Us Girls in Colleges

Us Girls is committed to working in settings in which young women feel comfortable and which provide an opportunity to deliver sport programmes that are responsive to their needs. We believe that the College setting is an ideal place to engage and support young women to develop an active lifestyle.

Research - Attitudes to & engagement in sport/physical activity by 16-19yr old female college students

We recently carried out a piece of primary research with female students from a number of colleges across the country. The aim of the research was to learn more about the attitudes of female college students (primarily non sporty) towards sport and how to deliver programmes to best meet their needs. For more information about the study and to read about what we found CLICK HERE!

College Activity Programme Pilot– Shape it, try it, and tell it as it is - Us Girls Get Active!

Following completion of the above research, we developed a pilot college activity programme in partnership with the Association of Colleges (AoC) to test these findings. The three concepts we tested were as follows:

Exercising with mum / family
De-stressing / relaxing and re-energising
Fun / social exercise with friends.

A number of colleges were involved in the pilot and fundamental to this was close monitoring and evaluation in order to test the assumptions made in programme design. Activity programmes were shaped and altered depending on what the girls wanted. This was a dynamic process of action learning.

Learning from the pilot programme can help colleges deliver sport effectively to female students and provide insight and tools for College Sport Makers and other staff delivering activity to women and girls in colleges. We have found the Us Girls branding and our ethos of ‘Fun, Fitness Friends’ to be very successful in engaging typically non sporty female college students in sport and exercise.

CLICK HERE to read about the success of Us Girls activities in 4 colleges

We have recently produced a ‘How To’ Engage female students in sport & physical activity’ guide to help colleges engage females in sport. This practical guide includes factors to consider when planning and delivering activity for females and top tips and case studies from the Us Girls programme

CLICK HERE to find out about the support you can access by joining the Us Girls network.

If you are interested in joining the Us Girls network, delivering Us Girls branded activity in your college and accessing our support please call one of the Us Girls team on 0845 1300849 or email us at activewomen [at] streetgames [dot] org