Report shows more girls getting involved in sports, local program creates landscape to continue trend

A Regina program has created a landscape to encourage more girls to get involved in sports while building their self-esteem.

Girls in the Game works with girls ages five to 12 and introduces girls to some of the less popular sports such as rock-climbing, yoga, golf, pickleball, horseback riding, and martial arts, while introducing self-esteem components within each.

COO Dionne Fisher said the biggest obstacle for girls getting involved in sport and staying in sport is feeling confident.

“Our goal is to build the player in order to build the skill, in order to build the sport. Girls need to feel like they’re good at something before they will try it,” she said.

“So, if you can give them opportunities in a safe and inclusive environment where we can help foster self esteem and all these things that girls need to be successful.”

Fisher is a former athlete and a schoolteacher. She combines her two passions in this project from what she sees in both worlds.

“We’re seeing rates of anxiety and depression in young people and their need for being physical and being active. We know the benefits of that. So, if we can get girls involved in activity, it actually in the long run helps reduce those mental health aspects we’re seeing,” she explained.

Fisher went on to share that the program has gained a lot of traction with other local sporting companies and programs who reach out and want to help.

“I feel like I can try new sports without boys being like, ‘Oh you’re doing it wrong or anything. You can just be doing it and if you’re doing wrong, it’s fine,” Wynne Ziffle, a Girls in the Game participant shared.

“I love to meet new people and learn different sports and get new experiences. My favourite part is just having fun. I think it’s important for this program to exist because girls can learn different things and be surrounded by other girls and just have fun with it,” added 10-year old participant, Paityn Miller.

On the rise

Canadian Women & Sport recently released their 2024 Rally Report: A Call to Redesign Sport So All Girls Can Play, suggesting that Canadian girls' participation in sports is on the rise. 

The report is based on girls aged six to 18 and studied more than 5,000 Canadians, which included 2,000 women and girls.

The majority of girls who took the survey said they wanted more programs designed for girls. They also mentioned wanting coaches and program leaders to be trained on how to foster belonging in sport and through sport, which is what Regina's Girls in the Game is doing. 

The biggest takeaway was that there is an increase of girls’ participation in sports with 63 per cent now playing some sort of organized sport on a weekly basis, compared to 68 per cent of boys. These findings continue to show an increase in participation since Canadian Women & Sport began tracking back in 2016.

“We collectively have more girls playing [a sport] regularly. So those [numbers] read very positively, or you might say hopefully, about the possibility of a trend towards more girls accessing the benefits of sport,” said Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, CEO of Canadian Women in Sport, who is based in Calgary, Alta.

However, Sandmeyer-Graves quickly pivoted to the areas that she believes still need improvement.

“I think the more challenging piece is [this report] reinforces the need for this effort to continue, in fact a million girls are still effectively sitting on the sidelines of sport. Which means they are not accessing those immediate benefits and lifelong benefits of sport,” she shared.

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By age 16, five in 10 girls are no longer participating in sport, according to the findings. The top barriers that girls mentioned for quitting or not participating at all in sport were affordability, commitment - being asked more and more for their time, and lack of confidence.

“There’s no doubt that boys would also say affordability and time commitment but it’s always interesting to put a gender lens on things to look at how it might be unique for girls,” Sandmeyer-Graves said. 

She went on to share an example from her own family of some young girls playing hockey and spaces not having enough access for the number of athletes interested. There were five boy’s teams but just one girl’s team. The league was unwilling to add more girls’ teams as they felt they were already at capacity.

“Can we maybe think about a little bit of equity in terms of rethinking that all together? Girls are struggling with access in many sports, not every sport but where boys still enjoy that disproportionate access,” she shared.

As for the other barriers, Sandmeyer-Graves proposed another way to address the issues.

“Let’s go outside our certain status quo, let’s open up our horizons and listen to the girls themselves. Have conversations with girls in their own club, program, community, to really understand what motivates them or makes them feel like they don’t belong,” Sandmeyer-Graves challenged.

“Also recognizing that different people are coming from different places. That is going to benefit everyone, especially those who come from different racial backgrounds, have disabilities, are lower income, or combinations of those. It’s not just thinking about girls as this homogenous group but recognizing that there are differences within them.”

More information about Girls in the Game can be found here.

The 2024 Canadian Women & Sport Rally Report is free to download here.