A COMMUNITY organisation which gives women better access to sport is to return to action next week.

Activities run by the Inspirational Women Foundation (IWF) CIC Sports Club will restart on Tuesday, as the 17 May lifting of some Covid restrictions allows the return of organised indoor and outdoor sport.

The IWF Sports Club classes are all run by professional coaches, and range from football, cricket and boxing to archery, badminton, netball, rounders, volleyball, jiu-jitsu and cycling.

Activities are run in collaboration with Bradford Academy's John Craig Sports Centre, on Lister Avenue, where most of the classes will be taking place, with additional weekly events at Parkside Sports Centre on Parkside Road.

Cycling will be held at Girlington Community Centre car park, on Girlington Road. Classes are on weekday evenings and during the day at weekends.

The IWF Sports Club is open to all women over the age of 16, from across the Bradford district, but also from further afield if they can get to the venues.

There will be free taster classes running throughout June. After that, women can either join the IWF Sports Club, which will then give them unlimited access to a range of activities for just £5 a month, or they can be signposted to professional sports clubs in their specific field of interest.

The Sports Club is just one of the projects run by Inspirational Women Foundation CIC, a community interest company, established to provide a voice for gender equality, at home, in the workplace, in business and in society as a whole.

IWF Sports Development Manager, Harleen Kaur, said: “One of our strategies is to help provide more support for women in sport and to create spaces for them to participate, experience and enjoy it.

“The aim is not to encourage women to play sport, as that is never the issue. Women are not hard to reach and they are very much interested in getting involved. In fact, there is increased demand right now, with so many people keen to get active again after lockdown. But we found that the challenge women face is that there aren’t enough facilities and resources for them to enjoy sport in environments that are either women-only or female-friendly.

“For example, when we were out doing our research to find venues to book space for our sports activities, we discovered that most of the venue space is already occupied by men – particularly cricket and football pitches. In addition, they are male-owned and managed, which often leads to them not really being geared up for women’s needs. IWF intends to change this and our sports club is the start of that movement.”

The IWF Sports Club was briefly launched in early 2020, having won funding from Sport England to run some free sessions of various sporting activities for women of all backgrounds and ages from 16 upwards. But then Covid struck, and the club was forced to close.

The programme now receives funding support from Inspirational Women Foundation CIC through its CEO and founder Fatima Patel, of RF Publishing in Bradford.

Fatima set up the foundation to help other women succeed, in response to the challenges she faced herself as a woman setting up and running a media organisation. She is now assisted by Jane Vincent, Director of recruitment agency Fortem People, who chairs the foundation. Jane herself became a household name when she starred in the Channel 4 reality show “The Jobcentre” some years ago.

To get involved, register your interest or for further information email harleen@inspirationalwomanfoundation.org.uk, or message on www.facebook.com/Inspirationalwomenfoundation/

You can also phone 01274 721419 or 07950 574 781, or message on Whatsapp.