Our Space for Girls project creates safe, welcoming hubs in key London communities for women and girls to be physically active.
The project aims to serve communities with low activity levels by transforming unused and non-traditional spaces into active hubs.
Space for Girls is a research-led project, with extensive community voice involved within its planning. Consortia of local communities and teenage girls were consulted to ensure the activities on offer were of interest to the target audience, and that the location of the projects were deemed safe and accessible.
Highlighted Projects
Westminster
Roller skating has recently taken off within London, particularly during Covid where people were looking for a fun new form of exercise. The girls at this project are taught the basics of wheel control, balance, routines and safety.
Alongside Roller Skating, cycling training to allow girls to get out on their bikes together and feel confident on the roads.
Southwark
Located in Surrey Quays, the flagship Decathlon store hosts one of our Space for Girls hubs. Sessions on offer for young women include dancing and boxing, both of which are extremely popular and hold waiting lists highlighting the popularity of the scheme.
London-wide
We offer home equipment kits at various projects across London, with the additional option of regular check in and group activities being run at various hubs including the Black Prince Trust.
These kits include access to Les Mills workout videos, alongside equipment to do these and suitable fitness wear.
Project Overview
Only 4 in 10 girls in London are active.
Our research shows that the gender inequality gap in the participation of physical activity is higher in London than elsewhere in the UK. We know that being active has many benefits, which is why we created this project to ensure a generation of young Londoner’s can build a positive active habit for life.
Research also highlights safety as a key barrier with 38% of teenage girls (11-16) feeling unsafe exercising outside. Therefore, utilising the spaces that girls do feel space in is crucial to help girls live happier, healthier and longer lives. This includes non-traditional spaces across London including shopping centres and car parks.
As experts in London, we are uniquely positioned to bring together activity providers and local communities to repurpose under utilised spaces for girls to be active in.
London Sport facilitated extensive consultations with members of local communities, and most importantly the girls we wanted to help find their ways to move.
We hosted 8 focus groups in five locations across London for girls aged 11 to 19 to share their thoughts on how to overcome barriers to activity. We used a variety of research methods to do this including photo elicitation, interviews and group discussions.
Creating spaces where they felt safe and comfortable to be active in was key, as well as providing activities that they would be interested in taking part in.
Through these consultations, we co-designed a six month fully funded activity programme. Through Sport England’s Together Fund, as well as support from other partners, we delivered over 15 projects across the capital.
We work in collaboration with a range of organisations and community groups to ensure that the right activities are delivered in the right environments by the right people. We believe that without the voices of the communities we serve integrated into our project, our work cannot be as impactful.
Our partnership with Decathlon enabled one of the hubs to be hosted in their flagship store in Southwark and also provided key equipment for use in sessions across London.
As a facilitator we do not run the physical sessions, and instead work with local community groups to do this. Having people who are a part of the communities taking part allows better engagement and success rates.
We continually monitor and collect data about the success of our Space for Girls hubs. We look at a range of information from quantitative data about how many girls are attending sessions, as well as qualitative data such as participant opinions about what they enjoyed and what we could do better.
We are running follow up consultations with participants to review their experience and gather further insights so we can test and innovate. This is important to ensure we are providing an impactful solution to helping teenage girls find their ways to move more.
We also hosted two students from University Arts London, Wink and Ruby, to present their ideas surrounding what the model space for girls hub would look like, based on their post-graduate research. This can help us shape our aspirations for the future.
As well as supporting the highlighted projects above, we also fund individual programmes and sessions across London.
Our work provides a range of sports and activities including:
- Weightlifting
- Roller-skating
- Martial arts
- Cycling
- Walking
- Circuit fitness
- Yoga
- Zumba
- Dancing
- Skateboarding
- Boxing
- Equestrian
- Canoeing
- Football
- Basketball
- Home fitness packs
