Year 9 school students from across The City of Greater Geelong have joined forces with young people from Colac Otway and Surf Coast Shires to say ‘no’ to gender-based violence by participating in the Barwon Respect Cup.
The Barwon Respect Cup is a community based respectful relationship program which aims to inform young people of the drivers of gender-based violence so they can make informed choices to challenge those drivers in their relationships to move towards a safe and equal future.
The event was led by The City of Greater Geelong and Netball Victoria alongside community partners Barwon Community Legal Services, the Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre and the Department of Education (Respectful Relationships).
A series of fun, physical activities were followed by a series of interactive respectful relationship workshops.
The workshops saw students explore topics such as gender stereotypes, coercive control and other types of relationship violence, consent, personal boundaries as part of a healthy relationship and safe bystander interventions.
Students gathered on the Kardinia Park netball courts for the afternoon session, participating in a round robin netball competition.
The school with the most points at the end of the day – earned through showing respect in the workshops and on the court, as well as through winning netball games – would be awarded the Respect Cup.
Following four closely fought netball rounds, played, at times through heavy rainfall, Western Heights College come out on top after winning all their games and showing a high level of respect towards each other, opponents, umpires and facilitators throughout the day.
Greater Geelong Mayor Trent Sullivan
The City is delighted to join forces with Netball Victoria in providing the experience.
The workshops equipped the students with some valuable knowledge and experiences, while the netball competition provided an enjoyable physical outlet for an active age group.
Respect is at the core of all healthy relationships, so I’m delighted that this has developed as a priority for our younger secondary school-aged students.
The lessons learnt are important ones that I hope the students retain moving into adulthood as responsible and caring members of the community.
Deputy Mayor Anthony Aitken
I congratulate Western Heights College on its success.
Western Heights College students not only revealed their talents in the sporting challenges but went about the whole day in a respectful and caring manner.
I applaud them for what they’ve achieved but I’m sure the judges’ task was made very challenging by the enthusiasm and responsiveness of all participants.
It was terrific that the City of Greater Geelong could support so many students coming from as far south as Surf Coast and Colac Otway Shires.
