Jayne Dart, Director of Sport, Adventure and Leadership, explores the issue of keeping teenage girls fit and active.
The vast majority of teenage girls responded in a recent survey to say that they understood the importance of an active lifestyle. As teachers, we see a direct correlation between those more active teenagers and their sense of wellbeing and academic engagement in the classroom. So why, if physical activity is so important for our health and happiness, are so many girls reluctant to do what is undoubtedly good for them?
At Sherborne Girls we buck many of the national trends but that isn’t to say we don’t face many of the same issues in sport on a daily basis. There is no doubt that there is a widening gap between the amount of sport-related activity girls choose to take part in compared to boys. By the age of seven girls are already less active than boys and this disparity widens as they move from childhood into adolescence. However, the biggest drop off in participation in competitive sport with girls happens between the ages of 14 and 16 with girls three times more likely to drop out of sport compared to boys.
At Sherborne Girls we are determined to address some of the underlying issues that can affect girls’ enjoyment, and consequently willingness to participate in exercise. We firmly believe that every pupil should be able to discover a physical activity that they enjoy whilst at school and there are plenty of options to choose from whether that be challenging team sports through to individual workouts. However, the measure of our success will be whether every pupil leaving Sherborne Girls is equipped with the knowledge of how to lead a healthy lifestyle combined with a genuine desire to keep on exercising without the support and structure of a well-planned school sports programme.
We have recently teamed up with ‘The Well’ (www.thewell-hq.com) to dig beneath the surface of some of the issues adolescent girls face that can impact on their willingness to engage in physical activity. Whilst we do many things extremely well at Sherborne Girls and are proud of our participation and retention numbers in sport generally, there are many things we feel we can improve upon. Over the coming months we will be tackling some of the more taboo topics in sport including the impact of the menstrual cycle, breast support, pelvic floor health, disordered eating (RED-S) as well as making adjustments to some of our coaching styles, environment and equipment. In September we will be hosting a conference on ‘Sport in Her shoes’ with key speakers Dr Emma Ross and Baz Moffat presenting to pupils and staff from schools across the South West.
It has been fascinating to look at our sports programme through a purely female lens and we are excited to be leading the way in a growing movement to make a positive and lasting impact on girls’ experience in sport!
