Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation - Swimming

To swim or not to swim: women and swimming 2005-06

editor — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:55:06 +0000

In autumn 2005 WSF and the Amateur Swimming Association commissioned HNI International to carry out a six month research project into women aged 25-34 and their views on swimming.

A mixture of survey data and focus group work methods were used in the analysis. Nine focus groups were held in total across the country and different groups of women.

Summary of the key findings:

Why some women DO swim:

For leisure.

An enjoyable swimming occasion for young women consists of a swim with the following mix- a reasonable amount of personal space, a pool which is not too noisy, has plenty of ambient light, is non-rectangular and is visually attractive.

Many young women liked the notion of swimming outdoors. They were attracted to the feeling of freedom and being close to nature. This was considered to be ‘how swimming should be’- almost, swimming without boundaries.

Swimming was seen as a health solution during pregnancy but not outside. However there was low engagement between women and swimming as a health solution.

Swimming is good non-weight bearing exercise.

For the psychological benefits. Swimming creates a positive frame of mind.

Why some women DO NOT swim: barriers to swimming

The main overarching issues are associated with convenience, cleanliness, body image and lack of confidence.

Many women who do not swim regularly see swimming as an activity associated with holidays. At that time, they will devote considerable time to preparing for the occasion. This includes shaving and waxing the body and purchasing suitable attire.

For many women, it was important to be anonymous at a swimming pool. This was closely associated with body issues. For some, it was better to swim at a pool not too close to home in case you were recognised. There were no such concerns over swimming when on holiday where you were extremely unlikely to meet anyone you knew.

A further problem for swimming was to make the activity salient to the lives of as many young women as possible. Many women did not find it relevant and did not see swimming as a way to improve health as being an attraction to take part.

The more athletic women had fewer concerns over body exposure, particularly those who swam regularly. Other young women were concerned not just about being exposed in front of men but also other women, where ‘looking good’ to women of similar type who were using the same pool, was thought to be important.

‘Chlorine’ was a much used word. It was associated as much with a ‘lack of cleanliness’ as ‘cleanliness’. Chlorine was considered to be unpleasant and to have a lasting effect on the body such as spoiling the hair and skin. Chlorine was a major barrier to swimming and discouraged some women from visiting the pool. Chlorine was also associated with the smell of a pool which was also thought to be unpleasant.

When it came to going for a swim, there was a hierarchy of decision making factors common to all young women. These were in the following order:

Cultural, such as non-swimming families, body exposure with some cultural groups;
Internal, such as self consciousness, low self-esteem, inertia, poor past experiences;
Logistical, for example, transport difficulties, time of sessions;
External, for example fear of water, size and noise in pool, convenience, carrying wet equipment, shaving body hair; and finally,
Social, for example, if one’s friends did not swim or other better past-time choices and options.

Swimming was also generally considered to be a time consuming activity and this was due to the high ‘hassle’ factor involved. Preparing the body ready to attend a swimming pool, changing, drying the body and hair were just a few of these ‘hassle’ factors.

Whereas married women with children were comfortable with young people using the pool at the same time, single young women preferred to swim at times when children were not in attendance.

Women with children considered it important that their children learnt to swim in order to be safe but were not particularly concerned to take part themselves.

Interventions and future policies

Interventionist approaches need to be sought to engage non-pool users. When women stop swimming, it is hard to re-engage them. These approaches therefore need to both breakdown the barriers identified above and be linked to other incentives that either already or are likely to engage young women.

There should be a mix of bathing provision in all pools. Many women are happy to take part in mixed bathing sessions; others prefer to have single sex sessions. Women only sessions should therefore be sensitively constructed with female lifeguards (and swimming teachers where needed) as well as being sited in areas where there are no immediate viewing areas.

Membership of some cultural groups means that young women find it difficult to take part in swimming. Body exposure can become an issue from quite an early age. Pool programming needs to account for as many of these groups as possible and communicating both the positive aspects of swimming and the ease with which it is possible to take part are becoming increasingly important. Often the women in those groups are simply not aware that there are both people from the same cultural group who do swim regularly and opportunities for them to take part.

Care and thought should be given to the wearing of lightweight tops such as t-shirts. These can lead to safety concerns as the swimmer can be dragged down by cumbersome materials and are of concern to some pool operators. This situation could be avoided by offering session times when it is possible to wear these garments. Clearly these need to be low usage times; restricted to safe parts of the pool but this type of flexibility will encourage some larger women to take part.

Personalisation of swimming is key to future success. This refers to personal swimming programmes, teachers on hand to assist and offer tips, plenty of personal space and a well thought through and appropriate timetable.

Opportunities to swim need to be maximised at a local level as women are unlikely to travel for more than 10 to 15 minutes. Pool closures and openings are important because facilities need to present appropriate opportunities at the right time of day.

In areas with large minority groups, mixed changing facilities can be a problem and should be regarded as a barrier to be addressed.

The main target area should be women who do not swim. Initially, they should be reached through just a few points of maximum influence. Friends, relatives and the like are unlikely to bring sufficient influence. Swimming has to be made salient to their lives. At first, the best routes could be via groups such as Sure Start, local Imams and temples, weight watchers and the play school network.

In general, pools should look to provide an accessible timetable of both programmed and unstructured swimming that embraces all social and cultural groups and gives everyone the opportunity to take part at an appropriate time of day given that many women in this age group will have family considerations. In short, the maxim should be, ‘making it easy’.

Main_Report.pdf

Women into Coaching 2

editor — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:41:24 +0000

Case_Study_offline_Women_into_Coaching.pdf

From August 2006 until July 2008 the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) managed a project that enabled 159 women across London to pursue sports coaching careers through the Women into Coaching 2 – London (WiC2) positive action programmes. Women were able to gain coaching qualifications across 8 sports up to Level 3 through this learner centred programme. It also looked to increase awareness across the sector of the range of issues faced by women in sports coaching and to provide further evidence of the future needs of women and girls.

Project detailsProject duration: 01 August 2006 - 01 July 2008

Organisation:

Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation

Project name:

Women into Coaching

AudienceBME, Deprived communities, Disabed

Age group:

16 - 24

Age group:

25 - 40

Age group:

41+

Innovation

The project targeted women who may not have had the opportunity to become involved in sports coaching without the programme. Training was no longer cost prohibitive and the participants were able to access one to one support throughout the Women into Coaching scheme. The delivery relied heavily on partners, but it also helped them in addressing their own workforce development issues.

Recruitment and promotion

We produced fact cards to promote each sport and coaching opportunity. These were distributed via a number of regional meetings and events organised by strategic and delivery partners. Our partners were also very proactive – promoting the project through their websites and brochures. Press releases were distributed as well. The majority of the applicants found out about the project online. 325 women expressed an interest in the programme, although we did receive feedback that it could have been better promoted outside of the sector.

Location

Local

How was your project delivered?Swimming, football, badminton, cricket, rugby league, gym based, gymnastics, basketball, water sports

Swimming, football, badminton, cricket, rugby league, gym based, gymnastics, basketball, water sports

Funding

The project was funded through the European Social Fund's Objective 3 so it was co-financed by the Learning and Skills Council.

Partnership

Strategic partners for the project included; Skills Active, London South Bank University, Sports Coach UK and the Pro Active London Community Sport & Physical Activity Networks. Project delivery partners included; English Gymnastics, The FA, Asian Action Group, Amateur Swimming Association, Rugby Football League, Amateur Rowing Association, Badminton England, England Basketball, England and Wales Cricket Board, London Community Sports Network, Richmond and Kingston College – Centre of Vocational Excellence (COVE).

Results

Lessons:

We found that recruiting appropriate mentors to support the women on the programme was difficult. We had anticipated recruiting 70 to support the women but we only recruited 14. The participants who had the oppportunity to work with the mentors gave very positive feedback.

Evaluation:

Of the 159 women who gained coaching qualifications through the Women into Coaching (WiC) programme, 85% are now coaching in clubs and the community. The project also raised awareness of the barriers that women face in relation to coaching amongst partner organisations and gave them ideas and information as to how to address these barriers. The project also succeeded in raising the profile of women as coaches, managers, leaders and role models through the women involved in the project themselves.

Themes

Coaching

Women into Coaching (WiC) enabled 159 women to be involved in sports coaching, development and leadership and to take their chosen qualification. The project focused on addressing potential barriers like cost, childcare, transports and providing a supportive environment including mentoring for the participants.

Confidence and self-esteem

One of the barriers the project looked to address was women’s confidence to train and practice as coaches. This was done through the project partner and mentors. Having an induction session for all women enrolled in the programme was also key as it provided an opportunity for people to ask questions about things they were unsure of and to meet the project manager face to face. The project manager was a key point of contact and support for the women on the program so this was seen as quite important. Women only courses were also accessed where possible so as to provided a non threatening training environment.

Swimming

editor — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:38:25 +0000

Swimming participation overview

Swimming is the most popular sport for female participation.

There are 0.8 million more women than men swimming weekly.

There has been a significant decrease in female participation in swimming over the past three years – approx. 2.14 million women swam at least once a week in 2007-08 compared with 1.98 million women in 2009-10.

Key links:

British Swimming

SWIMMINGFactsheet_2011_APS4_FINAL.pdf

Celebrating Silver, Going for Gold

editor — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:41:06 +0000

Celebrating Silver, Going for Gold marks WSFF's 25th birthday with a look back at a quarter century of records from women's sport.

From Tessa Sanderson winning Olympic gold in 1984, to the IOC's decision in 2009 to add women's boxing to the London 2012 programme, the report charts both administrative and athletic milestones. Its pages are brought to life through a striking spread of photography and montage of memories from leading figures in sport.

In the report you will find both stories of WSFF and the past 25 years of women’s sport – presented in a way which we hope fulfils two objectives; firstly, to explain who we are, where we came from and where we are heading and secondly, to give you goose bumps.

We want you to feel the same shiver which travelled down our spines when we relived moments like Tessa Sanderson standing proudly atop the medal podium at the 1984 Olympic Games, Dame Kelly Holmes’ wide eyed shock at winning the second of her two gold medals in Athens, and the moment when England midfielder Jill Scott rose above a crowd of defenders to send England into the final of a major championship for the first time in 25 years.

While looking back fills us with joy, it is looking forward which really excites us. We are now operating in a time when more doors are being opened for women in sport and the amount of people working towards that same goal is growing. So while we’re proud to be celebrating our 25th birthday this year, we are already planning for the years ahead which we hope will bring even more reasons to be proud and of course, more goose bumps.

WSFF_25_YEARS.pdf

London Playing Fields Foundation - Active Angels

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:20:53 +0000

"Participants were empowered to be ambassadors to promote the project within their school. They were also encouraged to Activate an Angel and bring a friend with them to sessions."

Active Angels is an innovative multi-activity project that aims to contribute to the health of 14-16 year old girls by encouraging and sustaining their participation in sporting activity. It focuses on girls who are currently active but who are at risk of adopting sedentary lifestyles once they have left school. The project has been providing opportunities for girls to participate in sports and physical activity in a non-competitive, friendly and supportive environment since 2004.

Project detailsProject duration: 01 January 2004 - ongoing

Organisation:

London Playing Fields Foundation

Project name:

Active Angels

AudienceSchools

Age group:

0 - 15

Age group:

16 - 24

Innovation

What makes the project so innovative is that is it customer focussed, responding to the needs of the girls rather than to a prescribed syllabus or fixture list. Active Angels targets a new type of participant – now known as the semi-sporty. The coaches were all recruited from local clubs so that if the girls developed a particular interest in an activity and wished to pursue it then they already had links established with a local club. Year 11 pupils were mentored and action plans were developed to help them identify opportunities to maintain their activity levels once they left school.

Recruitment and promotion

LPFF worked closely with the Partnership Development Manager and the Community Sports Coach to ensure that the project was promoted within the local schools. The Project Coordinator visited each school and made presentations to the appropriate Year Groups during assemblies and PE lessons and put up posters. An emphasis was placed on recruiting girls who were not participating in sport or physical activity outside school and PE teachers were asked to refer pupils they thought would benefit from the project. Participants were empowered to be Ambassadors to promote the project within their school. They were also encouraged to “Activate an Angel” and bring a friend with them to sessions. Before the start of each term reminder postcards were sent to previous participants with details of sessions.

Location

Local

How was your project delivered?Hockey, netball, badminton, football, swimming, aerobics, spinning, street dance, gym, ice blading, salsa, pilates, boxercise

Hockey, netball, badminton, football, swimming, aerobics, spinning, street dance, gym, ice blading, salsa, pilates, boxercise

Funding

Phase 1 of the project (2004 – 2007) was funded through an Active England grant. Phase 2 of the project is being funded through Waltham Forest Youth Support Service.

Partnership

Partnerships were established with the Waltham Forest Northern School Sports Partnership, Waltham Forest PCT, Waltham Forest Healthy Schools Coordinator, WF Community Sports Coach, Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme, Greenwich Leisure Limited, Women’s Sports & Fitness Foundation and Pro Active North London.

Results

Lessons:

The key lesson learnt was the need to tailor the activity programme to the needs of the girls. For example, the intention was to deliver activity sessions throughout the three school terms; however the attendance figures dropped from January until March when the evenings were cold and dark and so a decision was made to cancel sessions during this period. The coaching style of the instructors was also a key factor in keeping the girls engaged. They were asked to focus on making their sessions fun and sociable and encouraging participation and rather than performance coaching. When the girls provided negative feedback about particular instructors the Project Coordinator approached them and asked them to adapt their sessions. If they were unable to accommodate this request then they were replaced by more suitable candidates.

Evaluation:

The project was evaluated at the end of Phase 1 which showed that 380 girls had participated over the three year period. 39% of these girls were in Year 11 and 23% in Year 10. 16% of attendees were in Year 12 which demonstrates that participants were keen to keep attending Active Angels after they had left school. Twenty girls joined the gym using the concessionary scheme offered by Greenwich Leisure Limited in order to increase their participation rates. At the start and end of each term a monitoring questionnaire was completed by participants to measure the difference in their attitudes to the benefits of physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle. The results showed that the girls all thought their health had improved through participating in the programme and they had a greater understanding of the positive effects that physical activity had on their physical and mental health.

Themes

Tackling drop-off

In order to try and prevent the drop-off in participation for those in the 16+ age group, the project specifically targeted girls aged 14 – 16 years and provided them with a programme of activity tailored to their needs.

The coaches delivered activities with a focus on sustaining participation rather than performance which tends to put off the target group. The aim is to create an environment which is not only customer focused but also seeks to enhance the self esteem of the participants.

Health and well-being

Many of the girls took part in Active Angels to control their weight and to feel good about themselves. This improved self image has helped the girls function better in other parts of their lives.

The project used several methods of communicating with participants:

Presentations in schools by the Activity Coordinator
Posters in schools
Reminder postcards to participants
Ambassadors – participants promoting the project within their school
Activate an Angel – bring a friend scheme
PE staff were encouraged to refer girls who they thought would benefit from the project

Reversioning sport

The emphasis of Active Angels was on delivering activity in a fun and relaxed environment. The coaches understood this ethos and tailored their sessions accordingly. After each session there was an opportunity for the girls to socialise in the sports centre. The Project Coordinator also organised off-site trips (e.g. ice skating at an outdoor rink at Christmas) and delivered healthy eating workshops where the girls had the opportunity to socialise with girls from different schools.

Promotion and marketing

The Active Angels project used several methods to communicate with participants:

Presentations in schools by the Activity Coordinator
Posters in schools
Reminder postcards to participants
Ambassadors – we used participants to promote the project within their school
Activate an Angel – bring a friend scheme
PE staff were encouraged to refer girls who they thought would benefit from the project

Key links:

London Playing Fields Foundation - Active Angels