Bolton School to Host National Sports Conference for Girls

3 August 2018

Bolton School will host the prestigious Girls Go Gold Conference on Thursday 13 September, an annual event organised in conjunction with the Girls’ School Association (GSA), which attracts hundreds of elite sportswomen in Years 10-13 who represent their county or country in their chosen sport, as well as those girls studying GCSE and A Level PE in GSA schools. 

In what promises to be a motivating and thought-provoking day, there will be two keynote speakers: Sam Quek MBE, GB hockey Gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, will be joined by 3000m and 5000m Olympic athlete, Eilish McColgan. 

The overarching theme for the day will be “Where Sport Can Take You” and a variety of speakers and workshops will illustrate the many career paths in sport.  There will be four practical sessions run by University staff on sports and biomechanics testing, sports intervention, sports rehabilitation and physiotherapy; there will also be a netball masterclass led by Manchester Thunder youth coaches Phil Owen and Suzanne Bass and a podiatry session led by Dr Lindsay Hill. Victoria Screaton, BBC Sport Producer will talk about tv sports production and John Watson, BBC sports presenter, will lecture on sports journalism and tv presenting. A large number of Sports Departments from Universities will be in attendance, including Loughborough, Liverpool John Moores, Chester, Bolton, UCLAN, Liverpool Hope and Edge Hill.  Girls will also have the opportunity to learn about overseas sports placements as an alternative pathway to develop both academic and sports scholarship opportunities in the USA through Sporting Chance USA. It is one of two such conferences; the other will be hosted by Tudor Hall in Oxfordshire. 

Headmistress of the Girls’ Division at Bolton School, Miss Sue Hincks, said: “We are very excited to host, once again, the renowned Girls Go Gold Conference.  We look forward to welcoming a wide range of speakers who will inspire the young elite sportswomen from across the region.  The aim of the day will be to motivate girls to believe that anything is possible with lots of hard work and the right mental attitude to develop their talent.” 

Demand to attend is expected to be high so numbers will be restricted to a maximum of 15 students and two adults per school. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. To register your interest in attending the day contact Mrs Kathryn Heatherington, Head of PE at the following email address: [email protected]  

Bolton is just North of Manchester and is easily accessible by motorway and rail links. Birmingham is 97 miles away via the M6, Leeds is 47 miles away and Sheffield is 57 miles. The School is on a main route, only 5 minutes off from the motorway.