Brent Eastwood: 10 principles for activity officials to better meet needs of young women

Sporting success on the netball courts. "Feel good" moments are key motivators for young women and mostly these come from fulfilling their own goals and aspirations, not results.

SPORT THOUGHT

OPINION:

In the last article, I highlighted how teenage girls and young women face diverse barriers to participation in active recreation and sport. This week we will take a look at what active recreation and sport providers should consider when planning, developing and delivering opportunities for young women in their teenage years.

So how can activities in our community better meet the needs of young women?

What follows are some principles that active recreation and sport providers such as secondary schools, regional sports organisations, clubs, private providers (and anyone else looking to engage young women in physical activity) should keep in mind:

Focus on wellbeing – enhance young women's holistic wellbeing by creating opportunities and environments in which young women can thrive, enhancing wellbeing rather than adding stress and pressure.

For young women, with young women – take time to engage with them, understand their world, their fears, their concerns, their worries, their aspirations, their motivations and their wants.

Every move counts – value and encourage all forms of physical activity; some physical activity is always better than none.

For "the feels" – "feel good" moments are key motivators for young women and most of the time these come from fulfilling their own goals and aspirations, not from competitive results.

Free of judgement – create physical and social environments free of judgement, embarrassment and expectation.

Young women as leaders – create opportunities to give them a voice and a platform to lead.

The power of sisterhood – use the power of friendship and peers to motivate young women to join and engage in activity by creating offerings that encourage social connection.

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Digital lives – think how you can use devices, digital platforms and social media to engage with young women and offer your products/activities.

Not just for the sporty – quality physical activity can look like, feel like and sound like lots of different things, not just traditional sport.

Physical activity "on demand" – think about options that can fit around young women's lives, opportunities and activities that young women can decide when and how to engage with.

In the best of times, young people face huge issues as they grow into adults, let alone dealing with everything the Covid environment throws at them. Often active recreation and sport is one of the first things to go when these issues arise in young people's lives.

To ensure we are going someway to overcoming this, active recreation and sport providers should keep the above 10 principles in mind when planning activities for young women so that we can keep them involved in active recreation and sport as they progress through their teenage years.

• Brent Eastwood is Sport Northland's chief executive officer.