The 20-year-old from West Melton has been developing her start-up, EmpowerHer, since the beginning of the year.
It aims to educate and support girls and women in sport, while also helping coaches better understand how to work with female athletes.
“Something I’m really passionate about is stopping girls from dropping out of sports.
“It is a programme designed to educate girls and women about how their body works in sport, and why sport is good for the female body,” Macpherson said.
Her efforts were recently recognised at the Selwyn Awards, where she won the Young Contributor award. EmpowerHer was also a finalist in the Innovation category.
“I’ve seen her go through the struggles and the ups and downs, not wanting to play sport. Being a bit taller than others, I think she struggled with that.”
She said puberty could also be a struggle for girls.
Research by Sport NZ in 2022 showed that by age 16, there is a 17% gap between male and female participation in sport and recreation in New Zealand, rising to 28% by age 17.
Macpherson knows these challenges firsthand. Although currently sidelined with an injury, she normally plays basketball for UC Christchurch Girls’ High in the French Cup and had hoped to represent the Selwyn Hawks. But there was no girls’ team available for her age group.
“I’ve struggled with getting into sports because there are not many girls my age playing.”
As well as supporting young female athletes, she wants to see coaches educated, too.
“I want coaches to do this programme too so they know how females work,” Macpherson said.
To support her start-up, Macpherson is studying sports coaching and business management at Canterbury University.
She also coaches an under-16 Selwyn Hawks team and is an assistant coach for the under-16 rep team, and helps run the Girls Got Game holiday programme for the Hawks.
While she recovers from injury, she stays involved in the game as floor controller for Canterbury Basketball every Saturday.
Macpherson’s love of basketball began at Darfield High School, where the sport had started gaining popularity.
She has since become a fan of the WNBA, the women’s professional league in the United States, and says Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever is her favourite player.
Outside basketball, she also coaches tennis – a sport she started playing aged five, though she no longer competes herself.
If that wasn’t enough, Macpherson has also been running her own gardening business for the past three years.
“Dad owns a landscaping business, so I started helping out, and then went out on my own,” she said.
Her business interest started at high school, where she was part of the Young Enterprise Scheme.
Her team won the regional final with their design for a drink bottle holder to be used with a car’s cup holder.
After winning, they pitched their idea to water bottle company Frank Green, where they learned a big lesson about business – don’t give away your design.
“We made contact with Frank Green, and they were really happy and wanted to work with us. So, we sent them our plans – and they ghosted us.
“A couple of weeks later, they came out with their own.”
