A Sporting Chance

Being Neighbourly x Melanie Leung-Shea, WISE

Author/ Being Neighbourly
24 October 2025

To educate, empower and connect women and girls to realize their aspirations through sports is the mission of WISE, says Development manager, Melanie Leung-Shea. The charity works with under-resourced schools and organizations to provide access to different sports and wellness training and education.

The idea for the charity was sparked when founder, Alicia Lui, was reminded of how much she had enjoyed sports as a child. They gave her community, on the one hand, but not without gender prejudice. She was told that girls don’t play football, that she would get too muscular from track and field and too tanned to be considered pretty from outdoor sports. When she considered working in the sports industry, she was told that the path was unstable and too difficult for women.

Thankfully, Lui was made of sterner stuff and overcame those hurdles to achieve a lifelong enjoyment of sports. In 2016, she came across research that was staggering to her: 94% of senior female executives had played sports when younger, while 74% of them had indicated a background in sports can accelerate a woman’s career.

Having statistics that backed up her firsthand experience of the positive aspects of sports participation on her own life – from supporting her mental health to giving her lifelong friendships and transferable life skills, Lui felt she needed to promote sports as a tool for empowerment for females.

“The goal for our programs is to foster habitual and lifelong enjoyment and participation
in sports and educate women on the mental and physical benefits brought through healthy lifestyles that include movement,” Leung-Shea shares of WISE’s mission.

They do this through interactive classes, programs and workshops for women and girls: through physical movement and meaningful discussions. Some of the barriers they address are: Gender stereo-typing; and Physical discomfort: girls not knowing how to play sports while menstruating; Bullying/Intimidation: girls being worried/told that they “aren’t good enough”; Body image: feeling uncomfortable in sports’ uniforms or that their bodies are on display; and Limited Resources/Teams for girls and Teen Boys not knowing how to support their female counterparts in sports terms.

“We often partner with secondary schools to offer our sessions during their P.E. time,” says Leung-Shea.

“Our signature program, A.C.E., enhances teenage girls’ self-confidence, self-image, self-agency, resolve and resilience through physical activity and educational sessions. Students learn to appreciate their minds and bodies while gaining mental skills to prepare them to deal with different life situations.”

According to her, each session is led by their specially-trained facilitators and volunteers and contains interactive activities, a variety of sport/game training, and an opportunity to reflect on or discuss thoughts and feelings as well. Additionally, she says they offer workshops to organizations that support women.

“We have recently updated our curriculum and are getting ready to launch our in-school programs for this school year,” says the Development manager.

Additionally, they are in the process of piloting a few new programs and workshops, adapting their materials for university-age girls and exploring partnerships that will enable us to deliver workshops for women and mothers in our community.

“Our hope and motivation is to see girls and women feeling the freedom to experiment with and embrace the benefits that sports and movement can have upon their lives,” says Leung-Shea, adding that two goals that they believe benefit their participants in both the short and long term are: Increasing their emotional management, mental wellbeing, better mind-body connections and relationships; and, learning transferable skills that can be used throughout their lives, allowing them to have confidence and leadership attributes that will benefit them throughout their personal and professional endeavors.

What is the best thing about the work that you do?

“Having grown up around sports and having a teen daughter who is an athlete as well, I’ve personally lived out and witnessed the mission of WISE even before discovering this organization; so I find great joy in sharing with our supporters and potential partners about the impact of sports, because it comes from a very genuine place for me,” says Melanie Leung-Shea, Development Manager, WISE.

“From brainstorming new ideas with our team to drafting proposals that could lead to us being able to empower more girls, I find my work at WISE very meaningful.”

“I’m honored to be part of such an amazing cohort of colleagues and supporters, and I believe in the transformative power of our curriculum, so I feel fortunate that my role enables me to promote an organization from a place of authenticity, alongside people who are so passionate and hard-working.”

Wise Women HK
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