Us Girls Summary Leaflet

Us Girls – the award winning programme designed to increase and sustain women’s participation in sport and
physical activity in some of the nation’s most disadvantaged communities.
Us Girls started in 2011 as a two year initiative to get 30,000 young females (aged 16-25 years) more active by
providing them with fitness and sport opportunities within their local community. The programme received £2.3
million of National Lottery investment from Sport England as part of the ‘Active Women’ campaign to tackle the
gender gap in sport. The project initially focussed on 50 disadvantaged areas across England and exceeded targets
with over 34,000 young women taking part in Us Girls sessions.
In 2013 Us Girls won the National
Lottery Award for Best Sports Project
Us Girls Rocks
Us Girls Rocks festival give young
women and girls aged 14+ the
opportunity to try traditional and
non-traditional sports, along with a
combination of other activities such
as health and wellbeing information
and beauty treatments. Held across
England and Wales, the festivals are
informal, fun and female only.
Us Girls Champions
Us Girls Alive
Us Girls recruits and supports young
female volunteers to assist in the
development of Us Girls Alive clubs; a
place where young females can be active
and learn to lead a healthy lifestyle. With
£395,839 in funding from the Health
and Social Care Volunteering Fund
from the Department of Health, Us Girls
Alive promotes volunteering as the
key to improving sports provision for
young women living in disadvantaged
communities in 20 areas in England.
Us Girls Champions share StreetGames’
desire to give young women the chance
to enjoy sport and be active, regardless
of their economic background. Their role
is to champion the Us Girls programme
and help to encourage other girls and
young women to be inspired to take
up sport. Us Girls Champions provide
varying support to the programme
including linking to us on Twitter and
Facebook, visiting Us Girls projects in
their local area and appearances at Us
Girls Festivals. The team of Us Girls
Champions include Sarah Davies (GB
Weightlifter), Sammy Fuller (GB Golfer),
Sophie Cox (Judo Athlete), Lucy Adams
(UK No.1 Skateboarder), Tammy Waine
(Footballer), Kate Grey (Paralympic
Swimmer & Commentator) and Claire
Bennett (Fencing).
Us Girls College Offer
The Us Girls support programme is now available to colleges who wish to deliver successful activity programmes for
female students. The programme is supported by the Association of Colleges with recognition of the contribution
it can make to the national strategy Growing Sport, Growing Colleges. To help Colleges attract ‘non-sporty’ female
students, the offer provides a free Us Girls Welcome Pack with merchandise, ‘How To’ Guides and marketing
materials.
Us Girls Tools & Resources
StreetGames have produced a number of Us Girls tools and resources to help local delivery partners engage and
retain young women in sport. These include:
• A series of 16 practical ‘How To’ guides to help project managers, coaches and deliverers.
• An interactive 3 hour Engaging Women and Girls in Sport & Physical Activity Workshop aimed at
community sport project leaders, coaches, volunteers, NGB development staff, colleges and students.
• A Dance Activator Award Workshop which aims to provide a basic understanding of dance movements and
how to deliver dance activities to young people.
• Body Image Information Pack and consultation ‘quizzes’ to understand each participant’s motivation.
• Us Girls Marketing Toolkit which includes poster, leaflet and banner templates, sample press releases, plus
marketing, social media & PR guidance.
• Gender specific research and insight including case studies and good practice examples.
• Us Girls merchandise for use as rewards and incentives which include branded t-shirts, sweatshirts, water
bottles, nail files, and combs.
What’s New for Us Girls The Us Girls award winning learnings and insight continues to be a major contributor
to achieving equality in Doorstep Sport. Us Girls has been assimilated into aspects of the StreetGames delivery
programmes:
Doorstep Sport Clubs
Sport England partners
StreetGames to run
Doorstep Sport Clubs, a
vibrant and varied sporting
offer for young people in disadvantaged communities
that is designed to grow their motivation and ability to
adopt a sporting habit for life. Doorstep Sport Clubs
run a female only strand where coaches are skilled in
leading sport as well as in supporting young women
and girls to make the best of themselves. Doorstep
Sport Clubs currently run in Wales through funding
support from Communities First.
Dance Activator Award Developed
by StreetGames in partnership with
The Exercise, Movement and Dance
Partnership. The workshop explores
sections of Street Dance, Cheerleading
and Just Jhoom. The EMD Academy is a dedicated
centre of excellence that has been delivering high
quality professional training opportunities since 2006.
Its courses provide individuals with the knowledge,
skills and confidence to deliver fun, inspiring and
exhilarating classes to their local community.
StreetGames will continue to:
With funding from Sport Wales Calls for
Action, StreetGames will be launching
Us Girls in Wales in Spring 2015. The
programme will develop a diverse
network of organisations to help mobilise
5,000, inactive and semi-active, 13-19 year old girls
who live in disadvantaged communities across Wales.
Learning from the programme in England will be
used alongside Wales experts to deliver this new and
exciting project.
CLUB1 This newly piloted
programme aims to get
more young people aged
14-25 to take part in solo
activities, as part of a
group and of their own
accord. The aim is to enhance and connect young
people to activity opportunities in their local area, help
them make use of local facilities and prepare them to
be active independently - contributing to creating a
sporting habit for life. CLUB1 female only initiatives
have their own branding and those delivering a women
and girls specific programme can find additional
resources within the Welcome Pack.
• Ensure Local Delivery Partners continue to
consider the needs of young women in the
planning of Doorstep Sport Club programmes.
• Gather and share insight into women’s
participation in sport.
• Continue the roll out of the Engaging Women
and Girls Workshop across the StreetGames
network and to gather and share insight.
• Support FE colleges in disadvantaged areas
to establish a girls only programme using the
insight from Us Girls.
• Provide access to a neighbourhood festival
offer so projects can benefit from additional
funding and materials to organise a mini Us
Girls Rocks festival.
• Establish a partnership with UKActive and
SPORTA in order to develop girls only
provision with leisure trusts and in commercial
fitness centres.
• Provide sector leadership and support
campaigns that raise the profile and
importance of high quality sports provision for
women and girls such as This Girl Can.
• Reach into Wales, Scotland and Ireland to offer
Us Girls session to more young women and
girls.
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More information: If you would like more information on Us Girls or would like to deliver an Us Girls project in
your community contact us by email [email protected] or call the Us Girls team on 0161 707 0782. More
information can be found on the Us Girls website: www.usgirls.org.uk
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