Rebranding

Women and sport at university

In September 2009 WSFF delivered a workshop at the annual BUCS conference. This factsheet captures some of the key elements of the presentation and the discussion that took place.

Key links: 
British Universities and Colleges Sport
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Women_and_sport_at_University.pdf

The Energy Project

The Energy Project

This handbook documents the journey, research and findings of The Energy Project, a study that aimed to find ways to increase physical activity among schoolgirls, at both primary and secondary level, through the creative use of existing school time. The ultimate aim was to help sow the seeds of active lifestyles that would stand girls in good stead for the rest of their lives.

if you’re interested in encouraging more girls and boys to take part in and benefit from physical activity, this guide is for you.

Key links: 
Helen Storey Foundation
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ENERGY_FINAL_GUIDE.pdf

Girls in Sport - Aberdeenshire Council

In order to reach the national physical activity recommendation of 1hr of moderate activity every day, we created the ‘Girls in Sport’ club at the Meldrum Academy.

Project detailsProject duration: 01 December 2006 - ongoing
Organisation: 
Aberdeenshire Council
Project name: 
Girls in Sport
AudienceSchools
Age group: 
0 - 15
Age group: 
16 - 24
Innovation
Our project was well delivered due to our enthusiastic staff, funding and the variety of our partners. We also launched the programme with considered branding and promotional tools which were targeted to the girls. The project was delivered using multi-activities so the girls were engaged and also were not put off by competitive sports or limited types of activities. To encourage girls to come back to the club we also introduced incentives which target girls specifically including hair, beauty, nutrition vouchers and products.
Recruitment and promotion
We designed a “Girls in Sport” logo to give the club its own identity. We also produced a leaflet which was distribution to all P7-S6 girls. In addition, the girls were sent an invitation in the mail to raise the profile of the club and inform the girls and the parents. To promote the club further, we design a Power-Point presentation to demonstrate girls taking part in physical activity. The presentation was shown on a flat screen TV in the weeks leading up to the launch to raise awareness of the club. We also updated the school web page and featured the activities on the Pupil bulletin.
Location
Local
How was your project delivered?Multi-sport
Partnership
We received support from Youth Sports Trust and SportScotland which was essential for the project. To deliver the Girls Get Active project we also worked with the Local Sports Centre, a graphic designer, local businesses, Community Sports Clubs and Sports Development Officers.
Results
Lessons: 
One lesson we learnt from the Girls in Sport Club is that training and time out to plan is essential. Although it takes a lot of time and hard work to set up club, it really works. We now have started to do joint planning between the primary and secondary school as a result of the success of the girl’s project. One other thing I would like to improve in the future is further cooperation from parents, especially in terms of car sharing.
Evaluation: 
• Increased levels of girls taking part in sport and physical activity • Increased girls' participation and attendance at extra-curricular clubs • Weekly 30-50 girls attending
Themes

Facilities

Transport was an issue for some girls from the furthest away primary schools, but they arranged for their parents to meet and set up a car pool to enable the girls to take part.

Participation

We have grown girls' participation in physical activity by offering a variety of multi-sport activities and have launched a rewards or incentive scheme.  The more sessions the girls attend, the quicker they can receive small incentives that have been selected specifically for girls such as hair, beauty and nutrition products.  Vouchers are also provided to girls with high attendance figures.

Key links: 
Aberdeenshire Council

Creating a nation of active women: A framework for change

Creating a Nation of Active Women provides the framework to address the crisis detailed in It’s time. But it’s more than a strategy for change. It is a stark call-to-action for those with the power and responsibility to effect that change. 

A national target has been set for two million more people to be more active by 2012, of which at least one million should be women. But with 24 million women not doing enough physical activity, that should be only the beginning.

 

With practical recommendations, the strategy provides a framework, compromising three key imperatives, for those who develop policy and design, and who deliver and promote sport and exercise for women and girls.

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Creating_a_Nation_of_Active_Women.pdf

Essex 7s women's football league

Since Jan 2008 ECFA has been running female ‘get back into football’ sessions within Essex’s Metropolitan Boroughs as well as outer Essex. The success of the sessions gave us the idea of offering those females an opportunity to play some form of competitive football. A one off 7s event took place in August 2008 with 5 teams taking part. Due to the success we made the decision to turn it into a league and we are now in our third season. Each league consists of 4 monthly events with all results rolling over each month to work out the eventual winners.

Project detailsProject duration: 01 August 2008 - ongoing
Organisation: 
Essex FA
Project name: 
Female 7s League
AudienceBME
Age group: 
41+
Innovation
The project is unique because if offers ALL females with the opportunity to play football regardless of their lifestyle, ability, background, religion etc. The league is delivered in a relaxing and inviting environment which allows individuals and teams to develop and progress in their own time. There are friendship groups formed between players and teams which we believe is quite special.
Recruitment and promotion
The league is regularly promoted via Essex Fa’s website. Posters are also visible in Powerleague for any interested parties. The Gumtree website has been used to promote the league as well as for teams to recruit more players, which has been extremely useful. For the past two our October event has also been a One Game One Community sponsored event and as a result we have had FA Ambassador Lorraine Deschamps in attendance to hand out medals.
Location
Local
How was your project delivered?Football
Funding
The project is funding by Essex FA via the FA’s National Game Strategy funding. We also use our partner Umbro who provide all new teams with a free kit as well as equipment vouchers for returning teams.
Partnership
We work with Umbro for kit as well as establishing a positive working relationship with Fairlop Powerleague who host each event. This partnership has led to us delivering other events there including a schools disability league for girls.
Results
Lessons: 
The development of female officials was disappointing. The league began life with us using female coaches as officials, however, due to discipline problems it was decided to use Powerleague referees which changed things dramatically.
Evaluation: 
The success is that it continues to develop and is now coming to the end of its third league. It is also successful because we have been able to see two teams now playing affiliated 11v11. We have also linked two teams into affiliated clubs who have now established them as their ladies teams. Each month we have up to 70 females aged 16 and upwards taking part which may not have been the case should the league have not been created.
Themes

Growing and sustaining participation

The 7’s league has many different outcomes depending on how you look at it. It has helped to increase female participation by the flexibility of only taking place once a month which has brought new females into the game. It has also sustained participation by offering those females who may not want to continue playing 11v11 with a smaller format.  There is one player taking part in the league who is registered as disabled. We have females from a number of minority groups and have teams from the LB of Newham and Waltham Forest which are classed as deprived areas. Teams that attend have included those with sisters playing together as well as one team with a mother and daughter. Two teams that began in the league have now transferred to the Essex County Womens League and play 11v11 affiliated football. The league is a good stepping stone for those teams that do have ambitions to progress or it is a welcoming environment for those that want to just play and have fun.

Rebranding and reversioning sport

The 7’s league is a flexible format of football which has been extremely appealing to the groups of females taking part. Many teams share players if numbers are low and there is a family atmosphere at games. At the end of each four month league there is a presentation and all teams bring with them a selection of food which also creates a family atmosphere. For some women football is a new sport  and it is our responsibility as organisers to ensure that they get the best possible experience.

Targeting self-confidence and self-esteem issues

I believe that due to the huge mixture of ages, backgrounds, cultural and religious beliefs many barriers are crossed. For some women, taking part in sport and especially football is frowned upon so to have such a multicultural league is a real achievement for all those involved.

Key links: 
Essex FA

Sweat in the City: How 2000 young women discovered the positive power of exercise

This report details the innovative research project Sweat in the City which project provided over 2000 inactive 16 – 24 year old women a three month free and mentored gym membership and followed their journey. 

The project was designed to gain a better understanding of how to motivate women to become more active. Today, 16 year-old girls leave school half as active as their male counterparts, often with a negative attitude to sport and fitness and with critically low levels of confidence. This programme set out to create a fitness experience that would appeal to this audience, change their attitude to exercise and lead to a more active and healthier way of life.

SitC was designed and delivered by a partnership between the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) and the Fitness Industry Association (FIA).

Key elements of the programme were personal mentoring and opportunities to ‘meet’ other participants through group sessions and via the SitC website. The young women were successfully recruited with the help of a feminine brand and celebrity ambassadors who fronted a tailored PR campaign. All that was asked in return was for the women to share their highs, lows, aches and pains with us through surveys, focus groups and online diaries.

The results surpassed even our highest hopes:

• Six months after completing the programme, 72% of participants are more active than they were before

• Before the programme, 63% of participants were worried about what they looked like when they exercised. This dropped to just under half

• 88% of participants agreed that ‘SitC has reminded me how good it feels to be active’

• Three-quarters of the young women now have increased confidence to go on and try new activities

 

“There is no way that I am giving exercise up again now, I feel so much better in myself – better mood, lots more energy etc. Even though I don’t always want to go to the gym, I know I’ll feel so much better once I’ve actually been!”

 

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SitC_Report_latest.pdf

London Playing Fields Foundation - Active Angels

Active Angels is an innovative multi-activity project that aims to contribute to the health of 14-16 year old girls by encouraging and sustaining their participation in sporting activity.  It focuses on girls who are currently active but who are at risk of adopting sedentary lifestyles once they have left school. The project has been providing opportunities for girls to participate in sports and physical activity in a non-competitive, friendly and supportive environment since 2004.

Project detailsProject duration: 01 January 2004 - ongoing
Organisation: 
London Playing Fields Foundation
Project name: 
Active Angels
AudienceSchools
Age group: 
0 - 15
Age group: 
16 - 24
Innovation
What makes the project so innovative is that is it customer focussed, responding to the needs of the girls rather than to a prescribed syllabus or fixture list. Active Angels targets a new type of participant – now known as the semi-sporty. The coaches were all recruited from local clubs so that if the girls developed a particular interest in an activity and wished to pursue it then they already had links established with a local club. Year 11 pupils were mentored and action plans were developed to help them identify opportunities to maintain their activity levels once they left school.
Recruitment and promotion
LPFF worked closely with the Partnership Development Manager and the Community Sports Coach to ensure that the project was promoted within the local schools. The Project Coordinator visited each school and made presentations to the appropriate Year Groups during assemblies and PE lessons and put up posters. An emphasis was placed on recruiting girls who were not participating in sport or physical activity outside school and PE teachers were asked to refer pupils they thought would benefit from the project. Participants were empowered to be Ambassadors to promote the project within their school. They were also encouraged to “Activate an Angel” and bring a friend with them to sessions. Before the start of each term reminder postcards were sent to previous participants with details of sessions.
Location
Local
How was your project delivered?Hockey, netball, badminton, football, swimming, aerobics, spinning, street dance, gym, ice blading, salsa, pilates, boxercise
Funding
Phase 1 of the project (2004 – 2007) was funded through an Active England grant. Phase 2 of the project is being funded through Waltham Forest Youth Support Service.
Partnership
Partnerships were established with the Waltham Forest Northern School Sports Partnership, Waltham Forest PCT, Waltham Forest Healthy Schools Coordinator, WF Community Sports Coach, Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme, Greenwich Leisure Limited, Women’s Sports & Fitness Foundation and Pro Active North London.
Results
Lessons: 
The key lesson learnt was the need to tailor the activity programme to the needs of the girls. For example, the intention was to deliver activity sessions throughout the three school terms; however the attendance figures dropped from January until March when the evenings were cold and dark and so a decision was made to cancel sessions during this period. The coaching style of the instructors was also a key factor in keeping the girls engaged. They were asked to focus on making their sessions fun and sociable and encouraging participation and rather than performance coaching. When the girls provided negative feedback about particular instructors the Project Coordinator approached them and asked them to adapt their sessions. If they were unable to accommodate this request then they were replaced by more suitable candidates.
Evaluation: 
The project was evaluated at the end of Phase 1 which showed that 380 girls had participated over the three year period. 39% of these girls were in Year 11 and 23% in Year 10. 16% of attendees were in Year 12 which demonstrates that participants were keen to keep attending Active Angels after they had left school. Twenty girls joined the gym using the concessionary scheme offered by Greenwich Leisure Limited in order to increase their participation rates. At the start and end of each term a monitoring questionnaire was completed by participants to measure the difference in their attitudes to the benefits of physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle. The results showed that the girls all thought their health had improved through participating in the programme and they had a greater understanding of the positive effects that physical activity had on their physical and mental health.
Themes

Tackling drop-off

In order to try and prevent the drop-off in participation for those in the 16+ age group, the project specifically targeted girls aged 14 – 16 years and provided them with a programme of activity tailored to their needs. 

The coaches delivered activities with a focus on sustaining participation rather than performance which tends to put off the target group.  The aim is to create an environment which is not only customer focused but also seeks to enhance the self esteem of the participants. 

Health and well-being

Many of the girls took part in Active Angels to control their weight and to feel good about themselves. This improved self image has helped the girls function better in other parts of their lives.

The project used several methods of communicating with participants:

  • Presentations in schools by the Activity Coordinator
  • Posters in schools
  • Reminder postcards to participants
  • Ambassadors – participants promoting the project within their school
  • Activate an Angel – bring a friend scheme
  • PE staff were encouraged to refer girls who they thought would benefit from the project

Reversioning sport

The emphasis of Active Angels was on delivering activity in a fun and relaxed environment.  The coaches understood this ethos and tailored their sessions accordingly.  After each session there was an opportunity for the girls to socialise in the sports centre.  The Project Coordinator also organised off-site trips (e.g. ice skating at an outdoor rink at Christmas) and delivered healthy eating workshops where the girls had the opportunity to socialise with girls from different schools.

Promotion and marketing

The Active Angels project used several methods to communicate with participants:

  • Presentations in schools by the Activity Coordinator
  • Posters in schools
  • Reminder postcards to participants
  • Ambassadors – we used participants to promote the project within their school
  • Activate an Angel – bring a friend scheme
  • PE staff were encouraged to refer girls who they thought would benefit from the project
Key links: 
London Playing Fields Foundation - Active Angels
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