Developing girls through sport

1. Developing girls through sport Dr Tess Kay Dr Ruth Jeanes Institute of Youth Sport

2. Research evidence on development through sport • IYS research • Areas • International scope • Direct benefits of sport • enjoyment • health • Indirect/social benefits • Education • Social capital • Empowerment for women and girls

3. The GOAL project at Aali Gaon

4. Using available space

5. Aali Gaon netball session

6. Personal development through sport One of the major changes is I have lost a tremendous amount of weight, I used to be fat, and now I have lost it, which has made me feel a lot more comfortable, and now, once I have come here, my personality has developed in the sense, now you can see me talking, I never used to talk like this, so that itself is a development in my personality [Aali Gaon girl A]

7. Now we walk down from our villages to the place, we play, walk and go back. And now also because of this independence, our parents let us go out, so even if someone has to buy a vegetable, we walk out and get the vegetable [Aali Gaon girl B] Developing social roles

8. Messages carried home Our mothers encourage us to go and play and once we get back home, they also look forward to us coming back home because we go home with a lot of information, which we share with them [Aali Gaon girl]

9. Building unity through sport These girls, during their sessions of the sports, they have developed team spirit, which is very very important for their lives. They can fight for their locality, as a team they can fight for any personal issues, …regarding the women issue, girl empowerment, these girls have learnt that we need a group relationship, we must be united, we must have a group who has relations with another group, so they can start fighting for any issue, regarding their life, regarding their goal, as women, [Community Coordinator, Aali Gaon]

10. Sport and Social Inclusion: Engaging Girls in Sport • Engaging and retaining girls in sport is problematic. • 40% of UK young women have dropped out of physical activity by the age of 18 (YST, 2000). • Policy focused on increasing provision (UK: Active Sports, FA TOP Sport, NOPES). • But recent research stresses importance of participation environment.

11. Case study 1: Importance of leadership • Research with girls participating in a number of initiatives. • Focus on how sport is delivered. • Centrality of leaders and coaches. • Influence decision to participate and retention in sport.

12. Girls’ requirement for sports leaders • Respectful, good communicators. • Make participation fun. • Ensure access for all. • Encourage skill development.

13. ‘Good’ Leaders ‘It’s just he [football coach] is really good, he keeps us all doing things but you don’t feel really stupid, like he gets us all doing stuff but he doesn’t make it obvious he is making sure the girls are getting their chance. It just sort of happens’ (Year 6, participant). ‘Even if you are not as good as other people you can go your own steady pace’ (Year 8, participant).

14. ‘Not So Good’ Leaders “I thought about going back [to after-school basketball coaching] but the teacher really put me off, he just is really strict. If you can’t do it he shouts at you and I just didn’t enjoy it.” (year 9 non-participant) ‘It’s just the boys take over and Miss J doesn’t do anything, she doesn’t make it so we can join in or tell ‘em to stop hogging the ball’ (year 7 participant).

15. Case study 2: Encouraging participation through consultation • Widening Access Through Sport. • Engage young girls from Ethnic Minority communities to take part in a programme of sport and educational activities. • Working with a small group over extended period of time. • Highly successful at engaging and empowering girls through sport.

16. Key contributors to programme success • Female development officer appointed from the local community. • Negotiated with family and community to allow access. • Consultation with girls. • Shaping environment to allow girls to participate fully. • Allowing girls to design future programmes.

17. “They hadn’t had any structured sports programmes that they could go to before that. Not only that but their parent were positive and encouraging which is quite unusual because the only sports they would have known would have been in sport or college and they wouldn’t really have taken part in that fully. So, I think for a lot of them sport is something that they can now do, it’s more feasible. Whereas, before, the perception of them being involved in sport would have been very minimal, I think that’s been the major impact” (project officer)

18. ‘I’m an aerobics enthusiast, I absolutely adore it, I go every Wednesday, I just love sweating. At the end of it I really feel as though I’ve achieved something, it tires me out but it’s good tiredness! I like the team work as well, sometimes with people that you don’t even really know.’ (Participant) ‘I think girls in general are more embarrassed if they are playing in front of the lads, but if they are in an all female environment and a Muslim environment, and just to be given that opportunity, we were really grateful and so we utilised the opportunity and the facilities.’ (Participant)

19. Key success factors: Consultation Relationships Outcomes: Individual Collective Key issues We would like to become people like you, spreading the knowledge, and creating the chain, you know, the way you have. We want to create the ripple.