By: Amanda Yang

It seems that women are helping the sports skateboarding and surfing rise in popularity. An estimated 200,000 females participated in these sports since the covid 19 pandemic began.

In the latest survey of Australia’s physical activity, the Australian Sports Commission found out that most Aussies who took up skating and surfing from 2019 to 2021 were female and 15 years old or over. The report also found that “exergaming,” which is using games to exercise, is also on the rise, going from less than 10,000 participants in 2019 to 935,000 in 2021. This report also found that exercise has returned to a pre-pandemic state, with women being most active.

Basketball is the fastest-growing team sport with 219,000 more participants from 2019 to 2021. Football grew by 196,000 participants, volleyball increased by 121,000, and cricket by 102,000 more participants.

Ella Smit, age 17, from Gippsland, said she fell in love with skateboarding years ago when watching professionals on the world stage do it. Ella said that she saw girls skateboarding on TV and the social media platform YouTube, and she wanted to give it a try.

Her mother, Gabby Smit, said she was supportive of her daughter participating in a usually male-dominated sport. “I’ve always encouraged Ella to get involved in any sport she chooses to do – as long as she’s happy and enjoys it,” Ms. Smit said.

Australian Sports Commission chief executive Kieren Perkins welcomed the surge of new popularity in exercise and sports. “Adults are participating in more activities than they did two years ago, and while men and boys are driving the return to clubs, women continue to be physically active more often,” he said.