Getting girls into sports where you can be pretty?

Should say naivety - stupid spellcheck!

I went to a mixed school and cannot remember body image being the issue that it is for schoolgirls now.
We certainly were not allowed to wear make up and the skirt lengths were watched. But T shirt and navy blue nickers were the standard PE Kit and we were only a 'bit' embarrassed at 'that time of the month' with the evident bulk. I don't think the boys even noticed.
Oh the days of nativity and sexual ignorance
I loved all sport and still do as much as I can. My kids do none.

'Forced to play football at school'? DD2 was most upset to find she couldn't play rugby at senior school having played in the juniors. So she joined a football team.
Both DDs did ballet though, - great for posture, poise and strength.

I do remember standing on the sides of the rugby pitch at college with girlfriends, but all dressed warmly and shouting a lot. Really can't think what the attraction was

I hated sport with a passion, and so many children do. I remember running an arts outreach project for secondary aged young people and was very conscious of the fact that the girls in particular got very little exercise so I set up dance classes where they worked out disco dance routines with a dance teacher and they worked up a sweat and kept fit. And the boys also joined in the breakdance classes and loved it.

Better than trudging round a freezing wet hockey field! More of this needs to happen in schools. It is non-competitive and inclusive - we had some very large young ladies joining in and having a great time partly because they could wear what they liked and did not have to feel stupid in gym kit.

Personally I would make sport optional in school and provide dance classes as an alternative. If the government is serious about wanting young people to develop the habit of keeping fit, they need to give them the opportunity to do so in ways they enjoy.

This gung-ho attitude to sport is a hangover from the army and public schools and needs to be updated.

I speak as one who suffered at the hands of sadistic PE teachers; and who seems to have missed the competitive gene.

I lost a tooth to a bad tackle from an opponent in hockey and hated it thereafter. Loved netball, tennis, badminton, rounders and athletics though. I do think girls reach a point in adolescence where they become very self-conscious wearing sports gear, unless they are slim and pretty, and I suspect that's why a lot lose interest.

I loved hockey, rounders, tennis and swimming and was in all the teams. Netball didn't seem to do it for me.

Cheerleading????? I'd rather wave a football rattle.

Hated hockey, loved netball, tennis, rounders. My DC are all more sporty than us.

If I take up cheerleading will I be pretty? Worth a try as I wasn't before.

I have to say I also wince when I see girls boxing but that is probably down to the generation I come from.

I think what Helen Grant was trying to say (very badly) was she would like to see more girls and women take up a sport and perhaps if they didn't like football etc. then they may feel more comfortable with cheerleading. Personally, I hope she doesn't mean we should follow the American model. I don't like the idea of women wearing clothes which appear to be several sizes too small jumping about in a bid to encourage men to win a game!

If a woman wants to take up boxing, football, rugby or any other sport then I would certainly encourage that.

When I was at school the only sports we had were netball, rounders and (my pet hate) hockey! Does anyone else remember the pain when a hockey stick hit your ankles on a cold day - ouch!!

I know she's wrong in her approach but I have to admit that sometimes I wince when I see girls boxing or weight lifting or playing football and rugby. I'm glad the girls feel able to - I always wanted to have a go at carpentry but thought it was a man's thing so never did, my loss - and I'm glad there is competitive opportunity for them. But I still wince.