The Girls Get Active Report produced 8 important principles to support teenage girls so they can embrace and embed sport and physical activity into their lives. 

Anyone in sport can use these 8 Principles for Success to either check and challenge existing programmes as to their appeal for teen girls; or innovate and develop completely new initiatives.‍ 

Before delving into these principles, we invite you to: 

1. Determine your target 

2. Step into a teenage girl’s world 

3. What does success look like? 

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Pinpoint the behaviour you wish to change by asking: 

• What is your target doing now and how do they feel about sport and physical activity? 
• How would you like them to behave and feel instead? 

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‍8 Principles in action 

1. No judgement;

‍Take pressure off performance and give freedom simply to play/move. 

2. Invoke excitement;

‍Bring a sense of adventure and discovery by changing it up and adding in fun expected activities/moments. 

3. Clear emotional reward;

‍Reframe achievement as ‘moments of pride’, not winning, and tailor them to the individual’s motivation. 

4. Open eyes to what's there;

‍Redefine sport as more than traditional, competitive sport – create diverse offering of sports and activities; don’t hesitate to mix and match.  

5. Build into existing habits;

‍Tap into existing behaviours in other spheres e.g. incorporating arts and crafts into sport e.g. design their gear, style their equipment, personalise their shoes or practice nail art in vibrant colours! 

6. Give girls a voice & choice;

‍Encourage the girls input into sessions and offer choice through options and approaches. E.g. girls lead a fun warm-up to their music choice, they choose and organise a social outing/activity.

7. Champion what’s in it for them;

‍Make it much more than just about health; fun, friendship and lasting memories. 

8. Expand image of what ‘sporty’ looks like;

‍Create truly relatable role models who inspire. Your body doesn’t have to look any particular way to move and engage in sport.