Sports have become taboo when girls reach a certain stage and leave behind their passion for it. However, ‘Sisters In Sweat’ (SIS), an organisation founded by Swetha Subbaih and Tanvie Hans, is making an effort to fill the vacuum left by women quitting sports, particularly after high school or college for a variety of reasons. In an interview with Asian Voice, Tanvie Hans spoke about how her organisation is helping the women to connect with sports and wellness.
1) How did ‘Sisters In Sweat’ come into existence? How did you plan your regimen to be inclusive of different generations?
When Swetha introduced me as a footballer to her friend Schonalli, in September of 2017, in Bangalore, she immediately suggested doing a fun football session for her and her girlfriends, who were all in their mid 30s at the time. So, we organised a small ground the following weekend and designed a one-and-a-half-hour session, keeping in mind that these women hadn’t played football before, or at best had played sport many years ago. We were expecting a handful of women at best, but 17 women turned up, and absolutely loved the session! They then requested for us to do a session for them every weekend. About a year and a half, we grew to about 300 community members just from this one session every week.
2) Can you describe an instance where working on this all women initiative made all efforts worth it and inspired you to go bigger and better?
We’ve been doing this for almost 6 years now, so the multitude of instances and transformative stories we’ve heard and continue to hear from our members are all so gratifying and encouraging.
For instance, Schonalli’s son, Dante attended one of my state team matches at the Bangalore football stadium, where he turned to his mum and asked her ‘Do boys also play football?’ That moment was raw evidence of impact which certainly created a memorable moment for us.
3) You have a strong standing in the urban cities of the country. Do you think ‘Sisters In Sweat’ can assert the same hold in rural and remote parts, given the added veil of sexist stereotypes?
We have often discussed building a vertical that engages the rural parts of society. We would of course have to pivot the model that we have to best impact the rural culture. The focus would primarily be on giving the girls FREE access to sport, because sport by itself is a powerful tool for social and cultural transformation.
Apart from limited resources, it’s often also the lack of female role models and a mentor that discourages the family from letting their girl child pursue sport or other professional paths. Therefore, we have also worked on mentorship programmes for girls from unprivileged homes, to up-skill them and create a possible employment pathway.
4) Women, personally, face a number of problems like menstruation, and work and family pressures that prevent them from pursuing sports. As an organisation that caters specifically to women, how do you help your members with these issues?
Women have to often break a number of social and cultural barriers to participate in activities outside of their "core" family unit. One big hurdle faced by women from their families, is with regards to interacting with the opposite sex in a social setting and excludes them from playing sport. As an all-women’s community, we are able to overcome this barrier negating any objections that women from conservative families may have.
With regards to menstruation, many women tend to abstain and drop out from playing sport due to a sense of embarrassment and discomfort. As an all women community, SIS has created a safe space for women to feel comfortable participating and sharing their feelings around it.
5) Any upcoming projects you have been working on?
One of our most exciting upcoming projects is the multi-city Sweat fest. The Sweat fest will be a celebration of fitness and sisterhood which aims to bring women across the country that may not have had an opportunity to attend one of our sessions together. In a carnival atmosphere, we will have a variety of fitness/wellness classes ranging from Yoga to dance for our participants to enjoy.