At Strathallan, we understand the importance of sport and physical activity for women and girls and the positive impact that has on their physical, mental and social health across all stages in life. We have been reminded of this none more so than during Lockdown when we saw the critical importance of socialising, games and activities. Regardless of age, stage or ability, we encourage all girls at the school to participate in sport, as we believe it should be fun, sociable and enjoyed by all. It’s a great way for our girls to build new friendships and relationships, boost their confidence and remain active.
As a school we are proud of the fact that since 2019, girls have represented us across 25 different and diverse sports ranging from badminton to biathlon; clay pigeon shooting to cricket; fencing to fives football, rugby sevens to skiing and many more. Our girls have access to our full range of sports facilities and with a packed sports and activities programme running well into the evening, there's always plenty of fun to be had by all. On top of our core games programme, we've also developed centres of excellence in sports which many of our girls attend including rugby, hockey, tennis, clays and swimming. These are led by expert coaches with national and international experience.
During lockdown our girls (and boys) took part in a variety of virtual activities including the Strath Sport Online Get Active challenge, online fitness classes and running and walking challenges which meant we were able to use sport as a way to help them connect with their friends and stay active during such a difficult time for us all. One of our girls even took up wild swimming during lockdown when she had no access to the pool and since returning to school has been selected to join the Scottish Swimming squad.
Many of our girls have also gone on to become role models in women’s sport since leaving Strathallan including Charlie Guest, Scottish World Cup alpine ski racer, who at the end of 2014 broke her spine in a skiing accident in Sweden. By February 2016, she had re-entered the top 100 rankings and in 2019 went on to break records as a British Skier, becoming the first British woman to ever win an Alpine European Cup race. Charlie has taken over our school Instagram Live sessions prior to and during lockdown to share her success and inspire a new generation of girls. She is certainly testament to the hashtag #shecanshewill during Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week.
Strathallan Director of Sport, Jim Thompson commented:
“At Strathallan we are aware of some of the barriers that often lead to women and girls not participating in sport and we try to combat this is a number of ways. First and foremost, we believe that by involving our girls in planning what activities are available we are able to meet their needs and not just make assumptions or create stereotypes. We promote a wide choice of sport, not all of it competitive and importantly place the emphasis not just on fitness but on making it enjoyable, sociable and fun.”
Here at Strathallan we’d like to think that by placing such a strong emphasis on sport for girls we are helping to buck the national trend of only 30% of girls in the 13 to 15 age group meeting the physical activity recommendations, compared to 44% of boys (2019 Scottish Health Survey) and teenage girls being less likely than teenage boys to be taking part in sport (56% of girls compared to 63% of boys). We hope that women and girls of all ages and abilities taking part in various sports and physical activities, will share their experiences during Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week, demonstrating how it benefits them and celebrating the role sport plays in supporting our health and well-being.
