Girls are less likely than boys to take part in sport – but that’s something Dundee pupils like Romilly Beveridge hope to change.
She is among pupils across the city joining forces to encourage more young girls to take up sport.
Active Schools Dundee has recruited and trained pupils from all the city’s secondary schools to form the first Active Girls committee, which aims to reduce the inequality gap between girls’ and boys’ participation in sport.
A 2019 Scottish health survey revealed that only 30% of girls in the 13-15 age group met the physical activity recommendations. This compared to 44% of boys
It also found that teenage girls were less likely than teenage boys be taking part in sport – 56% of girls compared to 63% of boys.
Similar committees have been set up in other areas in Scotland, including Aberdeen, and have seen pupils organise participation and competitive events to specifically target girls.
“People like her will be inspiring lots of girls”
Fifth year Harris Academy pupil Romilly is one of the young sports ambassadors at the school and the 16-year-old is keen to use the success of British tennis star Emma Raducanu to incite other girls to take up a sport.
She said: “I was inspired by Emma Raducanu because she is our age and competing at such a high level. I thought that was really cool and people like her will be inspiring lots of girls.”
“I’ve been a sports ambassador since third year and the sports committee will be leading events to get people involved in sport.
“We’ve got two ‘active girls’ (at Harris) and they are part of the big Dundee group. So they will share their ideas from the group with us and the idea is to have girls more included.
“It will be big group activities and the aim is to get as many people interested and involved as possible.”
Planning for more Dundee sporting events
The launch of the Dundee Active Girls Committee coincided with the Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week.
For this, Active Schools delivered a series of activities in all Dundee secondary schools, culminating in a girls’ lunchtime dodgeball event at Harris Academy.
This, it’s hoped, will be the start of regular sporting activities on offer in schools to help get more girls involved in physical activity.
Romilly added: “The girls’ dodgeball is the first event and this is the start of the varsity cup.
“So every week we will have a different sport activity where girls – and boys – will be competing for house points.
“We are thinking about fundraising for new kit for the PE department as well and we are planning for it to be some sort of sporting activity.”
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