How London Sport is tackling girls' low physical activity participation rate

Elite women’s sport may be on the rise, but at a grassroots level, there is still an issue with girls’ participation in physical activity.

According to Women in Sport research, 43 percent of girls who enjoyed physical activity and sport in primary school disengage and fall out of love with activity during their teenage years.

In addition, 61 percent of girls feel judged, with half lacking the self-belief to continue their participation. More than a third don’t feel safe exercising outside.

One organisation bidding to tackle this problem is London Sport, which aims to bring the physical, mental and social benefits of an active life to groups and communities in the capital city.

London Sport’s Make Space for Girls project will look to address the issue that facilities and provisions are often designed without the consultation of teenage girls, or dominated by teenage boys or other groups.

GiveMeSport Women sat down with London Sport’s chief executive Emily Robinson to discuss the project and how participation rates of girls in physical activity can be increased.

“We can definitely do more about some of the things raised in the Women in Sport research,” Robinson explained. “But it does happen, I think, in certain areas where you can design a piece of physical activity or sport and think girls will come, and then be a bit stumped when that doesn’t happen.

“So at London Sport, we tried to take a more insight led approach to really understand what the different barriers might be. We have to bear in mind that as women, we’re not all the same.

“Girls are not all the same. There might be some main themes that run through things, but we need to kind of get into the details a bit more.”

In 2020, in a bid to understand the barriers