Teenage girls being ‘pushed out’ of sport, survey finds

[JoyousAsOtters]

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/mar/07/uk-girls-lose-interest-in-sport-as-teenagers-women-in-sport-survey?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I know some of you don’t want to give the Guardian clicks, but this is an important issue and I think it’s highly relevant to the questions we discuss on this board.

For example,

‘The study, by Women in Sport, found that a fear of being judged and a lack of confidence were the main reasons cited for a waning interest in sport among teenage girls. Its poll of more than 4,000 teenagers found that 43% of girls felt they were sporty at primary pupils but no longer saw themselves this way. This would equate to 1.3 million girls across the UK, the survey pointed out.

Out of these girls, 68% said that a fear of feeling judged prevented them from taking part, while 61% said they lacked confidence. Just under half (47%) said they were too busy with school work to carry on with sport.

And teenage girls were much more likely to say they used to be sporty but were no longer keen on exercise than boys (24%). A report on the findings concluded that girls may need more support to engage with sport as they go through puberty.

Nearly eight in 10 (78%) of girls who said they used to be sporty admitted they avoided taking part in sport when on their period – higher than those who had never been sporty (69%) and those who were still passionately involved in sport (64%).’

As an adult I tried weights, circuits and boxercise. These could work great for teenage girls.

(I miss the boxercise... I'm not aggressive but there is something particularly satisfying about it!)

@Misstache

Another issue is mental - girls get a lot of fear issues in adolescence. In sports where there’s a danger element like gymnastics, diving, even something like biking, girls at adolescence often start to develop anxiety and fear. It’s not well-studies but I haven’t seen the same issues among boys whereas it seems part of development for girls (maybe tied to differences in puberty?)

Girls also fear being muscular and seen as “mannish” and unattractive, and are discouraged from being aggressive and competitive. And of course the stigma about being thought a lesbian. “Fit” is in right now but that means having a flat stomach and showing off in a sports bra, not having a shotputters’ or wrestlers’ body…

There's a well known association between mental blocks, twisties etc. and puberty in gymnastics. It's reckoned to be because your mental map of your body is created experientially, and when your body changes rapidly your mental organisation can't keep up so your proprioception gets out of whack. We do know that it takes time for your motor control to adjust to bodily change. The bit that's assumption is that that's what's behind the increased rate of mental blocks in puberty.

I don't know if we have any firm data on whether it affects boys and girls differently, but I can think of a few reasons why it might. Boys generally gain strength, which is advantageous. It definitely can take them a while to adjust but ultimately they are going to improve and they have the psychological comfort of knowing that. Boys also have their main growth spurt when they are older than girls generally, which may help their psychological readiness. For girls their strength to weight ratio worsens, so they have two physical challenges to deal with, one temporary and one ongoing. That creates an added level of psychological challenge. And mental blocks can often occur as a stress-response. So if you have this proprioceptive problem, and then add in psychological stress you can see how that could easily snowball.

Then on top of the physical you have the social aspects. Perfectionism is particularly encouraged in girls, and that can add stress when things aren't going right. Gymnasts and divers are very often hung up on being in control, which is inevitable in sports that are all about controlled movement. But an unhealthy attitude to control of the self is something that is particularly prevalent in teenage girls, as we know from studies on eating disorders.

One interesting thing is, that if this is indeed linked to pubertal growth then the implication would be that the same effect will be present in ALL sports and physical activity. It's just that suddenly becoming less physically organised at say, throwing a ball, isn't dramatically noticeable or scary in the way suddenly becoming less physically organised at somersaults etc. is.

@megletthesecond

My DD has refused to do PE since they had to start changing at school again. She's since started self harming so that's her secondary school PE kissed goodbye. Cubicles would allow her to change.

iWoo Womens Thermal Underwear Set Ultra Soft Crew Neck Long Sleeved Base Layer Tops & Bottoms was the answer for DD2.

She takes uniform off and puts PE on top - as does DS now. Then keeps on when changes back to uniform.

I'm not sure what I can do when the weather gets to hot for this option.

There's definitely a gap in the market for yoga for teenagers. My daughters loved doing cosmic kids yoga as small children but they don't want to go to an adult class either. They sometimes do online yoga with me but I have to pick the sessions carefully so they are engaged but also don't find it too challenging.

Climbing and SUPs are both non-team based sports that lots of girls are attracted to but of course access is an issue. I wonder if there are ways clubs running theses sort of activities can work together with schools, and run away days or taster sessions for example.

Reading such a range of responses I realise we’re lucky with my dds (state comp) school. Focus on sports for all, sets so similar abilities together, lots of club options including netball, football, hockey, athletics but also lunchtime yoga and occasionally ping-pong.

She’s still sporty but it’s early days. They change into PE kits at school but then keep them on for the rest of the day which helps a bit. Girls and boys have hoodies and trackie bums to wear, although inexplicably the girls all seem to keep the skorts rather than wear the trousers even in winter …

The school nurtures sports teams and celebrates successes, including when alumni do well at county or national level, and when pupils do well in out of school sports like archery and equestrian events.

One interesting thing is, that if this is indeed linked to pubertal growth then the implication would be that the same effect will be present in ALL sports and physical activity. It's just that suddenly becoming less physically organised at say, throwing a ball, isn't dramatically noticeable or scary in the way suddenly becoming less physically organised at somersaults etc. is.

It's certainly not so much of an issue with outdoorsy activities such as hillwalking or watersports - assuming your attitude with the latter is that part of the fun is capsizing or falling in!

That's another issue, girls having to play in ladies teams, rather than age group teams at a younger age than boys. It just creates another easy point for them to give up. Whereas friends with boys had their sons playing in age group teams until they finished 6th form
To be fair, that's highly dependent on the sport, and probably on where you live. If it's a mainstream sport in reasonably well populated area that's probably the case but there are plenty of sports where boys have to transition to adult teams at an early age too.
Whilst it is without doubt worse for girls, we do have an issue with low levels of participation in physical activity generally in this country. In our area the only sports for either sex that I am aware of that have a significant number of teams catering for U16s and U18s are football and rugby. My DS has been playing on an adult men's team in one of his sports since he was a barely pubertal 13 year old, and in the other he's moved this year at 16. Girls definitely have additional challenges but I'm not sure that this particular issue is entirely sex dependent - there's poor provision for teens of either sex in a lot of sports.

One of the sports that is popular with a lot of students who aren't interested in elite stuff is badminton. It has some competitiveness but it's not over the top, and you can be low key and just play with friends, or have a ladder and get into that element. It's a lot of fun even quite early on and if you only do it once a week. And it works in a gym indoors over a lunch hour or outside if the weather is good.

I think some of its to be with becoming very aware of the 'male gaze'. You will be looked at as if you are being sexually available if you go for run, or you'll get a unasked for comment. Why subject yourself to that as a teen when there is so much else changing in your life.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

As an adult I tried weights, circuits and boxercise. These could work great for teenage girls.

(I miss the boxercise... I'm not aggressive but there is something particularly satisfying about it!)

Boxercise is a great idea!

This is a really interesting discussion. Thanks to everyone who has contributed.

I really struggle to find exercise I enjoy even as an adult so I can relate to quite a lot of the points. I had a phase in my 20s when I got into indoor climbing but as is often the case life got in the way and it fell by the wayside.

@MangyInseam

One of the sports that is popular with a lot of students who aren't interested in elite stuff is badminton. It has some competitiveness but it's not over the top, and you can be low key and just play with friends, or have a ladder and get into that element. It's a lot of fun even quite early on and if you only do it once a week. And it works in a gym indoors over a lunch hour or outside if the weather is good.

Yes, it's the one sport I did as a teenager - church youth club, we had the use of the hall which was the perfect size and marked for it. But it does take quite a lot of space for just 4 people so it's not something schools are likely to be able to offer as a class activity. Realistically it's hard to play outdoors if there's more than the slightest breeze.

I agree with so many of the comments here. Especially about girls needing to be able to participate in sport without excelling at it. One of my DDs who had loved netball at primary joined an after school club at secondary in about year 9 as she didn't get to play much at school. It was pointless. The older/talker/better girls got all the opportunities.

Something else that occurs to me is that boys/young men are encouraged to "play" far more than girls and women.

Not only does this give them more opportunities to engage in sport, but they are more likely to be excused from the activities that prevent girls from taking part.

One thing I've noticed with all these ideas is that they involve organisation and set times... and money.

Whereas football... you can literally just get together with your mates on any old pice of land for a kick about.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

One thing I've noticed with all these ideas is that they involve organisation and set times... and money.

Whereas football... you can literally just get together with your mates on any old pice of land for a kick about.

Yes, though with football there's also lots of organisation and a massive structure and culture.

There are a number of sports that can be played on a kind of ad hoc basis. Basketball is another one. Or flag rugby.

Many kids don't have that kind of time and freedom any more though.

I don't think the lack of recreational level sports is just an issue with girls. It's a problem with boys sports too. There is such a push toward high end competition.

Yes, though with football there's also lots of organisation and a massive structure and culture.

Football is such big business that the FA is pouring money into the grassroots teams. DD1 plays in a league and it still costs us much less and takes up less time than swimming.

I spoke with my niece - nearly 14. Always loved sport. She told me they have a boy in their girls PE class. He doesn't want to do PE with the boys, as he is gay and they pick on him. So they moved him to the girls.

I asked her if the girls were asked if they were ok with it. No one was asked - but they we told to be kind.

I asked what had happened to the boys who were mean. Nothing

Asked how she felt. She said it was weird now.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

One thing I've noticed with all these ideas is that they involve organisation and set times... and money.

Whereas football... you can literally just get together with your mates on any old pice of land for a kick about.

Parks with basketball hoops, ping pong tables and skate parks are a big hit with teenagers of both sexes to just rock up and play too. Trampoline parks seem to be quite unisex in terms of use too. Wish we had more

I was an active, if not sporty kid who did gymnastics until time demands and costs meant I had to drop out. I vividly remember how shit I became at sports once puberty hit. My weight distribution changed due to my hips and I went from loving high jump one summer to literally not being able to clear the bar the next.

I also lost power to weight and the emphasis was on minimising weight gain rather than increasing strength. I am still envious of how different it must be for teenage boys going through puberty to suddenly find they're getting stronger and better.

@DevonTF

I spoke with my niece - nearly 14. Always loved sport. She told me they have a boy in their girls PE class. He doesn't want to do PE with the boys, as he is gay and they pick on him. So they moved him to the girls.

I asked her if the girls were asked if they were ok with it. No one was asked - but they we told to be kind.

I asked what had happened to the boys who were mean. Nothing

Asked how she felt. She said it was weird now.

This reminds me of when disruptive boys are sat next to quiet girls in class. No one ever asks the girls if they mind.

It's never disruptive girls in with the boys is it?

This reminds me of when disruptive boys are sat next to quiet girls in class.

That's such lazy teaching isn't it. DD1 has had 'naughty boys' sat next to her before but she is funny and popular as well as smart and hardworking so I can see how it works, she improves their behaviour but they don't affect hers. However her best friend is stuck next to a horrible boy in one of their classes and it's really getting her down, she already suffers from anxiety and misses a lot of school and this isn't helping.

When it comes to the basketball hoops, ping pong tables etc, there's a great organization called something like 'Make Room for Girls' who work to lobby councils etc on consulting girls about what is needed in playgrounds and other outdoor spaces.

They do some really interesting work, I'll find a link and post ...

Here:
makespaceforgirls.co.uk

It's Make Space for Girls