The women’s World Cup tournament starts on 20 July 2023 and is being held in Australia and New Zealand. Take a look at our dedicated content for the tournament.

OpenLearn is celebrating International Women's Day. Watch these videos of Olympic champions Helen Richardson-Walsh and Alex Danson discussing their experiences of sport.

Explore some themes in women's sport in the following animations.

Ever thought about sports and wondered, but what about for a woman? These articles cover specific topics concerning women in sport, considering questions such as, what if Eliod Kipchoge was a woman? Are women leaders the key to growing women’s sport? What about motherhood, what are the challenges in returning to sport or starting up a new sport?

In these three audios, Dr Carrie Dunn discusses a number of important areas of women’s football.

Spartan females had much more freedom than other women in the ancient world; this allowed Cynisca of Sparta to win the Olympics twice. Find out more about her victories here...

Do you support women’s performance in sport or fitness as a coach or parent? Are you a female athlete who wants to optimise your performance using recent research insights? If so, then this free course is for you. It addresses the problem of sports science research traditionally being male dominated and the assumption that if it works for men ...

This free course, The business of football, was produced by The Open University working in partnership with The English Football League Trust. If you are fascinated by men's and women's football and interested in discovering more about business and management, then this engaging and stimulating course is for you.

The mass media (e.g. radio, TV, internet) has become one of the most powerful institutional influences in society. This free course, Sporting women in the media, explores whether gendered inequalities exist in sport by evaluating the media coverage. The media can be highly influential in shaping perceptions about gender in sport and headlines ...

The athlete’s journey through sport can be characterised by several transitions and periods of change. This course is designed to help you understand that journey, whether in reference to a professional or recreational athlete, and the nature of support they may need at different times. The course also provides practical guidance, whether ...

Are you responsible for supporting sport and physical activity coaches to become inspirational and excellent in their practice? This course is designed for coach developers, educators, mentors and tutors who support coaches to improve. You will explore how people learn, what are the skills and qualities of an effective coach of coaches, as well ...

This free course, Communication and working relationships in sport and fitness, explores the personal skills that underpin so much work in sport and gyms. We often hear employers refer to the importance of these interpersonal relationships or ‘soft skills’ in sport and fitness, and in this unique course you’ll build valuable insights into ...

This free course, Exploring sport coaching and psychology, investigates how scientific and management ideas contribute to success while also taking you on a journey through unique sporting case studies and insights that will change how you view and study sport. You will consider how the mind, the body, the environment and training techniques all...

Have you ever experienced a sport injury? Have you ever thought there could be a psychological dimension to sport injuries, as well as a physical one? Sport injury is relatively common among sport and exercise participants, and while the physical impact of injury is often easy to recognise, the psychological impact is less obvious. In this ...

Occasionally, controversies arise that remind us of the link between sport and politics. It was once common for leading figures in the sporting world to declare that sport was, effectively, a politics-free zone. Sport was cast as the perpetual innocent party, liable to be corrupted by any connection with politics. However, it has become ...

Sport can place high levels of stress on athletes, coaches and others involved. If unable to cope with these stresses they may be vulnerable to developing burnout. This free course, Learning from sport burnout and overtraining, examines burnout in sport from various perspectives including both the coach’s and athlete’s perspective. Drawing on ...

In this free course you will explore an important aspect of strength and conditioning which refers to the physical preparation of athletes: endurance. You will look at the physiological factors that underpin endurance and assess how endurance can be developed relative to performance in a range of sports.

In this free course you will explore two aspects of strength and conditioning in sport and fitness: speed and power. Strength and conditioning is the physical preparation of athletes and in this course you will explore the physiology of speed before looking at training methods to develop speed. You will also look at power which is a concept ...

While many people recognise the positive impact of engaging in sport and/or physical activity on their physical and mental well-being, research indicates that participation can also equip us with valuable skills that enhance our employability. Engaging in sport and physical activity provides opportunities to develop a diverse skill set that can ...

In this free course, doping (performance enhancing drugs, or PEDs) is used as an example of how contemporary issues in sport might be studied. Doping is used to illustrate how you can think about the debates involved in an issue and this will help you develop appropriate skills to discuss other contemporary issues in sport.

In this free course, Developing resilience in sport, you will explore how the concept of resilience can support athletes on their athletic development journey. You will examine how resilience can act as a buffer to protect against the challenges that might be faced by athletes and coaches. The protective qualities of resilience make it an ...