One of the most pressing challenges in girls’ sport is not talent identification, elite pathways, or performance optimisation. It is something much more fundamental.
How do we keep girls involved in sport?
Despite significant growth in women’s football and increasing opportunities for girls to participate, we continue to see large numbers of young athletes leave sport during adolescence. At the same time, some of those who remain face injury, burnout, excessive pressure, or an unhealthy relationship with sport.
In a recent conversation on Women’s Football Hub, sports scientist, coach, consultant and author Dr Paul Gamble offered valuable insight into why this continues to happen and, more importantly, what we can do about it.
The Critical Early Years
According to Dr Gamble, one of the first problems occurs long before girls reach adolescence.
Many girls simply do not receive enough exposure to a broad range of physical activities during childhood.
The ages between six and nine are particularly important for establishing movement foundations and developing a positive relationship with sport. During this period, children develop key motor skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, balancing, changing direction, and coordination.
The issue is not that girls are inherently less capable of developing these skills. Rather, they are often exposed to different activities than boys.
Historically, girls have been more likely to participate in activities that develop balance and rhythmic movement, while boys have been encouraged toward activities that involve running, jumping, throwing, kicking and physical exploration.
This difference in opportunity can create developmental gaps that are often mistaken for natural differences in ability.
The solution is not complicated. Girls need access to the same wide range of movement experiences and sporting opportunities as boys. When they receive those opportunities, they develop the confidence and competence required to remain active for longer.
Why Puberty Changes Everything
While childhood participation is important, the biggest challenge often arrives during puberty.
Many girls leave sport around the age of 12, and Dr Gamble argues that this is not a coincidence.
Puberty creates a perfect storm.
Physically, girls experience rapid growth before they develop the strength needed to effectively manage their changing bodies. Height increases, limbs become longer, body mass changes, and movement patterns that once felt automatic suddenly become more challenging.
At the same time, adolescence is a period where social awareness and self-consciousness increase dramatically. Girls become more aware of how they look, how they move, and how they are perceived by others.
Imagine experiencing all of these physical changes at exactly the same time that confidence is becoming more fragile.
For many girls, sport begins to feel harder just when they become most conscious of making mistakes.
Without proper support, the result is often frustration, disengagement, and ultimately dropping out.
The Surprisingly Simple Solution
One of the most striking points from the discussion was Dr Gamble’s view that many of the challenges associated with puberty could be addressed through a relatively straightforward intervention.
Strength training.
He argues that introducing girls to appropriate strength training around the onset of puberty, ideally from around age 11, could significantly reduce many of the physical challenges they experience.
This does not mean extreme training programmes or heavy lifting.
Instead, it means helping girls learn fundamental movement patterns such as squatting, hinging, lifting, pushing and lunging. It means progressively developing strength in a safe and structured environment.
The benefits extend far beyond performance.
Strength training can help improve movement quality, reduce injury risk, increase physical confidence, and make sport feel more enjoyable during a period when many girls are questioning whether they belong.
Breaking the Strength Training Myth
Despite growing evidence supporting youth strength training, misconceptions remain.
Many parents still worry that strength training will make girls overly muscular or somehow negatively impact their athletic development.
Dr Gamble was clear in challenging this belief.
For the vast majority of female athletes, strength training develops exactly what they need: increased strength, better movement efficiency, improved resilience, and enhanced athletic performance.
The reality is that girls are highly unlikely to become excessively muscular through appropriately designed training programmes. Instead, they gain the physical foundations required to perform, compete and stay healthy.
The bigger risk is often not doing enough strength training rather than doing too much.
Are We Creating Burnout?
As women’s football continues to grow, another concern is emerging.
Are we importing some of the less helpful aspects of the men’s development system?
Dr Gamble believes there is reason for caution.
Increasingly, young athletes are entering academy structures at younger ages. Expectations are growing. Training volumes are increasing. The pressure to specialise early continues to rise.
The danger is that we begin treating children like professionals before they are ready.
Rather than focusing on quality development, there can be a tendency to chase more sessions, more tournaments, more travel, and more commitments.
Yet the evidence continues to suggest that more is not always better.
Children need space to recover, develop as people, and enjoy sport without feeling that every training session determines their future.
Burnout rarely happens overnight. It develops gradually when pressure consistently outweighs enjoyment.
The Case for Multi-Sport Participation
One area where Dr Gamble was particularly direct was the debate surrounding multi-sport participation versus early specialisation.
His position was clear.
Most evidence suggests that athletes who eventually reach elite levels often specialised later than many of their peers.
Participating in multiple sports offers numerous benefits. Young athletes develop a wider range of physical skills, reduce repetitive stress on the body, avoid mental fatigue, and gain exposure to different coaching styles and environments.
Importantly, multi-sport participation allows children to remain children.
Seasonal sports historically gave athletes natural breaks and opportunities to explore different interests. In many cases, that balance has been replaced by year-round participation in a single activity.
The challenge for modern sport is finding ways to reintroduce that balance.
The Reality of Sports Parenting
The conversation also explored an area that many families find challenging: sports parenting.
Parents naturally want the best for their children. They invest time, money, energy and emotion into supporting their sporting journeys.
However, good intentions do not always lead to positive outcomes.
One example discussed was the famous car journey home after a match.
For many young athletes, this can become an uncomfortable debrief session focused entirely on performance mistakes.
Instead, Dr Gamble encourages parents to think carefully about what they discuss, when they discuss it, and how they discuss it.
Questions often work better than instructions.
Listening often works better than lecturing.
The focus should be on learning, effort, enjoyment, resilience and growth rather than immediate results.
Parents, Coaches and Children: A Partnership
Another important theme was the relationship between parents and coaches.
Dr Gamble described this relationship as a partnership involving three key people: the athlete, the parent, and the coach.
Problems often arise when one party steps outside their role.
Parents may disagree with coaching decisions. Coaches may struggle to communicate effectively. Athletes can sometimes find themselves caught in the middle.
When concerns arise, they should be addressed directly and respectfully with the coach rather than through conversations that undermine trust in front of the child.
Most importantly, everyone involved should remember who the sporting experience is actually for.
The child.
Keeping the Long-Term Goal in Sight
As the conversation drew to a close, Dr Gamble shared perhaps the most important reminder of all.
Most young athletes will not become professional footballers.
Even for those who do, professional sport represents only a small proportion of their lives.
The true value of sport lies in the confidence it builds, the friendships it creates, the lessons it teaches, and the lifelong habits it encourages.
Success should not be measured solely by scholarships, academy contracts or professional careers.
Success can also be measured by whether girls are still active, healthy and enjoying sport decades later.
If parents, coaches, schools and sporting organisations can keep that perspective, we have a much better chance of helping talented girls stay involved, thrive, and develop a positive relationship with sport for life.
This blog was created from the podcast with the assistance of AI, then fully checked and edited by the podcast host.
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