Surfer Easkey Britton in Iran

I had lots of fun working on a piece about Irish surfer Easkey Britton this week, one of the most inspiring sports women around really. This video was shot when she travelled to Iran on a surfing trip. Yes, Iran. 
Easkey Britton surf en Iran- http://marionpoizeau.com from marion poizeau on Vimeo.

Can you help "With this Ring" boxing film?

This weekend women's amateur boxing finally gets its dues - and there is something you can do to help spread the story of these pioneers. 

As I wrote here, it's been 108 years since boxing made its debut as a demonstration sport at the St Louis Games but the women have finally arrived. Canadian film-makers Ameesha Joshi and Anna Sarkissian have followed three Indian fighters since 2006, charting their attempts first to fight and then to make London2012.

Mary Kom pic IBN LIve

You will may recognise one of them - Mary Kom, with her five World Titles at 46kgs. But the other two are no laggards either, Chhoto Loura has two bronze medals (world) at 50kgs and Sarita Devi is a five-time Asian champion at 51kgs.

It's been a difficult journey as the Olympic categories didn't really fit with their natural fighting weights - Kom comes to London in the 51kgs category. And Devi boxed at 60gs at the World Championships in May in a qualifying attempt which ultimately failed.

And no less difficult for the film-makers. We've been in touch since I first posted about them in July 2010, Ameesha sent me the latest on their funding efforts yesterday:

"Our story ends at the Olympics where Mary Kom will be competing and could be the first Indian woman ever to win a gold medal.  So it's exciting times.  Co-director/Cinematographer Anna Sarkissian is in Liverpool at the moment with Mary Kom for her final days of training.

We launched an online campaign to help raise money to pay for post-production so we can get this completed and out there.

We have 22 more days to raise $17,500 and could use all the help we could get.  Our fundraising campaign is hosted by Indiegogo, the crowdfunding site.

We are also huge fans of Katie Taylor, have had the pleasure of watching her compete since 2006. After seeing her at the Worlds in Qinhuangdao, I think they should just give her the gold, she was light years ahead of her competition! "

I love the Katie Taylor mention, very gracious of you Ameesha! So if you're gutted not to be in London and want to see more women's boxing on the screen, go to Indiegogo  It's worth a look even just for the sponsor-package titles.


Why have they done this?

Ameesha Joshi: "India has some of the best women boxers in the world. They have risen to the top from very humble circumstances. Although I grew up in Canada, my parents emigrated from India and I'm aware of the cultural expectations and could imagine some of the criticism these woman would've faced. We knew we had found some extraordinary trailblazers.”

Anna Sarkissian: "They are so unique, and yet unassuming. For a long time, they didn’t really understand why we were interested in filming them. Despite a few perks, they live tough lives, and train in difficult conditions to pursue a sport that many might consider laughable. I have profound respect for the amount of discipline, physical and mental strength that boxing requires and am in awe of their dedication.”

They can be contacted directly through their website: With This Ring

Top Spin - table tennis to the Olympics

And the final Olympic post of the week is courtesy of Kristy Zhen and the team behind the documentary "Top Spin".

Zhen says: "The film chronicles the inspirational journey of three young table tennis champions as they compete around the world for a place in the London Olympics. We've almost finished filming with just one more shoot left, London. We'll be following two of our stars, Ariel Hsing and Lily Zhang, who qualified for their first Olympics at just 16-years-old!

"Our goal is to release the film in early 2013, but we can only do this with your help. We have just launched a Kickstarter campaign. We have until July 19 to raise $75K for post-production."

Enjoy - and if you have a few cents (of any currency) pop over to KickStarter and give them a hand.

Biking in the mountains

How did it get to be Friday again? Today's video is ..well it's an advert. I've written a few posts drawing attention to insulting sports clothing adverts so when I see a good one, it's got to be shared.
(I've never even heard of this company before so no connections if you wondering).

Enjoy the bike-ride and have a great weekend.

Fast Girls

If you are one of the women taking part in the Flora Mini-marathon or the Tri-burgh in Mayo, maybe you can get some extra inspiration from these women.

'Fast Girls' is the fictional tale of a group of British sprinters looking to qualify for a World Championships. You can probably tell by looking at their gait but these actresses suffered for their art.

Dominique Tipper - Sarah - told the Guardian: "We all said 'fine' straight away, but we had no idea what was coming." Six-days a week training with the British team will do that.

Enjoy the trailer and have a great weekend!

Do you see sexism in your sport?

Female media managers locked out of press conferences, questions on your sexual preferences and strings of comments on your appearance – just some of the issues raised by an interesting BBC documentary “Sexism in Football” this week.

Narrated by journalist Gabby Logan, the doco was packed with examples of behaviour you might have thought extinct by now. Based on interviews with women from “Women in Football” (WiF), it was an eye-opener.

Having worked in boxing for years, it wasn’t so much that the behaviour was shocking but I was surprised it takes place in such a mainstream sport. *shakes head at self *

Had to laugh at this story though: Logan was working at a football match and the fans started shouting: ‘Get your tits out’. Sitting in the press box, she ignored them as did the other journalists. Then Sir Bobby Robson, renowned former England manager, turned to the crowd, lifted his shirt and proceeded to massage his chest in their general direction. Priceless.

One thing mentioned in every interview will ring a bell for any woman working or playing in a male-dominated sphere – don’t rock the boat! Some of the women Logan approached declined to be interviewed, while others visibly pulled their punch-lines.

“Sexism in Sport” was reaching for positivity towards the end, looking at the inclusion of Helen Rabbatts on the FA Board and other changes. There's been a big shift for example since this story of the Dick Kerr Ladies in 1921. This is what really makes the doco I think, we do have to recognise the huge progress made in the last 50 years but the trick is to keep on pushing.

What do you think – has your sport changed, is there more to do?

Caley Reece vs Magdalena Rak in Bangkok

Wednesday: Update from Caley: Thanks to everyone for their messages!! Had a great fight against Magdalena Rak from Poland and won on points. Was good to fight a westerner again.!Thanks to Sinbi Taewoong , Daz, Ben Needle, Robyn Marinkovich Needle, Steve Morris and Pinky BuaChompoo and to Stephan Fox and WMC for bringing over for such a great historical event! Now for EPIC..... 10 DAYS! What?? Really no more choc milk???? xx

Some very exciting sports news out of Thailand this month - a tiny step closer to having MuayThai in the Olympics. This has been a long time coming, and I mean a long time. I started working with IFMA in Bangkok in 2001 and it was already a historic process back then. There is so little space on the Olympic card* that you just don't know what could happen but for now, it's all good.

And tonight one of the best female fighters in the world Australia Caley Reece takes on Polish champion Magdalena Rak in a celebration of this journey. Umm, some boys are fighting too. Here's Caley training earlier this week down in Sinbi Gym in Phuket, Thailand.





*Will have a great interview with Pam Boteler from WomenCAN International on this topic later in the week

Wee Adventure Film Festival time

And here comes the summer ... This trailer is for the brilliantly-named Wee Adventure Film Festival which takes place here in Dublin tonight.

Enjoy watching, and hope you get to have your own wee adventures this weekend!

Buffalo Girls - child boxers

How young is too young to fight? 

Director Todd Kellstein says: "Their faces beam with youthful innocence. Like other young girls, they laugh and play, in spite of their hardscrabble existence. But on Saturday nights in rural villages throughout central Thailand, some of the nation’s 30,000 child boxers enter the ring, where their tiny fists, elbows, knees and feet fly, pummeling one another in pursuit of prize money as strangers, neighbors, and even their own families, wager on the outcome. Is it exploitation, empowerment or economic necessity?"

Fighting time in Thailand

One of the stranger things about taking part in a sport like Thai Boxing is that non-Thais are always seen as the outsiders - and no matter how big the sport grows, there's always an Us against Them attitude. So of course promoters milk this for all it's worth.

I've interviewed Australian fighter Caley Reece a few times now for this blog - last time here - as her career continues. She's sent on a link to a great fight she had recently in Thailand, part of the Elite Boxing Thailand Vs Challengers series. For anyone who hasn't seen many fights, this is a great introduction.  Commentated by Rob Cox, owner of Kiatphontip Gym in Bangkok it's a learning experience as well as being an exciting bout. And nice to hear a shout-out to my old employers the World MuayThai Council for their progressive work in promoting women's fighting.

Thailand is represented by Ayadet Sor Sawaddee. And yes, that's Caley's husband Darren 'The Riddler' Reece in her corner.

Unfortunately the video is not downloadable so you have click over to the Elite Boxing Channel here to Ayadet Sor Aawaddee vs Caley Reece.

Girls kick it

This is another short from charity Women Win - this one was made in Uganda with a group of inspiring young women using soccer to help rebuild their confidence after traumas suffered during the civil war.

Post-conflict recovery through sport

This is another inspiring short from Women Win looking at different ways women find to recover from trauma suffered during conflict. It might sound a bit facetious to say sport can heal those kinds of scars but watching this, you see it can at least help women to find somewhere to forget for a moment. I'm going to a conference on Gender Based Violence in Dublin today, so seemed an appropriate day to find this film.  


I posted on another Women Win project here.

Snowboarding in Finland

Scrolling through snowboarding films to find one showcasing women? Leave some time for that search. But there are some - like this one from Finland. "Shotgun" was produced by Suomen Naislautailijat & Optic Oy and filmed by Osku Tuominen & Olli Koivula. If you like this trailer, you can find the full 26 minutes here on Vimeo.


Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Dreaming Olympic Rings in Italy

Italian boxer Romina Marenda is getting ready for London.2012 in this short from Tony Gentile. She says: "Sometimes they only show the worst of this sport but it (boxing) is also elegant, also technique. If you are clever, you don't break your nose."

Have a great weekend!

Let's play soccer Jalla, girls!

Jalla! Jalla! means Let's go in Arabic. And that's what the women in this great short from Annalisa Vozza are doing - playing soccer (or should that be football?) in Bethlehem with the Palestinian team. Vozza has made some powerful films about parts of the world we usually associate with conflict. This award-winning short is the story of Honey and Jackline. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Women wrestlers in Turkey

Wrestling always reminds me of reading John Irving's The World According to Garp. Strange but true. And in the week of the European Boxing championships in Rotterdam, it seems like a good chance to look at another contact sport for women. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Amy does Parkour in Melbourne

This is great! Only a few minutes long, it's the best explanation I've heard for why some people are addicted to leaping buildings. Another sport I wish I had tried when I was 17 and thought I was invincible. Filmed in Melbourne, lovely shots of the city as well as Amy show us what she does.

Have a healthy weekend!

Joan Benoit and the Chicago Marathon 2011

American marathoner Joan Benoit won the first Olympic Marathon for women at the Los Angeles games in 1984. Twenty-six years later, she's not just still running, she's trying to make an Olympic time once again at 53 years of age. Now married to Scott Samuelson, this clip follows her preparations for the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

Enjoy, be inspired and have a great weekend!

Portugal are Eurosurf champions

Portugal are taking the Eurosurf title back home with them, 14 years after winning it the last time the competition was held in Ireland. Written in the stars maybe? 

The winners women's categories were Catarina Sousa in bodyboarding (Ireland's Ashleigh Smith came second by 0.07 for silver), Sarah Beardmore (Eng) in the Ladies Open. Full details are here on the Bundoran 2011 site. 

Ashleigh Smith, Ireland

One of the highlights was the visit by American surfer Bethany Hamilton, yes she of that incredible recovery-story following a shark-attack. It's all very well to talk about being committed to surfing but it's when you see a story like that, you realise how serious people can be about their passions.

What's the most inspiring recovery story you've heard?

Winter Breaks with Cornish surfers

Ok, I know it's summer up here in the North but with temperatures like 12 degrees, it feels more like this mini-film looks.
Nicola Bunt and Dom Kent feature in this short on the madness of getting in the water when it's freezing outside.
Have a great weekend!  (especially people in Ireland heading to The Picnic)