Sport

[Tibtom]

Once girls reach their teens they disproportionately drop sport. How can we encourage physical fitness in girls, especially in light of lack of changing facilities that respect a teenage girls acute need for privacy and dignity, or the lack of fair competition including any chance of success at higher leves?

Jealous! I wanted to do.france but it's always I'm bloody term time!

Mousey. Thanks for the link. I will email the local LA and the Academy.

Your SLT sound awful. I've worked in a few schools where the SLT are unsupportive.

Yes, I can totally see that it would be the lunch time supervisors and TAs/LSas who would need to be trained up to oversee this on the playground. This would require the SLTs to be totally committed to zoning.

Sorry, I haven't read the whole thread but I think it’s inevitable that women will be less interested in sports than men due to biology!

I have large breasts and hips which are simply not designed for running around even with one or two sports bras and so I had no interest in continuing as a kid and I’m sure many girls will be the same.

@HanHan99 but what if when you were younger you'd had access to sports which were big-boob friendly? Maybe swimming, cycling, kayaking... there are loads. But they're often not offered at school or by local clubs, which often focus on sports involving running.

@FeistySheep well that is a good point. There are some sports that are big boob friendly but I am not sure if that would have changed my outlook or not. It’s hard to tell.

I don’t know if that is practical for a lot of schools though. We didn’t have a pool nearby at school and I don’t think schools would have the resources to offer cycling and kayaking. Unfortunately the running sports are the easiest and cheapest

The Make Space for Girls campaign seems a really useful one on this issue. Additionally, I feel like we think about sports all wrong because the media presentation of sports is competition and celebs. And don’t get me wrong, that’s exciting for people who are into it. But stuff like Parkrun and hiking is much more relevant to me, as a grown up woman. My DD has turned out sporty somehow though I hated sport, so although I know nothing about her preferred sports we do stuff that celebrates being outdoors or just moving. It shows her I am 100% supportive of being physically active, setting personal goals, sport in the broad sense. And I do really think there is a sport or exercise that suits every body type, though we def need more facilities and a culture that supports people with disabilities and older people to be active as well. Regarding girls especially, I think Dads, brothers, male friends also have a role to play in being positively supportive. Boys mocking or excluding girls is the thing that upsets my DD the most and I have started talking to teachers/other parents about it since reading about the Make Space for Girls campaign.

@334bu

Encouraging girls to exercise is always going to be an uphill battle, especially in a society which often considers female sport to be a bit of a joke. Zero tolerance of harassment would help, especially if we are going to encourage female runners, cyclists etc. It isn't fun having to train while continually being harassed by passers by.It is of little surprise that many women and girls exclude themselves from team sports and concentrate on individual activities like yoga/Pilates/Zumba, done inside,primarily with other women Obviously sports associations are also going to have to get their heads out of the sand and rescind the ridiculous rules which allow non females to compete at the highest levels. Allowing non females to take places in female elite and professional sport will turn many women away as they will not be able to compete.with these people's athletically superior physique.

This. Men can't have it both ways. Don't tell fat/overweight women we need to exercise, and then shout abuse at us when we do exercise. And don't harass women in general, or young girls who are still not 100% confident.

I'm proud to say that one of my cousins is a women's football development officer in Gibraltar and she's encouraging girls to get into football there. She is and always has been football mad, as have her half-sisters (their dad is the reason I'm an Everton fan, he took me to matches).

I know a lot of people think women's football is shit/a joke but remember that there are reasons why it's behind the men's game, and it is slowly catching up, at least in the UK. The FA banned it for ages and female coaches have to fight to be taken seriously, whereas men like Phil Neville with little to no experience can just walk into a management job. Emma Hayes is one of the lucky ones.

Yes, I can totally see that it would be the lunch time supervisors and TAs/LSas who would need to be trained up to oversee this on the playground. This would require the SLTs to be totally committed to zoning.

Add to that most support staff are female and many SLT are male.
In general I think harrasment of female staff are routinely dismissed by males. I worked at one school where my female friend suffered racist bullying from an aggressive year 6. The head dismissed her concerns and downplayed it so she quit. She was such an amazing member of staff I was so angry about it.
I think there's a lot of casual sexism in primary that's overlooked because it's too much effort for SLT to tackle.

I think a lot of these problems come from treating girls exactly like boys.
Take periods for example. I do pole fitness, which requires skin to metal contact. When I have PMT it's excruciating and tender on my skin so I'll do gentler moves and on occasion skip a session.
Yet when I was at school I distinctly remember being on my period and being made to trampoline with a ring of girls who hates me around me. This was uncomfortable and made me hate the lessons.
In an ideal world we could give girls another option (step ups, jogging or something simple) of course that requires extra staff and equipment and as a teacher I am aware of the complications. However, I do think we need to start working in some flexibility in to encourage participation.

@PhilSwagielka - if you don't mind me asking how did your cousin get into a role like that? It would be a dream job for my DD who is finding it hard to think beyond being a PE teacher (she's not keen on this) when thinking about a career in sport.

[quote NursePye]@PhilSwagielka - if you don't mind me asking how did your cousin get into a role like that? It would be a dream job for my DD who is finding it hard to think beyond being a PE teacher (she's not keen on this) when thinking about a career in sport.[/quote]
I honestly can't remember, BUT I know she started out as a women's football development officer at the FA in the UK, I think she was based in Birmingham. I'm not sure how she got that job, whether it was through someone she met on the football team at Leeds.