Volvo Ocean Race – Team SCA’s super fan

by Corinna Halloran on 25 Nov 2014 Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 – Corinna Halloran reports on day five of leg 2 for Team SCA.

Team SCA has a super fan. She’s seven and, at home, she has posters of Team SCA on her wall. As a member of the team, and as a woman in 2014, this is extremely cool. When I was three, I had posters of horses and 'New Kids on the Block' on my wall. The fact that there is a little girl already aspiring to be like us means we are doing our job correctly.

'This is not just about going out and winning the Volvo Ocean Race,' Libby said. 'This is about something so much more, it’s about something bigger. When a seven year old is interested, it’s like ‘wow this is really big.’ In sailing you’re so focused on crossing the finish line, but this is about so much more. It’s about changing way we think. If anything, it will start by changing how see women in sailing.'

What’s so fantastic is Abby Ehler, Stacey Jackson, Sally Barkow, and Libby Greenhalgh are becoming household names for young women around the world. The women of Team SCA are neither the Beyoncés nor the Hilary Clintons of the world—they’re simply every day women.

Yes, the women of Team SCA have worked incredibly hard to get to where they are today, however they enjoy cooking, a trip to the cinema, spending time with friends and family, eating chocolate, and so on. The women of Team SCA are real. What the women of Team SCA show all women, young and old, is that you can go out and achieve your dream—you can follow in our footsteps.

Sailing is an international sport that is so often looked at ‘a wealthy man’s game.’ Sailing is not 'mainstream' like basketball, football, or golf. Sailing is confusing and technical.

However, the reality is: sailing is something anyone can do—especially if there’s a ‘learn to sail’ program in your area. Sailing is way cooler than mainstream sports because the sport sends their athletes into the front line, 24/7; you don’t see Michael Jordan sleeping on the basketball court! Sailing, at its most pure and simple form, is about the wind, the sea, and water.

What I’m getting at here is that sailing is a very cool sport, and little three year olds are interested in the sailors which means Team SCA has the power to change the world—through sailing. We have the power to not only share the love and the joy for the water, but we are role models who have the power to encourage the little girls out there to achieve their dreams. Yep, Libby is right, this is something Team SCA website