By Nicole Marion
With tennis rackets in hand and pedometers at their waists, Ottawa’s culturally diverse women are seizing the opportunity to become involved in sports through a program designed specifically for them.
Women who were once unable to experience sports through mainstream programs, due to language barriers and religious restrictions, can now access physical fitness through the city’s Never Too Late for Sport and Physical Activity—Program for Multicultural Women.
The program which was introduced last winter, offering sports programs to women in the Jamaican, Arabic and Chinese communities, is expanding to include women from all of Ottawa’s cultural communities.
“For the first time, all multicultural communities are coming together—Caribbean, Jamaican, Chinese, Arab, Sudanese, [and] Vietnamese,” says Hodan Aden, a public health nurse with the city’s Multicultural Health Unit.
Janis Phillips, a program co-ordinator with Ottawa Parks and Recreation, says she is very happy to see the program reach so many different communities so quickly.
“We don’t want to keep them segregated,” Phillips says.
Never Too Late for Sport and Physical Activity existed for several years before the diversity program was introduced, Phillips says. The program is for women who are not physically active, who have never been introduced to sports, or who would like to become involved in sports again.
After seeing high enrolment in the spring, Phillips says many of the Never Too Late programs have been cancelled this fall due to lack of interest.
Where they are seeing increased interest, Phillips says, is in the Never Too Late program offered to multicultural women, which was created to address the fact that mainstream physical fitness programs were not reaching women of various religious and ethnic backgrounds.
“There are just so many more obstacles for them to overcome to come out and play,” Phillips says.
Raghad Ebied, a project officer with the Multicultural Health Unit, says the program respects cultural considerations. The program is only open to women, involves only female instructors, and takes place in private settings where doors and windows can be covered.
Mainstream fitness programs cannot always guarantee these extra elements, which give many women the comfort needed to become involved in sports, Ebied says.
She says the program offers a relaxed, non-competitive setting, which is attractive to many women.
Community leaders are also involved in the program, and assist instructors and organizers whenever language or cultural barriers become difficult to overcome, Phillips says.
Lam Forsythe, president of the Vietnamese Canadian Community of Ottawa, and three other women from the community came to the first class at Bayview Public School on Oct. 16 to learn skills they can take back to other women in the community.
Phillips says several women such as Forsythe have expressed interest in receiving training to be able to take on a leadership role and offer fitness programs to their respective communities.
The program consists of five one-hour sessions, at a total cost of $10. Women are not only introduced to a sport, but also learn proper stretching techniques, about nutrition and hydration, and have the opportunity to discuss other health concerns with public health nurses.
Instructors try to introduce sports and activities that women can try at home, and with their children. Participants have a lot of input in what they want to do.
Phillips says the use of pedometers is a favourite among many women. At the beginning of every class, they are given pedometers to record the number of steps they take during the hour.
“The average adult should take 10,000 steps a day,” Phillips says. “Once you tell the women that, some take it very seriously.”
She says being able to measure steps gives women the incentive to keep active, and so she is excited pedometers can be rented from city libraries.
“I do a lot of exercise, this is easy for me,” said Forsythe after a tennis lesson. “But I see different ages here. For older women it is helpful, good paced.”