by Dan Cope & Nathan Parker
SERIAN Ganesh is a hockey player from Merthyr Tydfil and currently plays for Howardian Ladies 1st in the South Wales Premier League.
She has been playing hockey since the age of eight and became the youngest member of Wales’ Under 16’s squad when she was picked at the age of 14.
Around the same time as Ganesh’s call up for the national side, she became a hockey coach after successfully obtaining a UKCC level one and two.
Ganesh proved her capabilities as a coach, leading the University of South Wales Hockey 1st team to promotion, having gone a whole season undefeated.
“When I was a sport mad youngster, every sporting opportunity I had (outside of hockey) was mostly aimed at boys,” she said.
“Luckily, this never put me off and I was able to compete against them. However, I appreciate that this would have put off a lot of young girls who would like to get into sport.
“I feel that this is a barrier now being broken for both girls and women with a vast number of female-specific teams, training opportunities and gym classes.
“I think the perception of women in sport has changed as well and is continually evolving for the better.
“Unlike before, where it was seen that women were ‘butch’ if they played sport, the stereotypes have now changed. It’s now ‘cool’ to be strong and active.”
Ganesh was speaking prior to the Women and Sport, Breaking Down Barriers Conference which is being held at the Sport Park in Treforest on Wednesday, (16th).
