ICOACHGIRLS (ntroducing Girls Sport and Physical Activity User Manual

(Re) Introducing Girls to Sport
and Physical Activity

(ntroducing Girls Sport and Physical Activity

Lead Authors:
Dr. Irene Faber
Professor Nicolette Schipper-Van Veldhoven
Dr. Ruth Brazier
Professor Sergio Lara-Bercial
Contributors:
Dr. Gary Hodgson
Sheelagh Quinn
Declan O’Leary

The following organisations are partners within ICOACHGIRLS:

Disclaimer :
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.

Introduction: ICOACHGIRLS

Research shows that women and girls face multiple challenges to participate in sport and physical activity. For example, the gendered nature of sport, a lack of female role models and unequal provision all hinder girls’ ability to participate. Girls in the EU across a broad range of sports and countries, are four times less likely than boys to engage in organised sport (Emmonds et al., 2021). By not participating, girls are missing out in all the potential physical, mental, social and professional benefits of regular physical activity. Importantly, early negative experiences of sport, physical education and physical activity during the primary school years contribute to girls’ lower levels of activity.
ICOACHGIRLS (ICG) is an Erasmus+ funded project, which is part of the larger ICOACHKIDS (ICK) family. ICOACHGIRLS has two key objectives:

1. To increase physical activity and sport participation among primary school age girls
2. To increase the number, competence and confidence of female coaches.

The key targets linked to these objectives are as follows:
Objective 1:

• Creation of 35 ‘Girls Play Centres’ across 6 countries
• 1050 primary school age girls attending the sessions
• 350 sport and physical activity sessions delivered
• 95% satisfaction among girls and parents
• 50% of girls transitioning into regular physical activity on completion of the 10 week programme

Objective 2:

• 70 Head Coaches appointed to run the ‘Girls Play Centres’
• 350 newly qualified or new-to-coaching female coaches completing a ‘Come into Coaching’ course and attending the ‘Girls Play Centres’ to receive mentoring from Head Coaches
• 95% satisfaction among Head Coaches and mentee coaches
• 95% of coaches improve their coaching competence
• 80% of coaches improve their confidence to lead coaching sessions

We recognise that long-term participation is crucial for girls to receive the benefits of sport and physical activity as outlined above. Therefore, through the delivery of the play centres, we will aim to support girls in developing their physical literacy. Physical literacy encompasses three inter-connected domains: cognitive – knowledge and understanding; affective – motivation and confidence; and physical – competence (Sport Ireland). ICOACHGIRLS will aim to positively influence primary school age girls across these three domains and support them to become more physically active over the long term. Physical Literacy Domains (Reproduced with the permission of Sport Ireland)

(Re)Introducing Girls to Sport and Physical Activity
Hi Coach!
This guide is designed to support the creation of the ICOACHGIRLS programs to (re)introduce girls to sport and physical activity, by providing 10 ‘girls in sport’ elements for delivery partners to consider. The elements are not meant to be overly prescriptive rules – they are purposely generic as they are meant to be applied in relevant ways across national and local contexts. However, the overarching elements should be considered in the design of ICOACHGIRLS programs. The elements are aligned with the ICOACHKIDS PLEDGE and structured around the Youth Sport Compass2 , a tried and tested framework for youth sports which provides direction on how to create a positive and safe sports climate. The Youth Sport Compass is built on four evidencebased pillars : the development-oriented, the motivational, the caring and the socially-safe climate. All four pillars must be considered to achieve the best climate in youth sport.
In this guide, each element is introduced and explained, and brought to life with some practical recommendations. In brief, the 10 Girls in Sport elements are:

DEVELOPMENT-ORIENTED

1. Focus on competence

2. Provide non-competitive activities
   MOTIVATIONAL

3. Provide high support

4. Offer a variety of activities and variations

5. Use role-models
   CARING

6. Promote friendships and social connections

7. Help coaches to understand girls’ needs
   SOCIALLY SAFE

8. Create a positive, inclusive and welcoming environment

9. Provide girls only opportunities

10. Be aware of issues related to body image and act accordingly

We start this guide by considering what we have learnt from the previous ICOACHKIDS projects and introduce the ICK Pledge and the Youth Sport Compass.

The ICOACHKIDS Pledge

The ICOACHKIDS Pledge contains 10 golden principles that will help coaches ensure that sport is a positive experience for young people. Each of these principles are tried and tested, research informed and advocated for by coaches! This is a great starting point to consider how you work with young people from all backgrounds. To read more about the pledge, check out the ICOACHKIDS website or watch this short video.

The Youth Sport Compass

The Youth Sport Compass is another great tool to help us think about how to support children in appropriate ways. By considering our practice across the four corners, we can ensure we create a positive environment where children can thrive.

For more information, please see the following videos:
The Youth Sport Compass
The Making of the Youth Sport Compass
Both the ICOACHKIDS Pledge and Youth Sport Compass offer fantastic insight into developing positive, inclusive and welcoming environments for all young people. However, we have also developed 10 specific elements which may be useful when coaching girls. These are not isolated, and should be considered with the ICK pledge and the Youth Sport Compass. The following image shows how the 10 elements align with both the ICK Pledge and the Youth Sport Compass.

It is also important to consider how practice works on different scales. Programs and their activities can target issues on different levels:

• Micro level: ‘on the ground’, what’s happening on the playing field including children and coaches’ interactions.
• Meso level: ‘at the club’, about the club policies and strategies, interaction with parents, coach recruitment, education, development and support.
• Macro level: policy-makers, sport association, (local) government.

We now turn our attention to the 10 specific girls in sport elements which will help you (re)introduce girls to sport and physical activity. This is not intended to be a prescriptive list, and as such they are purposively broad and generic. However, we do offer some illustrative examples across micro, meso and macro levels to bring these elements to life.

The Girls in Sport Elements

1. Focus on competence
   Physical competence is one of the key aspects of physical literacy (alongside knowledge and motivation). Girls that are more skilled and perceive themselves as (highly) competent are found to have higher levels of participation, experience sport and physical activities as fun/enjoyable, and are more likely to continue participating in sport or physical activities. Thus, ICOACHGIRLS should focus on developing girls’ fundamental movement skills to support their perceived competence. This should be backed up by encouragement and support from those around them, including coaches, peers and parents. Ideally, girls will feel competent across a range of movement and activity types.
   Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Acknowledge that girls have different needs
   • Provide opportunities for learning
   • Develop girls’ fundamental movement skills/competence
   • Emphasize development instead of performance/winning
   • Help girls to understand the value of sport and physical activity MESO LEVEL
   • Educate trainers about motor learning and skill acquisition
   • Educate parents about the value of sport and physical activity
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Promote physical literacy at local and national policy

2. Provide non-competitive activities
   Although some girls thrive in competitive settings, others can experience competition as a barrier to participation. Reasons for this vary; for example, experiencing teasing due to low competence, embarrassment of not being picked for a team or feeling pressure to perform.
   Providing non-competitive activities can support girls to start and/or maintain participation in sport and physical activities. The emphasis should be on development, fun and involvement  instead on performance and competition. Highly regimented coaching, focused on performance and winning, can be experienced negatively by many girls.
   Some sports and physical activities, like dance, horse-riding and skateboarding, might naturally provide this. However, every sport and physical activity should be customizable to a noncompetitive format.
   Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Acknowledge that girls have different needs
   • Provide non-competitive activities
   • Emphasize development, fun and involvement
   • Create a welcoming, non-competitive atmosphere MESO LEVEL
   • Educate coaches about non-competitive opportunities
   • Be open for non-competitive activities and programs
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Promote non-competitive participation alongside competition

3. Provide high support
   Girls who are supported by various people (e.g., parents, peers, teacher, and coaches) in various ways have more positive perceptions towards sport and physical activity, and are more likely to participate.
   A positive context gives girls greater perceived competence, and thus allows them to capitalize on existing, or seek new sporting opportunities.
   Parental discouragement can heavily impact girls’ perceptions leading them to devalue and deprioritize sports and physical activity. This is especially important for adolescent girls from low socioeconomic status families.
   In addition to this, girls like to participate in decisions about the activities and prefer a democratic, collaborative coaching style. Coaches should work together with them and ensure everyone has a voice.
   Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Actively encourage girls to join in
   • Provide ample positive reinforcement
   • Consult girls about their needs and preferences MESO LEVEL
   • Educate parents about the positive impact and importance of sport and physical activity
   • Help parents to support girls
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Create programs that educate parents and help them to be supportive
   • Use role-models for the parents to support their girls

4. Offer a variety of activities and variations
   A broad range of activities appeal to girls. Programs that allow girls to sample various sports and activities increase the opportunities for girls to discover which ones they enjoy and feel competent in. The variety of activities can be based on the ‘voice of the child’, and giving girls a say in the activities on offer.
   Girls are also more likely to stick with a particular activity when it is delivered in a varied, nonrepetitive way (i.e., with different exercises). Girls like to learn new routines and improve their skill level while emphasizing fun and engagement rather than skill and competition. Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Provide a variety of activities and within activity variations
   • Provide multi-sport and multi-activity programs
   MESO LEVEL
   • Educate trainers about variety and variations in sports and activities
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Provide education programs for coaches to be(come) creative within their exercises and training sessions
   • Create programs with multiple sport opportunities
   • Develop materials attractive to girls

5. Use role models
   Girls can feel isolated in the context of sport and physical activity, and therefore may lose interest in participating. Existing stereotypes can be very difficult to overcome for girls in sport.
   As such it is important to have positive female role models that can inspire girls. For example, mothers or female family members participating in sport as athletes and/or coaches can be seen as role models for young girls. This can help inspire girls to begin, and to continue being active.
   Also, peers and other ‘influencers’ could be supportive role-models to girls. Since girls’ preferences vary, it is recommended to use a diversity of role models to support all girls. Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Ensure sufficient female coaches that can act as role models
   • Display images of women as sporting role models
   MESO LEVEL
   • Ensure a good mix of genders in the coaches’ team and other volunteers
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Convey that you want more girls to be involved
   • Promote girls’ participation in any way possible
   • Promote role models for girls locally and nationally

6. Promote friendships and social connections
   Girls are more likely to take up and continue in sports and physical activity when they believe it to be a way of developing and maintaining friendships. Unsurprisingly, girls enjoy being able to socialize and play with their friends – this can be harder in a sport and physical activity context where it may be dominated by boys. Having other girls present helps to sustain their motivation for engagement. Having friends and connections makes it a lot easier; it makes it more relaxed or comfortable to do sports, and because they get to spend more time with friends, they look forward to the activities. Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Create time for socializing before, during and after your sessions
   • Encourage co-operative play
   • Encourage new relationships
   MESO LEVEL
   • Provide side events to support socializing
   • Provide space and opportunities for social interactions
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Promote sport and physical activity as a way to make new friends

7. Help coaches to understand girls’ needs
   Many sport and physical activity contexts have been traditionally dominated by men, and therefore a more masculine culture has developed over time which may pay less attention to the needs of girls and women. This needs to be considered when aiming to increase the number of girls participating.
   A successful program to promote girls’ participation in sport and physical activity needs coaches that acknowledge girls have different needs compared to boys, have knowledge about these needs and act accordingly. A coach is an important, perhaps even the most important, link for girls to be inspired and feel connected to sport or physical activity.
   Within this education, a strong emphasis should be placed on how to enhance girls’ beliefs about their own competence to participate in sports and physical activity and strengthening their confidence to overcome barriers to participate in sports and other physical activities. Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Acknowledge that girls have different needs and act accordingly
   • Interact with girls about their needs and wants
   MESO LEVEL
   • Educate coaches about girls’ needs
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Create educational programs for coaches including girl empowerment

8. Create a positive, inclusive and welcoming environment
   The atmosphere and culture within a certain sport or physical activity context is also crucial.
   Unsurprisingly, girls like to feel welcome and encouraged. It is very important for girls that everyone can participate and is seen and treated as equal. Negative experiences, for example teasing, bullying, or negative comparisons with boys, deter their desire to participate and could even lead to drop-out. Therefore, creating a positive, inclusive and welcoming environment is paramount. Everyone involved in the activity programme is responsible for creating and maintaining a positive environment where everyone feels welcome and included. Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Ensure the initial experience is overwhelmingly positive and friendly
   • Ensure everybody feels welcome and encouraged
   • Specifically show that girls are welcome
   • Prevent teasing and bullying
   • Be aware of stereotypes and reformulate/rethink them together
   MESO LEVEL
   • Include policies ensuring a positive and inclusive sports climate
   • Include policies ensuring safeguarding in sports
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Create benchmarks for a positive and inclusive sports climate
   • Create benchmarks for safeguarding in sports

9. Provide girls only opportunities
   Exercising together with boys, especially during childhood and adolescence, is a common barrier for girls to participate in sport and physical activity. Many girls feel insecure and are discouraged by the negative behavior of boys (e.g., teasing, taunting, and name calling). Moreover, because boys tend to be encouraged to participate in sport more regularly, their competence is likely to be higher – thus girls may get sidelined and be excluded within mixed environments. However, highly competent girls have been shown to enjoy playing with boys, stating it was more fun as boys provided higher levels of competition. The opposite is true for the less confident girls – as the demographic of ICOACHGIRLS is girls who are inactive, they are likely to fit into this latter category. Thus, girls only opportunities in sports and physical activity is important within ICOACHGIRLS, to encourage more girls to start and stay in sports and physical activities. Recommendations
   MICRO LEVEL
   • Acknowledge that girls have specific needs
   • Create girls only opportunities
   MESO LEVEL
   • Educate coaches about girls’ preferences and needs
   • Promote girls only opportunities
   MACRO LEVEL
   • Promote girls only opportunities

10. Mitigate issues related to body image and act accordingly
    Girls’ body image and menstruation can be internal barriers to participate in sports and physical activity. Although some girls may take up physical activity to improve their body image, others do not participate due to body image concerns. Specific body-related concerns are related to breasts, body shape and size. Some girls feel that is impossible to look good and be active at the same time. Also, shyness, related to wearing sports clothing or swimsuits, has been identified as a barrier particularly for adolescent girls. Girls also mention feeling ‘gross’ and experiencing discomfort while menstruating, leading to increased self-consciousness and reduced participation.
    It is important that everyone involved in girls and women’s sport are aware of the challenges relating to body image that many girls face from childhood, and be ready to react in the appropriate ways. For example, encouraging and allowing conversations around these topics can be powerful. Moreover, ensuring that kit is appropriate and takes girls’ needs into consideration can alleviate many concerns. Finally, ensuring the facilities are adequate and take into consideration the needs of girls and women is important. Recommendations
    MICRO LEVEL
    • Encourage girls to be active
    • Care for insecurities about body image and menstruation
    • Involve girls in decision about sportwear (clothing and other material)
    MESO LEVEL
    • Provide girls’ facilities (e.g., changing room, tray, sanitary towels)
    • Educate coaches about girls’ needs
    MACRO LEVEL
    • Create educational programs for coaches
    • Create policies to institutionalize all the above recommendations

Other considerations
In addition to the 10 elements, we would like to address some issues that are important to create successful programs for the promotion of girls’ participation in sports and physical activity.
First, it is recommended to use a multicomponent strategy. This entails a program focusing on more issues parallel to each other. It appears that the more ‘green lights’ that can be established, the higher the chances that girls will participate: the more of these elements that are addressed within your programme, the more likely it is to be successful.
Second, although it was intended to provide 10 general elements, it must be acknowledged that not all girls are the same. In practice, we deal with young and older girls with different contexts and backgrounds. Preferences and needs likely vary between different individuals and groups.
For that reason, it is recommended to create tailor-made approaches to find the best solutions within a certain context.
Third, marketing has proven to be helpful to let girls make a first step to change their behavior.
Perhaps co-operation is possible with influencing brands to inspire girls to become and/or remain active in sports.
As previously mentioned, this guide is designed to support the creation of the ICOACHGIRLS programs to (re)introduce girls in sports and physical activity, by providing 10 ‘girls in sport’ elements. The elements are not meant to be overly prescriptive – they are purposely generic as they are meant to be applied in relevant ways across national contexts. When more information or guidance is required, please contact the project lead Dr. Ruth Brazier: r.brazier@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

Glossary of Terms

Elements – refers to particular elements which are specific to encourage more girls to participate in sport and physical activity
ICOACHGIRLS – A specific project within the ICOACHKIDS Global Movement, which recognizes that girls may face additional challenges to participate in sport and physical activity, and aims to support more girls in overcoming these barriers
ICOACHKIDS – A non-profit global movement to help kids get the most out of sport. The online platform gives youth sport coaches the knowledge and tools to share and learn from one another
Micro, Meso, Macro – different levels of impact from individual (micro), organizational (meso) and regionally/nationally (macro)
Physical Activity – refers to all movement and exercise that causes a person’s body to work harder than normal. This can include sport, but also less organized activities such as walking, active play, skipping and jumping. It is recommended that children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity a week
Play Centre – refers to the specific activity centers which will be designed, delivered and evaluated through ICOACHGIRLS
Physical Literacy – Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding that enables a person to value and participate in physical activity throughout life
Principles – refers to the 10 principles in the ICK pledge
Sport – refers to organized games and activities in which teams or individuals compete within the boundaries of defined rules (e.g. football, basketball, cricket, netball etc.)

Sources

Allison, R., Bird, E. L., & McClean, S. (2017). Is team sport the key to getting everybody active, every day? A systematic review of physical activity interventions aimed at increasing girls’ participation in team sport. AIMS public health, 4(2), 202.
Camacho-Miñano, M. J., LaVoi, N. M., & Barr-Anderson, D. J. (2011). Interventions to promote physical activity among young and adolescent girls: a systematic review. Health education research, 26(6), 1025-1049.
Corr, M., McSharry, J., & Murtagh, E. M. (2019). Adolescent girls’ perceptions of physical activity: A systematic review of qualitative studies. American Journal of Health Promotion, 33(5), 806-819. De Meester, F., van Lenthe, F. J., Spittaels, H., Lien, N., & De Bourdeaudhuij, I. (2009). Interventions for promoting physical activity among European teenagers: a systematic review. International Journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 6(1), 1-11.
Hopkins, C. S., Hopkins, C., Kanny, S., & Watson, A. (2022). A Systematic Review of Factors Associated with Sport Participation among Adolescent Females. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3353.
Laird, Y., Fawkner, S., Kelly, P., McNamee, L., & Niven, A. (2016). The role of social support on physical activity behaviour in adolescent girls: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 13, 1-14.
May, T., Dudley, A., Charles, J., Kennedy, K., Mantilla, A., McGillivray, J., … & Rinehart, N. J. (2020).
Barriers and facilitators of sport and physical activity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents: a mixed studies systematic review. BMC Public Health, 20, 1-13.
Owen, M. B., Curry, W. B., Kerner, C., Newson, L., & Fairclough, S. J. (2017). The effectiveness of school-based physical activity interventions for adolescent girls: A systematic review and metaanalysis.
Preventive medicine, 105, 237-249.
Pannen, S. H. (2008). Wat beweegt allochtone meisjes? Een onderzoek naar het beweeggedrag van allochtone meisjes. Unpublished master thesis.
Pels, E. (2016). ‘Omdat jongens jongens zijn en meisjes meisjes’ – Een kwalitatief onderzoek naar de invloed van heersende discoursen op het sportgedrag van meisjes tussen de 10-12 jaar.
Unpublished master thesis.
Somerset, S., & Hoare, D. J. (2018). Barriers to voluntary participation in sport for children: a systematic review. BMC pediatrics, 18(1), 1-19.
Suga, A. C. M., Silva, A. A. D. P. D., Brey, J. R., Guerra, P. H., & Rodriguez-Añez, C. R. (2021). Effects of interventions for promoting physical activity during recess in elementary schools: a systematic review. Jornal de Pediatria, 97, 585-594.
https://www.allesoversport.nl/thema/beweegstimulering/sport-en-bewegen-voor- meisjes-wat-motiveert-en-wat-belemmert-ze/

The Making of This Guide

Authors:
Dr. Irene Faber, Professor Nicolette Schipper-van Veldhoven, Dr. Ruth Brazier and Professor Sergio Lara-Bercial.
Methods
Electronic database searches were conducted in PubMed and Springer Link. The search was limited to peer-reviewed systematic reviews published in English from January 2008 until the 1st of February 2023. Search terms for all databases were girls AND sport. Articles were included if they 1) were a systematic review, 2) focused on the participation of girls (4-18 years) in sports and 3) included information about factors promoting/facilitating and/or preventing/hindering sport participation. Articles that including children from all sexes/genders were excluded when results were not presented separately per sex/gender group. Furthermore, duplicate articles and articles without full-text access were also excluded. Titles, abstracts and full-text articles were screened by one researcher. In addition to the systematic search in databases, also the Dutch website https://www.kenniscentrumsportenbewegen.nl/ was screened for additional findings from so- called professional literature or grey resources.
Results
The search in Pubmed and Sprinker Link yielded 55 and 230 hits, respectively. After screening 6 studies were included from Pubmed and 4 from Springer Link. The website
https://www.kenniscentrumsportenbewegen.nl/ yielded a web article
(https://www.allesoversport.nl/thema/beweegstimulering/sport-en-bewegen-voor- meisjes-wat-motiveert-en-wat-belemmert-ze/) another 2 unpublished studies (master theses). See table 1 for an overview of the included studies.

Table 1. Overview of included articles

First author (database)| Publication year| Studies included (n)| Age group| Focus
Allison (PM)| 2017| 4 (grey literature)| 5-18| This systematic review aimed to assess the impact of physical activity interventions on secondary school- aged girls’ (aged 11-18 years) participation in team sport and to identify potential strategies for increasing participation.
Camacho- Minano (PM)| 2011| 21| 5-18| The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review to describe the available evidence of PA interventions that targeted both young and adolescent girls.
Corr (PM)| 2019| 24| 12-18| To synthesize evidence from qualitative studies relating to adolescent girls’ perceptions of PA participation.
De Meester (SL)| 2009| 20| teenagers| This review was conducted to summarize the effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity among European teenagers.
Hopkins (PM)| 2022| 36| 5-21| The purpose of this systematic review was to identify factors associated with sport participation among adolescent girls and operationalize those factors into theoretical constructs to guide future research.
Laird (SL)| 2016| 89 (73 in meta- analysis; 16 in narrative synthesis)| 12-18| To systematically review and meta-analyze the relationship between social support and physical activity in adolescent girls, exploring how different types and providers of social support might influence the relationship.
May (SL)| 2020| 9| 0-19| This systematic review aims to address the gaps in prior research through 1) collating and synthesizing the findings of research conducted to date that has explored the barriers and facilitators to participating in PA and sport for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents and 2) evaluating the quality of the studies conducted.
Owen (PM)| 2011| 20 (17 in meta- analysis)| 11-17| The objective of this systematic review is to assess the impact and design of school-based PA interventions targeting adolescent girls.
Pels (grey)| 2016| n.a.| 10-12| A qualitative study on the influence of prevailing discourses on the sports behavior of girls aged 10-12.
Pannen (grey)| 2008| n.a.| 8-14 (?)| A study of the exercise behavior of immigrant girls.
Somerset (SL)| 2018| 22| <18| “This systematic review asks, ‘what are those barriers to children’s participation in sport?”
Suga (PM)| 2021| 10| 5-10| The aim of this systematic review was to identify and summarize the effects of interventions designed to promote PA during recess in children between five and ten years old.

PM = Pubmed; SL = SprinkerLink; grey = grey literature

Appendis

(Re)Introducing Girls to Sport and Physical Activity
This guide provides 10 ‘girls in sport’ elements for delivery partners to consider, situated in each of the quadrants of the youth sport compass.
DEVELOPMENT-ORIENTED

1. Focus on competence: Girls that are more skilled and perceive themselves as (highly) competent have higher levels of participation. Thus, ICOACHGIRLS should focus on developing girls’ fundamental movement skills to support their perceived competence.

2. Provide non-compefifive activities: Although some girls thrive in competitive settings, others can experience competition as a barrier to participation. Providing non-competitive activities can support girls to start and/or maintain participation in sport and physical activities.

3. MOTIVATIONAL
   Provide high support: Girls who are supported by various people (e.g., parents, peers, teacher, and coaches) have more positive perceptions towards sport and physical activity, and are more likely to participate.

4. Offer a variety of activities and variations: Allowing girls to sample various activities increases the opportunities for girls to discover what they enjoy and feel competent in.

5. Use role-models: Girls can feel isolated in the context of sport and physical activity, so it is important to have positive female role models that can inspire girls

6. CARING
   Promote friendships and social connections: Girls are more likely to continue in sports and physical activity when they believe it to be a way of developing and maintaining friendships

7. Help coaches to understand girls’ needs: A successful program to promote girls’ participation in sport and physical activity needs coaches that acknowledge girls have different needs compared to boys, have knowledge about these needs and act accordingly.

8. SOCIALLY SAFE
   Create a positive, inclusive and welcoming environment: Unsurprisingly, girls like to feel welcome and encouraged. It is very important for girls that everyone can participate and is seen and treated as equal

9. Provide girls only opportunities: because boys tend to be encouraged to participate in sport more regularly, their competence is likely to be higher – thus girls may get sidelined and be excluded within mixed environments

10. Be aware of issues related to body image and act accordingly: Girls’ body image and menstruation can be internal barriers to participate in sports and physical activity. Many girls do not participate due to body image concerns.

Read User Manual Online (PDF format)

Read User Manual Online (PDF format)  >>

Download This Manual (PDF format)

Download this manual  >>