Sported reported that 25 per cent of community groups are not sure that their participants will return in the future and 14 per cent of groups saying support will be needed to adjust to the new normal and government guidelines once they reopen.
New research from Always has found that nearly 1 in 3 girls drop out of sports during puberty, with 28 per cent thinking they weren’t good enough and 25 per cent revealing that they didn’t feel encouraged to keep playing.
The study among 1000 girls and 1000 adults was commissioned by Always to help understand the current state of girls’ participation in sports during puberty, as well as the long-term benefits of girls playing sports, beyond the cheers and the wins.
These long-term benefits of sport can be felt well into adulthood, with women who continued playing at school, saying that doing so helped them build skills such as learning how to persevere (23 per cent) and becoming a better communicator (21 per cent). 45 per cent also credit sports with teaching them teamwork, 30 per cent said sports helped them develop self-esteem and 25 per cent said sports helped them improve their mental health. Sadly, 50 per cent of women who dropped out of sports as teens wish they had continued to play.
To help show the world that the value of sports extends beyond the field, Always is teaming up with inspiring females including Rachel Riley, and local heroes such as Ellie Pantlin, an emergency nurse for the NHS, and Ellie Carter, who at 16 years old became the UK’s youngest female pilot.
Rachel Riley, mathematician, mother and Always ambassador reflects on how sport set her up for a career with numbers: