Bank backs Women in Sports

By Mathias Hukert 13 April 2016, 12:00AM

The Bank of the South Pacific (B.S.P) has thrown its support behind the Samoa Women in Sports Commission (S.W.I.S.C).

Yesterday the Bank and the Commission formalised their working relationship when the Bank’s Business Manager, Michelle Lemisio, presented a cheque of $3,500 to the Chairperson of the Commission, Nynette Sass.

 “We have decided to partner with Samoa Women in Sports Commission, because this is a great development for young girls and women in Samoa,” said Ms. Lemisio.

For B.S.P, their support is about developing future leaders of Samoa.

 “It is about developing our youth, as well as a commitment to gender equality and leading a healthy lifestyle. These were important factors for B.S.P to support the project.”

The money provided by the bank will be used in several areas by S.W.I.S.C.

 “We use this money to pay for the girls’ uniforms, transportation, refreshments and additional seminars which will be held in the future,” said Mrs. Sass.

According to her, one of the projects’ goals is to enable possible careers in professional sports for young women. 

“Today professional sports offer several career paths, not only as an athlete, but also as a manager or coach. Of course, we also see sports as a way to prevent our participants from certain diseases, since we are aware that Samoa is one of the countries in the region which is highly affected by non-communicable diseases.”  

The organisation is currently sponsoring almost fifty girls from the region around Apia, who recently participated in a 4-week long college competition. 

In the context of this event, the young sportswomen had the chance to try out five different sports, including a 5k run as well as a squash tournament to develop skills such as precision, speed, strength and endurance.

With yesterday’s donation, S.W.I.S.C hopes to reach even more young women in Samoa.

 “We know from the feedback from Savai’i and the rural communities that they want to be involved next year too and this donation from B.S.P hopefully will bring us a whole lot closer to this achievement,” Mrs. Sass said.

By Mathias Hukert 13 April 2016, 12:00AM

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