‘This matters so much’ – Tess Howard on clothing win for women hockey players

Tess Howard has been tipped to star on the hockey pitch at her first Olympics but the 25-year-old’s impact will be felt beyond any goals she manages to score in Paris.

When the British women’s team open their campaign against Spain on Sunday, some players will wear skorts – skirts with tight shorts underneath – and the others shorts.

Skorts were the only option until a campaign by Howard, backed up by her university research project, resulted in first England Hockey changing its rules in March 2023, with the International Hockey Federation following suit last June.

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Howard’s research showed that sports kit and body image concerns are both a significant barrier to women and girls taking part in exercise and a trigger for them to drop out.

She founded Inclusive Sportswear to campaign for change, and told the PA news agency: “Because I had done the research, I knew how many people cared about it so I felt like it was finally a moment to give voice to so much discomfort, not just within hockey but within other sports to do with traditionally gendered uniforms, and at school.

“So I knew there would be support. I didn’t know it was going to have the impact that it had nationally and globally. But it’s just the start, we’ve only scratched the surface.

“You see other nations starting to do it but for me it’s the grass roots and the school level that means so much, when I get little messages on Instagram from girls saying they wore their shorts for the first time and they feel so much more confident.

“Or parents writing in saying we’ve spoken to the teachers at school and finally my daughter can wear what she wants. Those sorts of moments matter so much to me.”

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