Dr Lucienne Attard Chairperson,

Women in Sport Commission

Malta Olympic Committee

The Malta Olympic Committee third Women in Sport Seminar was held recently at the Grand Hotel Mercure San Antonio at St Paul’s Bay. The title, “Women Leaders in Sport: Barriers & Solutions” was chosen with the aim of exploring the difficulties that women face when they try to enter the field of sports as administrators, coaches, etc.

The seminar was attended by an enthusiastic group of people with diverse backgrounds, but who are all involved in sports in some aspect, or would like to be more involved in sports on the local scene. The group included coaches, PE teachers, physiotherapists, athletes, university lecturers, students, members and representatives from affiliated associations.

The title subject was the common theme for all the presentations. The keynote speaker for the seminar was Dr Anita White OBE, who gave a perspective on the international situation, and also conducted the two workshops on the second day.

From the local scene, speakers included Dr Janet Mifsud representing the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality, Ms Lara Tonna, Chief Commissioner Malta Girl Guides, Dr Brenda Murphy from the University of Malta, Ms Anna Borg from the Employment & Training Corporation and Ms Marie Therese Zammit from the Malta Olympic Committee, who presented the findings from her research on the same issue, carried out recently.

The topic of the seminar was explored from different angles, and it was clear that the barriers that women face in the sporting world are similar to other situations, eg, employment.

All the participants contributed enthusiastically to the workshops on the second day. Some of the common barriers for women leaders which were identified include lack of self-confidence, family responsibilities, feeling intimidated and perception of not being accepted by their male counterparts. The second workshop focused on finding solutions.

Suggestions included better media portrayal of women’s sports, greater networking opportunities for women’s organisations, more training and mentoring for women, creation of role models, acceptance of working from home, encouragement of children to participate in sports at a young age.

This seminar ended with a call for more women to come forward and make use of their abilities for the common good of sports. As a result, the Women in Sport Commission will draw up an action plan, on which concrete steps can be taken to increase female participation in sports at all levels including leadership positions.

Association News: Malta International Darts Open 2006

Noel Gauci

Secretary General,

Malta Darts Association

The Malta Darts Association will be organising the 19th edition of the Malta Open between 21 and 23 November. This much expected event will be held at the Dolmen Hotel, Qawra.

Games start at 6pm and everybody is welcome to attend. Entrance is free of charge.

Tuesday will be reserved for the men’s and ladies’ doubles. The singles events for men and women will be played on Wednesday. Thursday, the final day will open with the quarter-finals for all four events, followed by the semi-finals and finals which will be played on stage.

The playing format for the games is as follows: men’s singles will be played on a best of three sets of three legs basis while the ladies’ singles and doubles will be on a best of five legs basis.

The finals will see the men’s singles played on a best of three sets of five legs while the remaining three finals on a best of seven legs.

Participants from England, Scotland, Wales, Greece, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic and Malta will be competing.

Among former Malta Open winners trying to regain or retain the title are Andrew Keen, Joe Palmer, John Michael and Vince Busuttil in the men’s events and Jackie Hampshire in the ladies’ event. Around 170 competitors are expected to take part in this event.

For further information regarding the Malta International Darts Open, one may contact the MDA on mda@

keyworld.net.

MIA Olympic Special – What’s On

Thursday TVM at 5pm, Friday on E22 at 9pm (RPT), Sunday on E22 at 10am (RPT) and Monday on E22 at 2.30pm (RPT) will feature the following:

Athlete profile

Kimberley Cassar, 14 years old started playing tennis at the age of 8 years. At a point she had to choose between playing tennis or the piano; she chose to concentrate on tennis. However she still plays the piano during school activities with the school orchestra.

What is shooting?

Shooting consists of a number of disciplines including trap, double trap, skeet, air rifle and air pistol 10m. In clay target shooting, shooters try to hit flying targets. The target is a small clay disk shaped like a saucer designed to break up when hit by just one or two of the pellets. The air rifle and air pistol events are shot at 10m.

Feature event

The Men’s basketball Enemalta Shield finals will be featured.

Highlight events

This week’s highlights will focus on the Malta Sailing Federation Optimist Regatta Ranking event organised by the Malta Optimist Class Association on 11 and 12 November and a Canoe Sprint race of 8.88km organised by the Malta Canoe Federation.

Schedule available every week on www.nocmalta.org. Produced in collaboration with E22 and University of Malta, Centre for Communication & Technologies (CCT) Video Production Students (Video3 – 2006).

Athlete Profile: Johanna Grech

Age: 39 years

Sport: Table Tennis

Club: Batmen Table Tennis Club

Started: At the age of eight years and by eleven was competing in small tournaments.

Job: Operations Director in a Group of Companies within the Fashion Retail Business.

Personal Development of the Sport

GSTT Latin professional Status from 1985 to 1987 (3 years), Italy Fiuggi CONI Training Centre, Spain, Barcelona, European Youth Training Camp, Guernsey European Youth Training Camp, Reading United Kingdom Seniors Training Camp,

Head National Junior Coach, Ladies National Team Captain.

Achievements

• 17 times national women’s champion

• Eight times men’s/women’s singles second division national champion

• Once men’s/women’s singles third division national champion

• Four times national mixed doubles champion

• Four times ladies doubles national champions

• Three times best improved player of the year

• Twice runner-up Sportswoman of the year 1983/1990

• Silver Medallist, Italian National Championships, Roma, Angri 3rd Div, 1984/85

• Silver Medallist, Italian National Championships, Roma, Don Bosco 3rd Div, 1985/1986

• Bronze Medal, Girls Doubles, Mediterranean Games, Italy, Messina 1983

• Fifth placing, GSSE Luxemburg 1995

• Gold and silver medal, GSSE Iceland 1997

• Two silver medals, GSSE Liechtenstein 1999

• Two bronze medals, GSSE San Marino 2001

• Fifth placing, GSSE Malta 2003

• Represented Malta at the GSSE Andorra 2005 in the singles event

• Bronze medal ladies, singles Malta Open 1998/1999

• Gold medal, ladies doubles, Malta Open 1999/2000

• Gold medal, ladies teams, Malta Open 1999/2000

Other

Represented Malta at the following international competitions:

World Championships: Twice to Sweden – Gothenburg, twice to Germany – Bremen and Dortmund, twice to England – Manchester and Birmingham, China Beijing, Twice to Japan – Tokyo and Osaka, India, New Dehli, France, Paris;

European Championships: Germany, Stuttgart, Holland, Eindhoven, France, Paris, Italy, Courmayeur;

European Mixed League: Third division 1983, Guernsey, silver medallist 1984, Malta, placed fourth, 1985, Guernsey, bronze medallist, 1990, Iceland, bronze medallist, 1992, Portugal, silver medallist, 1994, Malta Gozo, silver medallist, 1995, Guernsey, gold both in teams and singles;

Open Internationals: Welsh Open, Tunisian Open, Libyan Open, Bolzano Open, Modena Open.

‘Malta u Dinja tal-Hames Crieki’

Next Sunday at 1.05pm on 103FM (RTK), this programme will feature the Malta Federation of Bocci Clubs and the Malta Amateur Athletics Association whose representatives will discuss their national youth development programme and medical advice from Dr Lucienne Attard.