Matildas midfielder Mary Fowler honoured with Barbie doll mini-me

Mary Fowler is rarely taken by surprise on the football field but the sight of herself immortalised* as a Barbie doll left her speechless.

Fowler joined tennis legend Venus Williams*, Canada’s champion footballer Christine Sinclair*, Italy’s swim gold medallist Federica Pellegrini* and five other sportswomen from around the world who have been honoured with dolls as part of Barbie’s 65th anniversary celebrations.

Fowler worked with Barbie manufacturer* Mattel to create the doll and paid particular attention to her hair, her boots and, of course, her gloves.

“I wanted to have my Barbie doll replicate* when I feel my most confident self and that for me is when I’m on the pitch playing football,” Fowler said.

“During the design process, it was really cool working with the team to ensure my look was brought to life in my Barbie.”

The star midfielder said that being a positive influence, and seeing young girls recreate her look, “has been so special”.

“To finally hold my doll and see her wear my bubble braid, my gloves, and even my boots, made my Barbie doll unique* and connected to me,” she said.

“I think there’s a lot about participating in sport and staying in sport that can be overlooked sometimes.”

Fowler said the physical aspect and training in her sport had really shaped her as a person.

“A lot of my biggest moments of growth have come from sport,” Fowler said. “Just the way that I’m able to speak with myself and deal with challenges and the way that I’m able to believe in myself – those are all things that I learned through sport.

“There are so many other things, too, like some of my closest friends I’ve made through sport.”

Other athletes honoured were French boxer Estelle Mossely, Mexican gymnast Alexa Moreno, who was recognised by Forbes as one of the 100 most powerful women in Mexico, Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, Spanish para-triathlete Susan Rodriguez, and Polish sprinter Ewa Swoboda.

A Barbie spokesman said by recognising athletes who have broken barriers for women in sports, Barbie hopes to help amplify the voices of women in sports, and commemorate their accomplishments on and off the field.

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POLL

GLOSSARY

• immortalised: ensured someone would be remembered forever, bestowed lasting fame
• Venus Williams: American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 (born 17 June 1980), who has just hinted in the last day that she may be considering a comeback!
• Christine Sinclair: most successful soccer player to ever compete for Canada (born 12 June 1983)
• Federica Pellegrini: now retired, the Italian pool powerhouse won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
• manufacturer: business or company that makes goods for sale in large numbers
• Mattel: best known for Barbie, the American multinational toy and entertainment company was founded by husband and wife team Ruth and Elliot Handler in 1945
• replicate: an exact copy of something
• unique: one of a kind, individual, unlike anyone else
• Estelle Mossely: won gold as an amateur boxer at the 2016 Rio Games, the first Frenchwoman to do so (born 19 August 1992)
• Alexa Moreno: the first Mexican female gymnast to medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship, which she did in 2018 when she won bronze (born 8 August 1994)
• Rebeca Andrade: Brazilian artistic gymnast who has claimed both Olympic and world titles on the vault and claimed the 2022 all-round world champion crown (born 8 May 1999)
• Susan Rodriguez: as well as a five-time world champion para-triathlete, Rodriguez is a sprinter and a doctor (born 4 March 1988)
• Ewa Swoboda: the Polish short sprint specialist has medalled in the 60m at three European Indoor Championships (born 26 July 1997)

EXTRA READING

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Barbie with Down syndrome a ‘huge step forward’

New Barbie doll a hit with tennis star

QUICK QUIZ

1. Which three trademark details did Fowler work with the Barbie team to perfect?
2. How many athletes total are honoured in the Team Barbie limited edition?
3. Who is the retired tennis champion who joins Fowler in achieving Barbie immortality?
4. What does Fowler say has really shaped her as a person?
5. What does the Matildas’ star midfielder say has been “really special”?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Who would you choose?
Who do you think should be honoured with their own Barbie? Choose someone and write paragraphs explaining why they deserve this honour. It can be someone famous or someone you know.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social Capability

2. Extension
Use the person you wrote about in the first activity. Write the design brief for the team who would create the Barbie. Think about what Mary Fowler said about her doll to give you ideas. Then draw the design for your person’s Barbie.

Time: allow at least 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Design and Technologies

VCOP ACTIVITY
Exercise the body and the mind
Exercise is not only important for the body, but it’s a lot of fun as well. Let’s bring more exercise into classroom learning by creating a VCOP PE game.

You can add a VCOP challenge to pretty much any game, and it’s a great way to encourage the teacher to let the class play more games.

Here is an example to get you started, then you create one of your own.

VCOP dodgeball
The normal rules of dodgeball apply. Two teams throw soft balls at each other and if you get hit, you have to sit out. The team who knocks out all the players on the other team, wins.

VCOP challenge: when you get eliminated, collect a mini-whiteboard and a basic clause from the sidelines. Up-level the sentence (make it better) by adding VCOP. When you show the teacher your completed sentence, you can return to the game.

Play for a set amount of time and the team with the most players left on the court wins.

Support: use the “Up-Level It” card set – players have to complete one card from the set instead of completing all VCOP challenges.

What can you come up with?