Owning It: Keeping Women in Sport 

Keeping Women In Sport

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Keeping Women in Sport

Owning It: Keeping Women in Sport

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An alarming number of teenage girls drop out of sport. How do we stop this trend?

The majority of girls in Wales will drop out of sport during their late teenage years. Winter Olympian Mica Moore looks at what’s happening to reverse that trend.

Too sweaty. Too rubbish. Too girly. Not interested. 

Why are girls across Wales dropping out of sport in alarming numbers by the time they reach their late teenage years? Is the school system failing girls? Or does it start even before children reach secondary school? And what happens when they leave secondary school? Winter Olympian and Commonwealth Games athlete Mica Moore looks at why girls are more likely than boys to turn their backs on sport.

Mica’s always owned being a sporty girl, but this isn’t true of all teenagers. Mica talks to girls who are going through these crucial years to hear how social pressures, confidence and a lack of structures in our traditional sports all contribute to women walking away from sport. 

We’ll hear from Street Games Treharris teenagers who don’t feel like “sporty girls” but enjoy taking part in sport with their inspirational youth leader Kate. Elite athletes and Football Association of Wales regional squad athletes tell us about the divide in schools that they felt and the pressure to conform but also how sport gives them the lifestyle and social life many girls feel they might miss out on if they continue to play sport.

Meanwhile, there’s a revolution going on in Welsh cricket. Becky is a development officer for Cricket Wales, and she’s convinced that girls must be given the confidence to play sport before they reach secondary school. Meanwhile, she's also developing what she’s calling “Prosecco cricket” to show that you can be 16-24, non-elite and still have a place playing sport beyond your school years.

So what is being done to halt the trend of girls leaving sport? And do we need to redefine what it means to be a girl in sport and let them “own it”?

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