A new survey has revealed that a third of schoolgirls aged between eight and 16 find exercise ‘socially unacceptable,’ stating that they felt self-conscious and embarrassed while taking in part.
The survey, conducted by Virgin Activeas part of a five-year campaign to help tackle rising levels of youth inactivity revealed that 32 per cent of the girls surveyed said leading an active night was not important to them, and 39 per cent of 16-year-old girls claiming that they never undertook any strenuous activity when at school.
For anyone who ever got their mum to write a note to school requesting that the class only throw things underarm in PE, this will come as no surprise. PE, was horrible, right? Stressfully, competitive and sweaty, with the constant threat of injury round every corner. PLUS, who actually used the showers in the school changing rooms? Thinking about it, the classroom we had double science in after cross-country running must have stank.
But how many of us are still hanging onto our PE hang-ups now? A tentative trip to the gym, or a jog round the park is one thing, but would you join a netball team or get involved in a hockey league? Chances are, your answer’s no, and the stats bear this out. According to Sport England, 40.9 per cent of men take part in sport once a week, compared to 30.8 per cent of women (and participation only declines with age, which explains why even those of us who managed to nab the sports captain badge at school probably won’t be keeping it up into our twenties and beyond).
Hannah, 27, never got over what became an almost pathological fear of PE at school. 'I used to come up with a new excuse every week. I'd leave my right hockey boot at home, or hide behind the greenhouse to get out of cross-country running. If I was fielding in rounders I always went so wide that my team mates were a dot on the horizon. The main problem was that I was bad at it, so bad that my (much sportier) classmates would groan if I was picked for their team - which just made me worse.'
Nowadays, Hannah will go to the gym if she's got a holiday coming up - or it's January - but the thought of joining in with a team sport makes her feel mildly panicky. 'I can't even say that I worry about being shit - I know that I'm shit so there's no point playing. I know you're meant to enjoy the social side and the team camaraderie of it, but I just assume the sort of girls who play team sports now are the same ones who used to audibly groan and roll their eyes when I got picked at school. Why would I want to spend time with those women now?'
But according to the Women’s Sport And Fitness Foundation, less than 20 per cent of women do enough exercise to benefit their health - and of the top 10 most popular activities for women to do, the biggest by a long way are individual activities like attending the gym (8.2 per cent) or swimming (8.6 per cent). In contrast, Netball doesn’t even make the top ten, and comes in at number 11 with just 0.7 per cent of women surveyed taking part.
Helen Grant, Minister For Sport and Equalities agrees that it's a problem - and one that needs tackling at a young age. 'It is one of my top priorities to get more women and girls involved in sport. It can have such a positive impact on their lives, not only keeping them healthy but boosting self-esteem and encouraging teamwork. One initiative we are piloting in schools and colleges is girls-only sport clubs that happen after hours and encourage girls to find the sport for them. We should not be prescriptive. We need to listen to what they want and give it to them. I think our sports governing bodies need to be more innovative in attracting women and girls and be better at sharing best practice on what works.'
But what’s putting us off? The Women’s Sport And Fitness Foundation have identified a lack of confidence, body-image worries and self-consciousness as key reasons why women don’t get involved in sport - all the same reasons why we didn’t want to do it when we were 15.
But if it’s a fear of not being good enough, think about all the blokes you know who are still playing football on a Sunday. Are any of them amazing athletes? No. Do they ever turn up to a game with a horrific hangover from the night before? Frequently.
They play because they enjoy the social element, the camaraderie and the opportunity to run up and down a field and sweat out that hangover. The fear of embarrassing themselves or looking stupid doesn’t come into it. Sara, 25, agrees. 'When I see a load of blokes playing football in the park, it looks like loads of fun, but what's the female equivialent? Netball in skirts and bibs? A rounders league? There are no cool, casual game girls just head out and play in a group, without organised teams and bibs, but I wish it was something we did more.'
We all let our teenage gremlins get to us at some point, but if you know you need to get moving more, you can't face sinking £60 a month on gym membership, or you're just looking for an opportunity to kick-start your social life, now might be time to put those decade-old PE fears to one side, and dig those gym knickers out. On a plus note, we hear the showers are much improved...
Follow Rebecca on Twitter @rebecca_hol
Picture: Gosrad Kiev
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.