1. 32 Physical Education Matters Autumn 2015
Inclusion MattersInclusion Matters
Paul Hildreth and Helen Mackenzie
These Girls Can – and Do!
VX and Gender Equality
Introduction
The involvement of women in sport is a
current hot topic as exemplified by dedicated
conferences such as the Women Play Sport
National Conference and initiatives such as
This Girl Can (Parker, 2015). The success
of the England women’s football team at the
World Cup this summer has brought the
discussion about women in sport into even
sharper focus with the debate now reaching
the mainstream media (for example, Holt 2015).
Although not an initiative dedicated to
increasing the participation of women in sport,
VX is having great success in this area;
this article explores why this might be the
case and looks at specific examples. As a
result of this success, Global VX, the sport's
international administrative body, was asked
to present at the recent Women Play Sport
National Conference (Hildreth, 2015a, 2015b).
What is VX?
VX is a young UK sport, launched at the Youth
Sport Trust’s Sports Colleges Conference in
February 2006. Since that time it has had
an impact in schools, colleges, universities,
leisure centres, the military, prisons and youth
organisations in the UK and has spread to a
number of different countries.
VX is played as a team game with five players
per team in a sports hall, or as singles (V2)
(Bushell, 2013) or doubles (V4) in a squash
court. No specific markings are required: the
aim of the game is to hit opponents with the
tennis ball-sized sports balls. Each player uses
a VstiX to launch the balls. In VX there are
five balls in play, in V2 there are three balls
and in V4 four balls. Although referred to as
“dodgeball on steroids” in the USA, unlike
dodgeball, players are not restricted to their
own half, nor are they out when they are hit.
The player raises a hand to indicate that she
or he has been hit and the referee records the
point and tells the player to play on.
VX is an inclusive sport, accessible to players
of all abilities and those with a wide range of
physical and cognitive impairments. The sport
is also totally gender-neutral: there are no
ratios. A team can be all-male, all-female or
any mix. Even in singles, males and females
play on an equal footing. VX is one of the few
sports where males and females compete
on an equal basis and one of the even fewer
sports where they do so and have to really
exert themselves.
Of particular interest to teachers seems to
be that VX is versatile, flexible, inclusive,
mixed, a ‘no-blame game’ and has honesty,
integrity, respect and sportsmanship as its
four cornerstones.
VX and women in sport
VX’s gender neutrality was the reason for
the invitation to present at the National
Women Play Sport Conference 2015 and
why the presentation was so well-received by
delegates. It is important to emphasise that
VX is not a programme to get women involved
in sport, but rather that VX simply does not
discriminate. There are no dedicated female
teams (this might have to change in some
countries because of religious laws but, in
general, there is absolutely no division of the
sexes in VX).
A key point to come out of the conference
was that in established sports there is an
ingrained culture that needs changing. That
simply does not exist in VX. As a young sport,
VX does not have this culture and the VX
community does not have these attitudes; a
VX player is simply a VX player, irrespective of
gender. In fact, it is recognised that girls are
generally better than boys to start with in VX,
which raises the question as to why this might
be. VX is a game of finesse and accuracy,
not power. In general, girls recognise this
immediately whereas the boys immediately go
for a game of power. As beginners this affects
their accuracy: they try to send strong shots
and long shots but miss the target, whereas
the female players are quietly scoring lots
of points. VX coaches work to coach power

2. 33Physical Education Matters Autumn 2015
out of players at all levels. This is a key point,
even in introductory sessions in schools. Girls
also tend to be the first to grasp the idea of
teamwork. One of the major benefits of VX
is that players can be playing at a fast pace
within ten minutes. At this stage it is very
much an individual approach but, as players
get better, structures, communication, tactics
and discipline emerge and it is the girls who
lead the way down this route.
Obviously, not all girls take to the sport
immediately. In introductory sessions there
are sometimes one or two girls who don’t
get involved. However, with five balls in play
it is more difficult not to be involved and VX
coaches have a number of strategies to get
these girls involved in the game: it might
just be getting them to keep running, but
most coaches generally do better than this.
Once the girls have actually thrown a ball at
an opponent it often acts as the trigger for
further independent involvement.
Everyone can enjoy a high degree of success
in VX, even those who claim to have no hand-
eye co-ordination. Once they are taught the
basic pick-up and the basic throw they have
enough to play.
Schools
Feedback from schools indicates that they use
VX in a variety of ways, one of which is to
target specific student groups, for example,
disenfranchised students, less sporty children,
and Year 9/10 girls. This latter group comprises
girls who might drift away from sport and PE
teachers have to find innovative ways to keep
them involved. Leicester City School Sport
Partnership runs a Women in Sport Day
specifically for Year 9 girls; this year it involved
VX, with two leading female VX players taking
part in a question and answer session and
acting as role-models and mentors.
Ripon Grammar School (RGS) is VX England's
National Centre of Excellence and uses VX
right across the curriculum (Mackenzie and
Hildreth, 2014). That includes the use of
VX as part of RGS’s Charity Week offerings,
House VX and Sixth Form Enrichment – all
on a totally equal footing. For the primary
schools in the area, the director of sport
for Ripon schools runs approximately 30
sports festivals per year. Some of the festivals
attract very few teams but for the VX festivals
there are 19-23 teams, with one school
sending eight teams. The VX festivals are
popular with the primary teachers because
the sport is accessible to all of their pupils.
It is particularly attractive to the less-sporty
pupils: they like the honesty aspect of VX and
the girls play on a totally equal basis with the
boys. Another example in North Yorkshire is
Nidderdale High School which is setting up a
lunchtime VX club followed by House VX –
all run by the sports leaders. Of Nidderdale’s
students involved in VX, the majority are
girls.
To look outside the UK for a moment, at a high
school in the USA two English VX coaches
arrived to run an introductory session. They
were warned that one particular girl simply
did not do sport. After recess, one of the
American teachers approached the coaches
on the verge of tears: the girl who “simply did
not do sport” had gone away during recess
and created a poster to advertise the USA’s
first school VX club!
Community clubs
Although VX found its largest user-base in
schools, VX England now has exit routes
through to international level and at all
levels the sport is gender-neutral in all of
its disciplines. It is important to explore the
gender balance in independent VX clubs, too.
Here are a few examples.
Easi-RockIts
The Easi-RockIts club is approximately 50:50
females to males. The youngest girl is seven
years old; the oldest woman is in her 50s. In
fact, at Easi there is a family where a mother
and all three of her daughters play. The
middle daughter was introduced to VX at Air
Cadets when she was 15 (about six years
ago). As a result, the youngest daughter came
along to the club. When her mum came to
collect her she liked what she saw and also
joined the club. Because of that the eldest
daughter also joined. Six years later all four of
them are still playing, the eldest and middle
daughters are respected referees, the middle
daughter plays for England and has a World
Cup Winners’ medal and Mum is the highest-
ranked female player in the country and has
an international ranking of fourth in the V2
Masters Category.
Some of the girls at Easi are very sporty;
others do no other sport at all but have
enjoyed success in their teams. One of
these girls is now leaving to go to university
but is keen to take the referee exam and
remain involved in the sport. She already
has experience of umpiring at international
level. At a coaching level, there are now more
female coaches than male coaches at Easi-
Rockits.
HellCats
In 2011, 16-year-old Sara Cooper was made
captain of the HellCats, the rest of the team
being boys. This turned out to be a great
sporting decision: Sara was a superb captain,
leader and organiser and the HellCats went
on to win every VX club trophy in 2012,
losing only one game in the process, and
were made Minster FM’s Team of the Year
in the Local Heroes Awards (Local Heroes,
2013).

3. 34 Physical Education Matters Autumn 2015
Inclusion Matters
Ripon VX Club
The successful Ripon VX Club now has more
girls than boys on its books. Some of the girls
do no other sport and have league winners’
medals. Two of the mums have already
qualified as coaches and two more of the
mums are joining the club, having seen their
children get involved. One of the girls left to
go to university, set up a club there and is
now back at the club as a coach.
Stillington VX Club
Stillington VX Club was established and run by
a woman. The club is constantly growing, has
a wide range of ages and has a male:female
ratio of approximately 50:50.
Falkirk Cannons
An England youth team travelled to Scotland
to play friendly matches against the Falkirk
Cannons youth teams and were delighted to
see how many of the young players were girls.
The England coach (male) commented to the
Scottish coaches (female) how impressed he
was with the young players, especially the
girls, to which the Scottish coaches replied
that the girls are currently outshining the
boys. At that session the Cannons had five
awards to present to the England squad and
asked the England squad to select five of the
Cannons for the same awards. Three of the
awards went to girls (including Most Valuable
Player). After the awards had been presented
the Scottish coaches informed the England
coaches that the recipient (female) of ‘Best
Blocker’ award had only been playing three
weeks!
These are just a handful of the many examples
of gender-equality – and neutrality – to be
found in VX clubs.
Two girls had been selected for England but
neither was available so this meant Meghan
was the only female in the Youth Tournament.
She didn't just win her matches and the title
but gave the boys a masterclass. For the
V2 Youth World Championships 2015 the
Cannons sent four players, three of whom
were girls.
Administration and
advocacy
The VX administrative bodies are keen to give
opportunities to a wide range of people so do
not discriminate in this area either. Meghan
Plummer, the 2012 Youth World Champion,
is on a panel for young sportswomen in
Scotland, spreading the word of VX across
Scotland. VX’s Hall of Fame is the highest
award that can be given in VX and is intended
to honour those people who have made
an ongoing, consistent and outstanding
contribution to the development of VX. There
are very few members, the latest of whom is
Helen Mackenzie.
As the sport spreads across the world the
same pattern is appearing. In the USA women
and girls are getting involved both in playing
and administration. In Uganda they are
actively seeking to use the sport to empower
women. India is still a highly sexist society
so it was a delight to see a 12-year-old girl
fighting for the ball with an adult Sikh male
at a training session and to see how many
girls were involved at the session. Following
these training sessions VX India sent a team
of five males and three females to the 2015
World Cup. In such a sexist society this
demonstrates the impact of gender-neutral
VX. From the beginnings of VX in India, the
sport has been embraced by men, women,
boys and girls.
Competition
We can see that female participation in clubs
is very strong but the next step is to see how
this participation relates to competitive VX.
It must be pointed out that players can play
for their own age group plus one, therefore
youth players play in the senior leagues at the
moment so 14-year-old girls are competing
against their male peers and against adults.
The 2014 Division 2 champions were a
squad of five females and two males. It was
pointed out in one league match in the 2015
league that the ratio was 50:50 – on one
side were four female players and one male
and on the opposing team were four males
and one female. Karen from Easi-RockIts is
now the top ranked woman in the country at
age 55, beating younger people, male and
female, along the way. As a result of this she
qualified to compete in the Masters V2 World
Championships, gaining a ranking of fourth.
The 2012 V2 Youth World Champion was
17-year-old Meghan Plummer from Scotland.

4. 35Physical Education Matters Autumn 2015
To end this exploration of VX and women
in sport we would like to present a detailed
example of a single player. The current
hottest prospect in the sport is just 14 years
old and a girl. She has only been playing
since December 2013 and has achieved an
immense amount, with people talking about
her from India to Africa, from Denmark to
the USA, from Scotland to Leicester!
At 12 years old, Hannah Smith was brought
to a VX club by her friend, having been
taught the basics by her in the garden. She
had such an impact the coach thought she
had played before. Her second session was
on the squash court for V2 and a visiting
coach also thought she was an experienced
player, such was her vision for the overall
game. With her coach working to nurture
her exceptional talent she beat all her peers
in her club, beat the boys in a neighbouring
club, beat some adults in her club and then
started to train with some of the higher-
ranked adult players.
In July 2014, and by now accepted on to
the national programme with England, her
coach took her to train with some of the
players who were in England for the V2
World Cup. In her first game she drew
with the African Nations’ Champion. In
her second game she lost by a mere eight
points to the reigning World Champion
and then beat her coach for the first time.
The next night she again drew with the
African Nations’ Champion, the Royal Navy
Champion was lucky to clinch a draw on
the whistle, and then she beat the Danish
number one by ten points. She had only
been playing eight months and was still only
12!
Having turned 13, Hannah was entered into
the local V2 league for her first competitive
matches. She won that league with a 100
per cent record and thereby qualified for
the National Finals, which she again won
with a 100 per cent record. In August
2015, the day of her 14th
birthday, she
represented England Youth at the 2015
VX Games. A space also became available
in the V2 Youth World Cup due to a late
withdrawal and, as none of the next ranked
youth players were available, as Junior
National Champion, Hannah was the
next ranked player. She competed as the
youngest player ever to compete at this
level, won all of her qualifying matches and
won a place in the final. Sadly, she had to
withdraw on the day of the final due to a
recurrence of an old back injury. This was a
great disappointment, not only to her, but
to the reigning Youth World Champion who
was bidding to win the title for the third year
running; Hannah was the one he wanted to
test himself against!
Dr Paul Hildreth is Director at VX
International and Helen Mackenzie
is a PE teacher at Ripon Grammar
School.
Conclusion
This short exploration of VX indicates the
opportunities for girls of all ages – as players,
officials, coaches and administrators. From its
inception VX has been totally gender-neutral,
possibly because there are no ingrained
cultural attitudes that need changing and
because of the number of different factors
that make up VX, for example the number of
balls in play and the key points that the girls
pick up before the boys.
VX is not only attracting girls who are active
and successful in other sports: girls who do
no other sport at all are also playing. Some
play for recreational purposes but some of
these girls also go on to compete in team VX
and enjoy success there.
This success is not restricted to the UK but
is having even more of an impact in some
societies where the need is greater. In
Uganda, for example, VX is being used to
proactively empower women. In this way, VX
truly is a sport that represents what gender
equality in sport could be.
References
Bushell, Mike (2013). Bushell’s Best Bits.
London: John Blake. p.95.
Hildreth (2015, April). VX, a Game of Honour,
Integrity and Sportsmanship. Presentation
at the Women Play Sport Conference,
Birmingham, UK.
Hildreth (2015, April). VX, Part 2! Presentation
at the Women Play Sport Conference,
Birmingham, UK.
Holt, O. (2015, June 14). Why are so many
trying to belittle the women’s game? Mail on
Sunday, Sport on Sunday p16.
Local Heroes are honoured at Minster FM
Awards Ceremony (2013, Feb 18) York
Press.
Mackenzie, H. and Hildreth, P. (2014). Using
VX to Increase Participation and Develop
Cross-Curricular Links: Ripon Grammar
School’s Experience of VX Physical
Education Matters 9 (3) pp.14-16.
Parker, J. (2015, January 12). This Girl Can
advert: Scared of working out? Watch this.
Daily Telegraph website.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/
womens-life/11334935/This-Girl-Can-
advert-Scared-of-working-out-Watch-this.
html [September 9th
, 2015].
An exemplary case:
Hannah Smith