New film aims to encourage young girls into outdoor sport

Makers of a new Canadian feature film focusing on elite women in sports is hoping to influence young girls to stay in athletics.

The film is being produced by Dave McMahon and Lise Meloche, creators of Clean Oxygen Fed Sport Cinematography, an Ottawa company which produces instructional and motivational sports multimedia. Their goal is to make a video which can be shown to young female athletes as a way to positively shape their image of women’s participation in outdoor sports. If all goes well, it should be released at some point this fall.

This video, they say, will counter messages projected by mainstream media. In their fundraising petition, they explain that mainstream media conveys female athletes as weaker, infantile and unfeminine and that young girls are often discouraged from becoming athletes. Statistics that they list to back it up: 83 per cent of girls quit sports by the age of 17 and male-dominated sports make up 98 per cent of sports coverage.

So what are they doing about it? McMahon and Meloche have worked on the documentary which features 77 female elite athletes in 27 different outdoor sports. These include track, trail running, obstacle racing, cross-country skiing, triathlon and snowshoeing. This is footage which they have been gathering over the past two years. To add to it, they have gone and shot young girl athletes ages eight to 18.

So far, these Ottawa film producers have raised $14,625 on their kickstarter campaign. Their goal was $14,000. The documentary should be released next month.