Survey shows girls are turning away from sport
Dame Kelly Holmes, Paula Radcliffe and Dame Ellen MacArthur may be
icons of British sport, but their achievements and success are not
sufficient enough to inspire many girls to want to emulate their feats,
according to a report just published.
Despite government campaigns to fight obesity and ill-health, many
girls are dropping out of sporting activity after primary school. Some
parents are so worried about paedophiles, road traffic and bullying
that they are preventing their children taking exercise. The report's
authors call these youngsters "the cotton-wool generation".
A survey of secondary school pupils shows that 20 per cent of girls say
that sport is boring, compared to only 7 per cent of boys. When a
similar survey was conducted in 2003, the figures were 17 per cent of
girls and 8 per cent of boys.
Dame Kelly Holmes yesterday described the statistics as "a bit
shocking" but hoped that the news that London would be staging the 2012
Olympics could change their attitudes.
The report, which was commissioned by Norwich Union, the main sponsor
of UK Athletics, says that girls put a far higher priority on other
activities such as shopping for clothes and listening to music. "There
is so much talent in this country and there are so many sports," Dame
Kelly Holmes said. "We both need to identify the talent and also
encourage grass-roots activity. There must be mass participation for
health reasons, and to help cut obesity rates and counter behavioural
problems. Sport gives people confidence and helps academic attainment."
Dame Kelly Holmes, who was found to be the leading sporting role model
for girls with 35 per cent, ahead of David Beckham (31 per cent) and
Radcliffe (19 per cent), added: "The Olympics are the pinnacle. People
should identify the sport that they enjoy and give it 100 per cent."
The double Olympic champion was at the girls-only Waverley School in
Peckham, South London yesterday where she was informed that girls
responded much better to sport when they were in a single-sex
environment. "Some girls are embarrassed by their body image and what
they look like when they are participating in sport in mixed schools,"
she said.
The importance of fitness, health and sport in single sex schools will
be debated in London on November 12 at the annual conference of the
Girls' Schools Association. Among the speakers will be Tessa Jowell,
the Culture Secretary, and Steph Cook, the 2000 Olympic modern
pentathlon gold medal-winner.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said that
the Government put a high priority on activity among young people.
Initiatives such as the Youth Sport Trust and the Schools Sports
Partnerships were in place but they needed time before the results can
be seen.
She added: "We have charged Sport England with increasing participation
in sport by an extra 400,000 people a year and women and girls are a
key focus in this project."
The survey confirms a dramatic drop-off in sport by girls
after they arrive in secondary schools. It found that 21 per cent of
secondary school girls do no exercise outside school, compared with 13
per cent of boys at the same age. Only 6 per cent of primary school
boys and girls do no exercise outside the school.
Sport is also dropping on the list of females' favourite activities. In
2003, it was ranked as the joint third activity, after shopping for
clothes and listening to music and equal to watching television and
reading books. Although the percentage of girls being interested in
sport (8 per cent) remained constant in the latest poll, both watching
television and reading books were now also ahead of sport. However, at
primary school age, sport was ranked as girls' favourite pastime,
alongside reading books and shopping for clothes.
One reason for the fall-off was blamed on peer pressure. Twenty per
cent of secondary school girls said: "My friends don't do sport so I
don't either." This compared with 7 per cent of boys. In 2003, the
figures were 14 per cent of girls and only 7 per cent of boys.
The survey also showed that 76 per cent of parents admitted worrying
about their daughters when they were out because of the threat from
paedophiles and traffic. The survey was carried out in July 2005 on 602
children, aged eight to 14, and also on 306 parents and the data was
weighted to reflect current British population profiles.
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