[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
three months ago I convinced a bunch of
60 women to make history now this story
started as all great adventures do
whilst I was sat on the sofa complaining
at the TV I was so angry that I saw more
stories about horses than women in the
sports pages I was frustrated that elite
women don’t get a fair wage to play the
sports they love if they’re paid at all
and I was annoyed there are far fewer
opportunities for girls and women to
play sport and fewer role models to look
up to soccer has this incredible power
to unite people but for me the beautiful
game had turned quite ugly the sport I
loved had been reduced to soccer
brackets women always an afterthought
kicked off the pitch because the boys
needed to Train hand-me-down kit cut for
men not women no coverage of the big
games where were my role models where
are my heroes I wanted to change the
conversation so that future generations
don’t have to ask the same tired old
questions I wanted to create an equal
playing field so that women can step
onto the pitch as equals so that girls
growing up around the world can just
play so had this idea why not have a
kick about at the top of Kilimanjaro
what at play soccer 2,000 metres higher
than the world’s highest stadium but how
do you take an idea from the grassroots
to a global movement and how do you
inspire women and girls to do something
that has never been done before and
something people actively told me they
couldn’t do as a committed amateur my
greatest sporting achievement to date
had been being bumped into by Venus
Williams at Wimbledon so step one I need
it to inspire
myself I needed to ask what am i capable
of
how far can i push myself I also needed
to speak up a belief silence makes you
complicit and I was being a spectator to
my own issues I would need to find my
voice and add to it the voices of others
and together speak loud enough to be
heard so secondly I needed to find a
squad I needed to find 20 players for
referees and two goalkeepers willing to
put their bodies to the test
and step into the unknown I got up from
my incredibly comfy sofa and took the
first step I called my friend Erin and
she immediately said yes I’m in and
together we went out with a simple
message opportunity equality respect
nothing more nothing less
we called up anyone and everyone who
would listen but about six months out
from the check we almost had to call off
because it was so hard to build that
initial momentum everyone was like yeah
that’s a great idea
but there is no way I am climbing a
mountain and ironically we struggled to
raise small amount of money for a
campaign that highlights the struggles
that female athletes have to get paid
but slowly our message got through and
one by one we’d built up this awesome
squad 24 nationalities came forward from
the grassroots to the elite and we said
to each and every woman that answered
our call you are worth something you are
valued we value the time and effort that
you have put in to make this game
beautiful and I’ll promise to you we’re
gonna inspire you to do things you never
even dreamed were possible
together we built a like-minded global
network of women and men because we
believe diversity is our strongest asset
we had our community we had our volcano
climbing soccer playing goal scoring
squad of mountain sisters and then we
focused on the mission set a world
record now growing up I used to watch
the Guinness world record TV show and
they had a mantra which is dedication is
what you need but what they don’t tell
you is you need ridiculous persistence
relentless optimism and a very large
supply of blister plastics halfway up a
night-time thousand meter vertical climb
I did wonder what on earth was I doing
here Haneen one of our players from
Jordan wondered the same thing and she
gave herself two reasons to turn back it
was minus 14 degrees she was exhausted
she then gave herself 60 reasons to
carry on the 60 people around her
sharing our hopes and her dreams dawn
broke and we reached the crater and our
volcanic lava sand full-size pitch stood
before us five thousand seven hundred
and fourteen meters into the sky and
then came the easy part we got to play
we got to chutes and tackle and miss the
ball and save the ball and forget that
we’re high up in the air and can’t
breathe very well
we got to play for all the women and
girls denied the opportunity to play we
got to play in spite of all the people
who told us it wasn’t possible who told
us how many things could go wrong and
yet here we were playing the beautiful
game the final whistle blew and I had
the coolest feeling I surprised myself
I’d surpassed my own expectations I put
my body and my idea to the test and
succeeded and together my team surprised
me we’d set a world record for the
highest altitude soccer match of any
gender ever
so it’s set a world record but we’d also
seeded an idea an idea that became
bigger than one individual bigger than
one team by inspiring ourselves we’d
inspired others to use their voices and
we have been heard we put our stories in
the news we made a documentary and I’m
standing here talking to you today we’re
addressing the problems I saw from my
sofa we’re creating our own role models
I’ve never been more inspired than by my
mountain sisters so it’s climbing a
mountain the end of it no we’re still
got work to do
less than 10 percent of FIFA’s budget
goes to women’s soccer we want to keep
talking about this until we don’t have
to talk about it anymore we want to keep
working together to create change change
that so that more women and girls can
climb and conquer their own mountains
change until it becomes socially
unacceptable not to believe in our idea
of a more equitable society and change
not through angry protests but through
quiet persistence and creating a
community and play now we’re running
soccer camps around the world with girls
that never even kicked a ball before and
coaching female teams to be the best
athletes they can be my idea is on its
own journey around the world without me
we’ve taken the first step now it’s up
to the rest of the squad that’s you so
how do you take that first step on your
own Mountain journey what’s easy you
just get off the sofa I challenge you to
surprise yourself to change your own
limits of what is possible and what is
permitted and sometimes it’s hard to
surprise yourself so use your energy to
inspire others because you’ll need a
squad around you if you’re going to
shift this
a tusk whoa and finally when your idea
is big enough to stand on its own let it
fly and go and change and be absorbed by
others and then look around you and go
and find the next mountain to climb
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
three months ago I convinced a bunch of
60 women to make history now this story
started as all great adventures do
whilst I was sat on the sofa complaining
at the TV I was so angry that I saw more
stories about horses than women in the
sports pages I was frustrated that elite
women don’t get a fair wage to play the
sports they love if they’re paid at all
and I was annoyed there are far fewer
opportunities for girls and women to
play sport and fewer role models to look
up to soccer has this incredible power
to unite people but for me the beautiful
game had turned quite ugly the sport I
loved had been reduced to soccer
brackets women always an afterthought
kicked off the pitch because the boys
needed to Train hand-me-down kit cut for
men not women no coverage of the big
games where were my role models where
are my heroes I wanted to change the
conversation so that future generations
don’t have to ask the same tired old
questions I wanted to create an equal
playing field so that women can step
onto the pitch as equals so that girls
growing up around the world can just
play so had this idea why not have a
kick about at the top of Kilimanjaro
what at play soccer 2,000 metres higher
than the world’s highest stadium but how
do you take an idea from the grassroots
to a global movement and how do you
inspire women and girls to do something
that has never been done before and
something people actively told me they
couldn’t do as a committed amateur my
greatest sporting achievement to date
had been being bumped into by Venus
Williams at Wimbledon so step one I need
it to inspire
myself I needed to ask what am i capable
of
how far can i push myself I also needed
to speak up a belief silence makes you
complicit and I was being a spectator to
my own issues I would need to find my
voice and add to it the voices of others
and together speak loud enough to be
heard so secondly I needed to find a
squad I needed to find 20 players for
referees and two goalkeepers willing to
put their bodies to the test
and step into the unknown I got up from
my incredibly comfy sofa and took the
first step I called my friend Erin and
she immediately said yes I’m in and
together we went out with a simple
message opportunity equality respect
nothing more nothing less
we called up anyone and everyone who
would listen but about six months out
from the check we almost had to call off
because it was so hard to build that
initial momentum everyone was like yeah
that’s a great idea
but there is no way I am climbing a
mountain and ironically we struggled to
raise small amount of money for a
campaign that highlights the struggles
that female athletes have to get paid
but slowly our message got through and
one by one we’d built up this awesome
squad 24 nationalities came forward from
the grassroots to the elite and we said
to each and every woman that answered
our call you are worth something you are
valued we value the time and effort that
you have put in to make this game
beautiful and I’ll promise to you we’re
gonna inspire you to do things you never
even dreamed were possible
together we built a like-minded global
network of women and men because we
believe diversity is our strongest asset
we had our community we had our volcano
climbing soccer playing goal scoring
squad of mountain sisters and then we
focused on the mission set a world
record now growing up I used to watch
the Guinness world record TV show and
they had a mantra which is dedication is
what you need but what they don’t tell
you is you need ridiculous persistence
relentless optimism and a very large
supply of blister plastics halfway up a
night-time thousand meter vertical climb
I did wonder what on earth was I doing
here Haneen one of our players from
Jordan wondered the same thing and she
gave herself two reasons to turn back it
was minus 14 degrees she was exhausted
she then gave herself 60 reasons to
carry on the 60 people around her
sharing our hopes and her dreams dawn
broke and we reached the crater and our
volcanic lava sand full-size pitch stood
before us five thousand seven hundred
and fourteen meters into the sky and
then came the easy part we got to play
we got to chutes and tackle and miss the
ball and save the ball and forget that
we’re high up in the air and can’t
breathe very well
we got to play for all the women and
girls denied the opportunity to play we
got to play in spite of all the people
who told us it wasn’t possible who told
us how many things could go wrong and
yet here we were playing the beautiful
game the final whistle blew and I had
the coolest feeling I surprised myself
I’d surpassed my own expectations I put
my body and my idea to the test and
succeeded and together my team surprised
me we’d set a world record for the
highest altitude soccer match of any
gender ever
so it’s set a world record but we’d also
seeded an idea an idea that became
bigger than one individual bigger than
one team by inspiring ourselves we’d
inspired others to use their voices and
we have been heard we put our stories in
the news we made a documentary and I’m
standing here talking to you today we’re
addressing the problems I saw from my
sofa we’re creating our own role models
I’ve never been more inspired than by my
mountain sisters so it’s climbing a
mountain the end of it no we’re still
got work to do
less than 10 percent of FIFA’s budget
goes to women’s soccer we want to keep
talking about this until we don’t have
to talk about it anymore we want to keep
working together to create change change
that so that more women and girls can
climb and conquer their own mountains
change until it becomes socially
unacceptable not to believe in our idea
of a more equitable society and change
not through angry protests but through
quiet persistence and creating a
community and play now we’re running
soccer camps around the world with girls
that never even kicked a ball before and
coaching female teams to be the best
athletes they can be my idea is on its
own journey around the world without me
we’ve taken the first step now it’s up
to the rest of the squad that’s you so
how do you take that first step on your
own Mountain journey what’s easy you
just get off the sofa I challenge you to
surprise yourself to change your own
limits of what is possible and what is
permitted and sometimes it’s hard to
surprise yourself so use your energy to
inspire others because you’ll need a
squad around you if you’re going to
shift this
a tusk whoa and finally when your idea
is big enough to stand on its own let it
fly and go and change and be absorbed by
others and then look around you and go
and find the next mountain to climb
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
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