I was rushing around after another busy day doing supply, I needed to get Erin to her dancing lessons, I needed to pick up Dylan form a school football tournament and Chloe from hockey. When I finally fell into a chair after dinner whilst clasping a refreshing glass of wine I caught the news. The news was informing us that 14 / 15 year old girls are dropping out of sport and that the 2012 legacy has not left them wanting to get more involved.
I wondered which girls they have been talking to? My teen who is in that age bracket is very much into sport. She dances weekly doing tap, modern and ballet. She is rather good at it and loves how fit and toned it keeps her. Likewise Chloe and her friends are all really active, she is in the school team for cricket, hockey and anything else that is going on. Hockey is her main sport, she plays for Gloucester City Ladies and also for the schools county team. This means matches and weekends and training twice a week usually.
On top of this she does GCSE Sport Science which obviously has a practical element and then she will come out running with me at a weekend. She strides ahead and waits for me to catch her up at key places. The girl is amazing, she is fit, strong and very toned. Yet I don’t think she is the exception, her friends are just like her. They play hard and they love sport.
As a parent and teacher I always get frustrated at how are teens are portrayed in the tabloid media. Many of our young people are inspirational, they are engaged with their schools and sporting clubs. I fear that the media telling girls that ‘normal’ girls are not interested in sport actually could cause more issues than it highlights. Lets find sports that our girls enjoy and lets get them on the curriculum or run after clubs where they can participate. lets not tell girls sport is not cool and make them question what they enjoy. The self fulling prophecy will start to overtake the girls own thoughts lets just be positive about young people for a while, it may not make the headlines or sell the news but it will inspire our youngsters.
There are so many positive role models for girls and like many I would prefer my daughters role models to be from the world of sport rather than for being the wife or girlfriend of a football player or some half celeb known for nothing much.
One Response
Love this post! Well done to your daughter and her friends. I hope my daughter is like them when she’s older (I suspect she will be!). We definitely need more positive and encouraging messages and role models for girls when it comes to sport.