Footballer Shannon Ghee on How Sport Impacted Her Confidence
How Football Helped Freestyle Champion Shannon Ghee Step Into Her Power and Feel More Confident in Her Skin
There's no question that skin confidence and self-esteem are inextricably connected — but now, thanks to Venus, we have more concrete research to back it up. Last summer, the trusted razor brand surveyed 2,000 UK women aged 18 to 45 for its Skin-Consciousness Study, which shed light on the massive way that skin insecurities can impact one's self-confidence and mental health as a whole. A key finding: 30 percent of women said skin insecurity is a barrier to sport*.
The groundbreaking study specifically focused on women in sport to find out the unique role that skin consciousness plays in their lives. And well, the findings illustrate just how much work we still have to do when it comes to normalising all types of skin — both on and off the pitch. For instance, more than a third of women said they don't want to participate in sport because they worry about the way their skin looks, and over a quarter have stopped playing a sport altogether due to a lack of confidence in their own skin*.
Venus is on a mission to shift perspectives and spark positive, sustained change with its #MoveYourSkin campaign, which aims to empower women and girls to celebrate their skin as it is — and for what their bodies can do. To help spread awareness of how empowering it can be to move away from skin-consciousness, we interviewed Shannon Ghee, who's faced her own fair share of skin insecurities over the years. Like Venus, the freestyle football star and UK Vice Champion is determined to help advocate for skin acceptance and hopes to inspire women and girls to get out there and get moving — bumps, lumps, bruises, and all.
Finding Her Calling
Before she found football and freestyle, Ghee says she was a fairly quiet and unconfident person — however, through sport, her self-esteem has skyrocketed. "I found through working hard at training I felt more confident trying skills on the pitch which then became talking points, and I felt it helped me become more respected," she says. "Off the field, football and freestyle have helped me become comfortable making mistakes and learning from them — I no longer have that fear of failure in the back of my mind, which helps me tackle challenges with much more confidence."
Ghee first got into freestyle (the art of doing tricks and combinations with a football) when friends at school started challenging her to try different tricks, and from there, it quickly turned into a passion. "I started to take football freestyle more seriously during the pandemic when football training and matches were all cancelled," she says. "I found myself in the garden every day with a ball, and decided to make the most of those months of lockdown." Fast forward to 2023: Ghee is now ranked No. 2 in the Female Freestyle UK Rankings and is considered a major rising star to watch in the sport.
"I've loved playing different sports all my life, so to be an athlete as my full-time job means the world to me," she muses. "I get to focus on improving my tricks and pushing my body to its limits every day, but most importantly, my platform provides me with the opportunity to educate and inspire the next generation. I would have been totally lost without sport as a kid, and it means so much to me to be able to inspire other children to get outside and learn some new skills."
While Ghee's confidence has definitely improved, she knows firsthand what it's like to grapple with skin consciousness and the direct impact it has on your self-esteem. "I didn't like changing in front of anyone because I thought people would judge me for my acne and stretch marks," she recalls. Ghee still has acne and stretch marks to this day, but she's no longer letting it get in the way of her life or her game.
"In my opinion, the biggest way to overcome insecurities is self-acceptance," she says. "Yes, I may have these insecurities but they don't make me any less of a person than if I didn't have them — and realistically everyone has some form of insecurity. A lot of the time we don't even realise them!" Ghee used to worry that people would make fun of her acne or stretch marks, but doesn't anymore because she stopped caring what people think. "It's all just part of who I am and my own journey. "
More recently, Ghee developed a cyst on her cheekbone that she admits knocked her confidence down a notch — however, she's determined to overcome it. "At the moment I'm working through accepting that sometimes these things happen and it's just about pushing through and not letting it affect me negatively," she says. "After all, having this cyst does not change the way other people view me or change who I am."
As a female athlete and longtime sport lover, Ghee says she's deeply saddened by the findings in Venus' Skin-Consciousness report. "I know how much sport can improve mental and physical health, and this can have such a positive impact on improving skin confidence," she says. "To think so many girls are missing out on these health benefits purely because they are worried about the way their skin looks is really, really upsetting."
This is exactly why Venus is working alongside powerful female athletes in its #MoveYourSkin campaign to get the word out and hopefully rewrite the narrative so that more women and girls can benefit from sport. "No one should be deterred from trying something new because they don't feel they look ‘good enough,'" says Ghee. "I would urge these girls who feel this way to take just a small step in starting sport; to find a sport you think you may enjoy and practice it at home, or in your back garden. Starting something on your own without feeling as though others are watching you is a great way to build up confidence."
Above all, Ghee hopes her own story will inspire others to shake off their insecurities and celebrate themselves just the way they are — that, and she prays it'll encourage some to start their own sport journeys.
"Trust me, once you are in that sporting environment with coaches that truly care about your well-being, you will start to feel more confident in yourself and you will start to realise your skin insecurities less!" she says. "It's all about taking small steps to build up the courage to take an even bigger one, and in my opinion, that's the way we can get more girls into sport and to be less worried about their skin."
Design: Mia Coleman
