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Categories: Lifestyle

This Girl Can Awards

Last night, the Crowne Plaza hotel played host to the Active Newcastle This Girl Can Awards celebrating women in sport across the region.  You’ve seen the campaign on TV and on billboards and the success of #ThisGirlCan at narrowing the gender gap in sport has been huge.  I’m super proud to say that I’m a part of that campaign, and will continue to be because the values fit so well with my own.

As you know, I was nominated in the Ambassador of the Year category and of all of the Ambassadors across the Newcastle region, I made it to the final three based purely on your nominations.  For that I simply can’t thank you enough Voyeurs, you’re just the best and I appreciate  every single vote and nomination that you took the time to make.  In fact, the messages of support I’ve had from you all have actually made me quite emotional which has done nothing for my reputation of being a stone cold hearted, emotionless lab, who cries on the inside, like a winner.

Anyway, back to the Awards ceremony…..

The whole affair was hosted by Lady Anna Foster who spoke passionately about the national initiative and why maintaining the momentum is so important going forward.  I turned up fashionably late wearing a ballgown slashed at the waist to make a full skirt, with a Nike gym top, Balmain belt and KG heels showcasing a roller derby kiss on my left ankle and shin – I really embraced the whole theme of women in sport for this one.  Special thanks to the team at Newcastle Hair and Beauty Clinic for rescuing my ravaged feet and sorting me out with a gorgeous gel pedicure!

Sadly, neither me nor my Newcastle Roller Girls teamies won in our categories.  The Ambassador of the Year Award was shortlisted by public vote and then voted for by the people in the room that night, it was scooped by a fabulous lady by the name of Donna Dyball who has been a huge asset at her local running club.

The awards up for grabs and their respective winners:

Club Session of the Year: Welbeck Warriors

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FDA Coach of the Year: Rachel Dickens (Our very own amazing roller girl Zoe Hayes was up for this award but sadly didn’t win this year)

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Young Ambassador of the Year: Stacey Gardiner

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Commitment to This Girl Can & Ambassador of the Year: Donna Dyball

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If you’re not familiar with the #ThisGirlCan initiative then it’s time you educated yourself and got on board, it’s a growing movement with proven national success and we need amazing women and girls to get behind it.  If you’re a Girl Who Can then I applaud you, if you’re a Girl Who Wants To, then join the campaign, take a class, get out and walk or run, if you fancy something really different then take a look at our roller derby league Newcastle Roller Girls.  You’re never far away from another Girl Who Can and we’re all about building women and girls up, not tearing them down, look around you and you’ll see, #NewcastleGirlsCan and we’re actually a really great bunch.

Huge congrats to Donna Dyball for winning Ambassador of the Year, Donna, that trophy will be aces topped with vanilla ice cream and for me, there’s always 2017…..

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Categories: Lifestyle

Pixie Tenenbaum: This Girl Can

I’ve been shortlisted for an Active Newcastle This Girl Can Award!

Huge, massive thanks to everyone who nominated me, and also my roller derby league Newcastle Roller Girls, in the Active Newcastle #ThisGirlCan Awards.   I can’t tell you how psyched I am to have been shortlisted and how freaking awesome you all are!

This Girl Can is a national initiative and has existed in Newcastle for a year now with a huge media presence and participation from lots of local sports teams and solo Ambassadors; in a nutshell, the initiative aims to address the gender gap in sport and support more women and girls into sport and fitness.

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The main thing you need to know is that the whole This Girl Can thing is really cool, fact.  There are Ambassadors (just like me) all over the country and we’re out there doing our thing, being active and promoting, supporting and celebrating women in sport.  It’s not about forcing fitness on to people, it’s about saying that no matter what your shape, size, ability or weakness, there’s a place for you in the world of sport.  It absolutely doesn’t matter what you look like when you’re working out, and the more girls who really get that message, the better.  After all, if you’re looking goddamn beautiful after a workout, then you probably didn’t work hard enough.

The Active Newcastle This Girl Can Awards ceremony takes place on Saturday march 5th 2016 at The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Newcastle and with literally a billion (ok, not quite a billion) awards up for grabs, all voted for by you the public; it promises to be a fun filled and exciting night.  The best bit is that it’s all about how well we’ve done as a region in closing the gender gap in sport, something we should really all be proud of.

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If you’re a girl, woman, lady, queen, whatever you want to call yourself, and you’ve thrown on a pair of sneakers and ran around the park, swung a kettlebell, punched a heavy bag or anything else active in the last twelve months, then you’re officially one of us, you’re one of those girls who can; and man, it’s a great feeling right?

If you’re not yet convinced but your interest is piqued, then take a class, go to the park, head to the beach for a walk, get up, get out and do something active.  Chances are that you’ll meet other girls who can along the way and we’re a great community here in Newcastle.  Whatever you do, do it for you and do it because you can.  It’s easy to stay home and armed with a whole raft of reasons not to it’s easy to convince yourself not to bother but the real winners are the ones out there doing it despite the reasons not to, they’re the girls who can, and wouldn’t you rather be in their gang?

Pixie x

Keep it here to find out the results of the #ThisGirlCan Awards after March 5th.

 

Categories: Lifestyle

Help Get Newcastle Roller Girls to Beach Brawl!

You all know by now that I joined a roller derby league in my home town of Newcastle, aptly named Newcastle Roller Girls (NRG for short, natch) and you probably also know that roller derby is freaking awesome.

Our league is big and beautiful, with around 80 skaters on the books, an A Team, a B team and a full competitive Intraleague of skaters, we’re a proper professional outfit innit.

Now here’s where it gets serious, our A Team, The Canny Belters are so goddamn aces at what they do, in order to up their game as it were, they need to head out to the States, face some stiff competition and hopefully bring home some hardware.

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For the first time ever, Newcastle Roller Girls will be sending the A Team Stateside to compete at the fantastically named Beach Brawl.  The tournament takes place in my old stomping ground, Miami, Florida May 13th – 15th 2016 and in order to get them there, we need your help……

I know how amazing you all are at getting behind local causes and given the success of the national #ThisGirlCan campaign, I also know you know a golden opportunity when you see one.  I’d love for you to back the Newcastle Roller Girls on their latest mission and get behind their latest campaign to raise funds for Beach Brawl (sounds better the more you say it).

So, what do we need?  Well, in short we need £15,400 to cover all costs associated with getting our gals to this international event.  You may or may not know that roller derby is run on a volunteer-non-profit basis so we need as much help as possible.  Although skaters will each make a contribution towards their travel, we want to send our strongest team to Beach Brawl.  This means selecting based on athletic ability and not excluding talented skaters due to financial constraints.  We want to take the best team, not the richest team.  That means raising funds together as a team, and this Go Fund Me campaign is just one part of our Beach Brawl fundraising activities.

We’ve set up a Go Fund Me page where you can learn more about our team, their achievements and more importantly, what we’ll give you if you donate to our super worthy cause incase the overwhelming send of pride isn’t enough.

So, do it for the love of the game, for the feeling you get from supporting your home team, or because you see an opportunity to open some doors for a great group of girls, but please, just do it.  For me.

Pixie x

Categories: Lifestyle

I Need Your Vote! This Girl Can Awards

If you follow me then you’ll know that I’m an Ambassador for the #ThisGirlCan initiative in Newcastle.  having been involved in sport both competitively and recreationally from an early age, I’m proud to be a spokesperson for the initiative in supporting women into sport regardless of their appearance or ability.

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that the last few years have been a bit of a rollercoaster in terms of health and after finally having major surgery (not without its complications) last July, I used fitness as a rehabilitative measure and have continued to do so citing it as my escapism.  I also have a disabled child whom I try to keep as active as possible in order for him to have the same childhood experiences as other children – something I very rarely talk about.  It’s fair to say that fitness and sport are a huge part of my life.

It is now one year since the Sport England, This Girl Can campaign was launched.  This Girl Can aims to address the gender gap between males and females with 1.73 million less females taking part in sport and physical activity.  To acknowledge the success of the campaign, Active Newcastle are hosting an Awards Ceremony taking place at 7pm Saturday March 5th 2016.  The awards will recognise and reward the achievements of women from the North East who are representing their sport or activity, of which I am one!

There are several categories in which you can cast your vote, I’m up for the award of ‘Ambassador of the Year’ and also ‘Commitment to #ThisGirlCan’, and my Roller Derby Team, Newcastle Roller Girls are up for ‘Club / Group of the Year’ – I’d absolutely love it if you’d show your support by voting for us in these categories.

Now the important bit: To nominate / vote contact kerry.nesbitt@newcastle.gov.uk  by Friday 19th February with your nomination and reasons along with the category in which you wish to nominate and the results will be announced at the awards ceremony on March 5th.

#NewcastleGirlsCan

Pixie x

More information on Active Newcastle and the #ThisGirlCan Awards can be found here.

 

Follow @pixietenenbaum