A group of Dundee secondary school pupils are aiming to increase girls’ participation in sport by 10% by next April.
Around two dozen girls from across all of the city’s secondary schools, including Kingspark, have joined forces to set up the first Active Girls committee.
The committee, which met for the first time in person this week, aims to reduce the inequality gap between girls’ and boys’ participation in sport.
Aims to promote sport
St John’s RC High School pupil Maria Hapca and Grove Academy pupil Anna Clark are two of the senior members of the committee.
The S6 pupils, who are both keen netball players, spoke of the committee’s aims which they formally set out in a meeting this week.
Anna, 17, said: “Our main objective is to promote sport by being role models to younger girls and to increase (girls’ participation in sport in Dundee) by 10% by April 2023.
“We are thinking mainly of the S1 to S4 cohort who will have more time in school to get into sports.”
Maria, 18, added: “That objective is realistic; we have a deadline and it helps us to think about what steps we can take to achieve this.”
Girls less likely to be physically active
A survey by Abertay University found that in Dundee, boys are 1.7 times more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than girls.
The survey, conducted between November 2019 and April 2020, showed that 13.6% of boys in Dundee were meeting government physical activity guidelines, compared to 8.4% of girls.
To try and tackle to this disparity, the committee aim to assemble an internal Active Girls committee in each secondary school to help recruit volunteers to run clubs and events.
There are also plans to survey girls on what sporting activities they would like to see in schools.
Maria explained: “We want girls to be active but for it to be fun. We don’t want any stress or competitiveness because girls can be put off by that.
“Hopefully setting up a club in every school and building that up, it can be a platform where we can relay information.”
Anna said: “It’s not the case of just putting flyers up around the school because no-one really looks at those.
“We are thinking of doing surveys asking girls what they want to do so we’re not coming up with ideas that they don’t what to do.”
“It’s for everyone in Dundee”
Athletes like tennis star Emma Raducanu and Aberdeen teenager Kirsty Muir, who this week made the freestyle skiing Big Air final at the Winter Olympics, have been flying the flag for young girls in sports in recent months.
And Maria hopes that that the committee can also provide similar inspiration to the younger generation.
She said: “Sometimes girls feel like they don’t have anyone to look to (in sports) but in this committee there are younger girls that we hope to help and in turn, they can be role models within their schools.
“That’s something we really want to emphasise, we can be those role models and support these girls who come forward to us and want to take part in sports.
“It’s not just ourselves that we are trying to make this change for, it’s for everyone in Dundee.”
