Research showing the declining confidence of girls to play sport or be active has sparked a new campaign encouraging girls to do it their way. Merryn Anderson finds outdoors programme Journeys is already shaping intrepid young women.
There's no pressure on the girls in Megan Longman's outdoor adventure programme, Journeys, to come back each week.
“But we make it so fun, they don’t want to miss out," Longman laughs.
Based in Central Otago's Alexandra, Journeys is designed for girls aged from 12 to 16 to head outdoors, get active and learn life lessons.
An "on-foot season" teaches girls navigation skills and how to scramble on rocks, while the mountain bike season involves biking and exploring new places in Otago.
The programme is free, including hiring bikes and outdoor clothing, to reduce any barriers for girls who want to join. It’s a safe space for young girls to participate in physical activity, but also to be themselves and explore their comfort zones.
Journeys is a perfect example of what Sport New Zealand hope to see through the launch of their #itsmymove campaign today.
The campaign addresses research that's found a significant decrease in participation in physical activity for young girls from the age of 16. It also found the confidence of young women to take part falls from 76 percent at aged 12, to 53 percent at 17.
The CEO of Sport NZ, Raelene Castle, says it’s important to create spaces where young women don’t get judged for their performance.
“Ninety percent of young women in the research tell us they want to be active, and 83 percent want to increase their levels of physical activity. So they understand the value of it and how it can be rewarding, but they find the overlay of the pressure of academic life, family responsibilities and part-time work as barriers,” she says.
“The campaign is designed to make people sit up and take notice, to have the voices of young women share their experiences, particularly around the barriers stopping them from continuing into either sport or physical activity.”
Longman experienced the importance of 'no pressure exercise' first-hand, growing up on a high country station just outside of Queenstown and spending her weekends exploring the outdoors and white water kayaking.
"I've observed my own growth in my self-confidence and my resilience and how powerful outdoor adventures have been for empowering me, and I've observed that in my friends as well,” she says.
“There’s just something special about those women and girls-only adventures that really encourage people to challenge themselves a little bit more and feel safe and supported.”
Longman and long-time friend Kim Froggatt decided they wanted young girls growing up in the Otago region to have the same chances to be empowered through adventure. So they set to work establishing Journeys.
Another 10 to 15 local women volunteer their time to not only go on the adventures with the girls, but also attend trainings on how to teach topics like self-talk and push the growth of different participants.
“They’re ordinary, inspiring local women - so they are engineers, vets, mothers - women who all share a passion for outdoor adventure and also share a passion for connecting with and engaging with young people,” says Longman.
A key part of Journeys is that the girls help design the programme and give feedback to Longman and the instructors.
“We come together and talk about what we want to do that week, where we want to go. If the theme’s going to be learning new skills or challenges or about social, fun and connecting, we design and tweak it,” says Longman.
University of Waikato Professor Holly Thorpe’s research has had a big focus on young women in informal sports, and she knows how important it is to listen to young women’s voices.
“They’ve got great ideas, such cool ideas and we can look across the country and see some really cool initiatives that have been developed by young women for young women,” she says. “They’re really finding a niche and young women are flocking to those places.”
Longman agrees. “We know that conventional sport doesn’t work for everyone and we’ve been doing a lot of unravelling with our girls why they might not do some of the things on offer at the moment and why their activity levels are dropping off.”
The girls who began their Journeys in 2019 are now 15, and are working alongside Longman and the team to develop what Journeys will look like for 15 to 18-year-olds.
But Longman knows it will be to find things that will make older teenage girls want to continue moving their bodies, trying new things, and connecting with others outdoors.
“A lot of teachers are telling us the girls who are doing Journeys are showing a clear increase in their confidence which is carrying over to school and other parts of life. So hopefully it helps them continue to negotiate new challenges and say yes to opportunities that arise,” she says.
Castle says that it’s important for young girls to know traditional organised, competitive team sports aren’t the only option to stay active.
“TikTok and dancing in your bedroom is still physical activity, and other ways that people don’t necessarily traditionally think about physical activity are really important,” she says.
“Skateboarding, riding your bike, surfing and dancing are really great ways for young women to continue to have that physical activity they need, but in the way they want to do it.”
The #itsmymove campaign also targets parents and caregivers, to give them a better understanding of how young women want to stay active and equip them with strategies to help.
Thorpe says during the lockdowns, some young women may have changed their routine and moved away from organised sports.
“Some parents might go ‘Oh they dropped out of sport’, but actually they might have taken up breakdancing or something fun and joyful. And we should actually celebrate this," Thorpe says.
“We have quite a strong idea that organised sport is good for our kids, so this campaign is trying to shift those ideas and recognise that moving for fun and fitness and friendship is really, really valuable for our young women.”
The research behind the campaign found one of the reasons for the decrease in participation for teens is the fear of judgement, and that’s something Journeys hopes to target.
“A safe and supportive environment is essential for us all to be vulnerable and to attempt new challenges,” says Longman.
“We need to be vulnerable so we can connect with others and we need to feel safe and supported so we can step outside our comfort zone. When we step outside our comfort zone with a new or challenging activity, then our comfort zone will grow.”
Thorpe thinks things are moving in the right direction.
“It’s kind of a shift in narrative of what is good for our young women. It’s young women finding the places they feel like they can be themselves, where people around them get them and they can feel safe to be able to have a voice and express their concerns and contribute,” she says.
“I think part of the turn-off with a lot of sports is young women feel like those aren’t necessarily safe and supportive spaces for them and often there’s a lot of pressure or judgement on them.”
Programmes like Journeys are a perfect example of keeping active in a supportive community environment.
“Doing it by yourself is great too but particularly after and through this pandemic, if we can find ways to connect to others through movement, that also helps us stick with it,” Thorpe says.
“Making friends through the types of sport and physical activities we do is really important for our wellbeing. Finding activities, forms of movement and fitness that you can do with your friends or you can make new friends there, where you feel like you can be yourself.”
Sport NZ Women & Girls - Key research findings
● Boys spend more time being active, especially from age 16. There's a 17 percent gap with girls at age 16; increasing to 28 percent by age 17.
● Girls are more likely to cite judgment, lack of confidence and fear of failure as barriers to increasing participation.
● Young women’s confidence decreases during their school years. Agreement with the statement ‘I feel confident to take part’ declines from 76 percent at age 12, to 53 percent at age 17.
● Young women feel judgment is prevalent in every facet of their lives. Three in four young women are concerned about how they look every day; 42 percent feel judged on the street; 52 percent feel judged on social media.
