football passion started in 2016, when I was selected to join the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) National Women Under-20 squad. We managed to play against the strong New Zealand side in an organised friendly match, she said.
