Norwich Union has joined forces with the Youth Sport Trust and double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes, in her role as National School Sport Champion, to launch GirlsActive, an initiative designed to empower teenage girls to enjoy more sporting activity on their own terms.
- Kelly Holmes to revive "girl power" for school sport
Norwich Union has joined forces with the Youth Sport Trust and double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes, in her role as National School Sport Champion, to launch GirlsActive, an initiative designed to empower teenage girls to enjoy more sporting activity on their own terms.
The GirlsActive initiative comes on the back of research from Norwich Union and the Youth Sport Trust which showed that, although the majority of girls surveyed (80%) claimed they would like to become more physically active, nearly a third of girls in the UK do not think they will be physically active when they leave school, and a fifth of secondary school girls do no exercise outside school compared to just 13% of boys the same age.
Various reasons have been given for this lack of participation, including the fact that many girls view the sport they take part in at school as "boring" and many are not encouraged to get more involved by their parents. With London set to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, hopes of building a "sporting nation" rest on today’s schoolchildren’s desire to enjoy more sporting activity.
Dame Kelly Holmes said: “From the extensive research conducted by both Norwich Union and the Youth Sport Trust, we know that the key age for girls dropping out of sport is the early teens. I want to delve deeper to understand the key reasons why this is the case and work with the girls themselves to make a real difference in the delivery of sporting activity designed for them.”
This autumn, three Norwich Union GirlsActive roadshows will be run by the Youth Sport Trust, each one hosted by Kelly in her role as National School Sport Champion. The events will collectively be attended by representatives from 75 school sport partnerships across England. The girls themselves will be challenged to come up with ideas on what they would change in their own schools in order to make sporting activity something they would want to participate in. From these 75 school sport partnerships, three will be selected for a Norwich Union GirlsActive personal "makeover" visit by Kelly herself.
Kelly continued: “It’s no use imposing sporting solutions on today’s kids as they have so much choice nowadays. We need to find out what will engage them and then provide it. It could be something as simple as the PE kit, or the changing or shower rooms. I want to target the girls who are not currently interested in sport and understand the reasons why so that we can look to address them.”
Representatives from the three successful school sport partnerships will also accompany Dame Kelly to discuss the findings with key government representatives with a view to helping the government achieve its school sport targets. The long-term ambition, by 2010, is to offer all children at least four hours of sport made up of at least two hours of PE within the curriculum and at least two to three additional hours of sport provided through a range of school, community and club providers.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell said: “We know that for the vast majority of young women, feeling fit and looking fit is an important part of feeling good about themselves. But for lots of girls, sport is a grudging school time activity, not a habit for life. Kelly Holmes' role as school sport champion is to change that. As a powerful role model, she is beating the drum for sport and physical activity for girls across the country.”
Steve Grainger, chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said: “Sport is so important for children and teenagers, but it needs to be fun for them to be engaged. It helps teach vital life skills such as teamwork, leadership and learning to compete and it also aids social engagement, increases discipline and can even have an impact in the classroom on academic results. The key is to find out how to make sporting activity in school fun for those girls who don’t currently participate, and then to work with schools to create a step change in the way traditional sporting activities are delivered to girls as well as exploring new alternatives.”
Tanya Veingard, head of sponsorship & CSR at Norwich Union, said: “We are committed to encouraging all young people to enjoy a more active lifestyle and have recently trebled our investment in grassroots athletics through our extended commitment with UK Athletics until 2012. But we know that teenage girls drop out of sporting activity at a much earlier age than boys and we are keen to address this since sport has so many positive effects aside from the obvious health benefits. And the more active our children are today, the more likely they are to remain active in later life.”
The three Norwich Union GirlsActive events will take place on:
- 2 November PGL Travel Boreatton Park centre, Shropshire
- 9 November PGL Travel Marchants Hill centre, Hindhead, Surrey
- 14 November Catterick Garrison, Hipswell, North Yorkshire
More information can be found on www.youthsportrust.org
-ends-
Media Contacts:
Stuart Wareman (MEC:Sponsorship) 020 7803 2306 (07733 010 799)
Tanya Veingard (Norwich Union) 020 7662 3616
Sophie Borromeo/James Webb (Youth Sport Trust) 020 7278 7208
Notes to editors:
Research Information
602 kids (8-14 yr olds) and 306 parents were interviewed in July 2005 by Kids & Youth using a representative panel of GB online population. Data ‘weighted’ back to GB population profiles for Kids ages, social grade and region. Study conducted to full MRS, ESOMAR and COPPA regulations and guidelines.
Norwich Union & UK Athletics
Norwich Union has been the number one commercial sponsor of UK Athletics since 1999 with a significant amount of money invested in developing the sport at grassroots level. This support will enable every child in the UK to have the opportunity to access to athletics by 2012, and provide extensive support to teachers to deliver the sport in schools.
Norwich Union’s support of athletics at every level will add value to the existing World Class Pathway investment in elite athletes, provide more opportunities to help identify future champions, and also help prepare children for life challenges through increased sporting participation.
By 2012 it is anticipated that over 10 million children, 1.5 million families and 100,000 teachers in over 25,000 schools will have been actively engaged in Norwich Union-funded athletics schemes.
Youth Sport Trust
The Youth Sport Trust is a registered charity established in 1994 to build a brighter future for young people through sport. Its mission is to support the education and development of all young people through PE and sport.
Dame Kelly Holmes - National School Sport Champion
Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes was earlier this year unveiled by the Youth Sport Trust as the National School Sport Champion, a government-backed role that is supported by Norwich Union and Sky through its Living for Sport programme.
PGL Travel
PGL Travel is the largest provider of residential activity courses for schools in the UK. More than three million young people have benefited from a PGL adventure since the founder, Peter Gordon Lawrence, ran his first canoeing expedition in 1957. The company, which operates 16 centres in the UK and 9 in France and Spain, is currently extending its facilities and investing over Ł32 million in its centres over the next five years.