WEEK #25: EMMA T.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a long-time competitive jump-roper. I played a few other sports when I was younger, but jump rope was the only one to stick. I have been in the sport on advisory counsels, demonstration teams, teaching and competing for over 13 years. Aside from jump rope I am a big lover of art, including photography, videography and graphic design. Now that I compete less I am very interested in making the sports world a place that can welcome and accept everyone, allowing all people to have positive experiences with sport.

What is an issue or topic you are passionate about or would like to see changed?

My current topic of interest is about categorization and classifications in sport. I worked on a project at school this past year on the future of classifications. We came to the conclusion that gender might not be the best classification for positive futures in sport. Currently I am

sharing what I have learned with as many people as possible. I hope to spread the importance of gender diversity and acceptance in sport showing where sport could end up if we opened our minds to new ideas.

What specific strategies would you like to see parents, coaches, or sport administrators do to improve diversity in sport or progress your cause?

The first thing that people can do is allowing their children and athletes to try out things without any gendered assumptions, for example letting their sons try ballet, their daughters try football and letting everyone else try everything. People have implicit bias towards certain sports being more masculine or feminine and the more we can break this bias, the easier time we will have removing the need for gender sport all together.