Girls Active, Inspiration Day.

Blog by Dom Fieldhouse, Physical Activity Sector Lead at Active Lincolnshire.

Active Lincolnshire, in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust delivered a full day event on 19 May to a targeted group of Secondary Schools in Lincolnshire, as part of the Girls Active Programme.

Girls Active is a partnership between teachers and girls working together to understand what makes girls fully engage in PE, sport and physical activity and then provide and ‘sell’ inspiring and relevant opportunities for all girls, not just the sporty few. It's all about building confidence and self-esteem through physical activity, as well as developing new friendships. The programme also aims to raise aspirations and develop life skills and personal attributes through leadership.

The girls were firstly led and inspired by the YST Athlete Mentors Jade Windley and Jenny Wallwork with an insightful and motivating presentation in preparation for an action packed event. From there, the activities began. Each student upon arrival had a menu of activities to choose from; gymnastics led by professional coaches, Dance Free mindful movement sessions or team building challenges hosted by Jade and Jenny.

Blocks of activity throughout the day were broken up with workshops for both the students and teachers, covering topics such as:

• Developing your brand and reaching your audience
• Making a difference
• Barriers and opportunities

Over lunch, the girls had the opportunity to share their thoughts on their favourite songs for future events (Oasis and The Killers among their choices – yes!), how they would change sport and physical activity to make it better for girls in the future (some amazing content collected) and finally, what sport or activity they would like to have tried in 10 years time? (bungee jumping – yikes!).

60 girls and 10 teachers took part in this fantastic event. The schools will all come back together with more girls on 5 July, continuing on their journey through the Girls Active programme.

For more information about our work in education visit our What We Do Pages.