viaSport and Sport Nova Scotia launch She Plays

Jun 18, 2020

viaSport and Sport Nova Scotia launch She Plays, a project designed to keep girls in sport

viaSport BC and Sport Nova Scotia are pleased to announce their partnership on She Plays, a project to test ways to keep girls in sport in real time. With funding from Sport Canada’s Innovation Initiative, the project engages girls aged 11 to 14 around the critical issue of their retention in sport. Pilot projects like these provide a better understanding of this age group and contribute to ongoing efforts to encourage lifelong sport participation for girls and women.

Sport organizations in British Columbia and Nova Scotia that deliver programming to 11 – 14 year old girls are eligible to apply to this one-time grant-based project. Four organizations from each province (eight in total) will be selected to receive up to $7,000 to assess their sport environment and make changes to their current programs to enhance the experience specifically for girls.

Selected organizations will work with Tacit Design Strategies, who will assist the organizations to focus on the needs and requirements of girls and women by considering the human factors surrounding their sport participation. Led by the consultant, organizations will work with participants, coaches and administrators to uncover and address environmental factors that negatively affect girls’ participation in their sport. Organizations will then implement their enhanced programs and share their results to help everyone involved in the project better understand the crucial retention factors for this age group of girls in sport.

By focusing on this age range, identified as the most crucial to the retention of girls in sport, research, led by Bingo Impact Management Consulting, will be conducted to gain an understanding of how sport environments contribute to limiting or enabling girls’ participation. The findings, and associated resources developed, will be housed in the new viaSport Learning Centre to help others create and enhance programing that encourage lifelong sport participation for girls and women.

Applications for this project are open until July 16, 2020 at viasport.ca. Successful organizations and their participants can expect to begin working with the project’s consultant as early as August 2020, with program implementation running from September 2020 to March 2021.

About viaSport British Columbia Founded in 2011, viaSport British Columbia envisions a society where people and communities are truly healthy, vibrant and connected because they value and participate in sport experiences that are safe, inclusive and meaningful. With the support of the Province of British Columbia oversees more than 70 B.C. sport organizations and leads key initiatives to create more equitable opportunities in sport. Learn more on how viaSport transforms and scales the impact of sport at www.viasport.ca.

About Sport Nova Scotia Sport Nova Scotia is a voice for amateur sport that promotes the benefits of health, personal development and achievement of all participants. We’re a non-profit, non-government federation representing over 55 provincial sport organizations and more than 160,000 members. Sport Nova Scotia’s vision is that every single Nova Scotian has lifelong opportunities to experience the positive benefits of sport. Learn more at www.sportnovascotia.ca  

About Sport Canada: The Innovation Initiative of the Sport Support Program Sport Canada: The Innovation Initiative of the Sport Support Program enables the testing of innovative quality sport approaches, the trial of new programs, strategies, and technologies in order to develop evidence-based solutions that can be shared nationwide.

“Although the majority of girls participate in sport in their early years, adolescent girls tend to drop out of sport and physical activity at a much higher rate than boys. In fact, one in three Canadian girls drop out of sport by late adolescence. We need more projects such as She Plays whose mission is to test ways to keep girls in sport in real time. Through the Innovation Initiative, the Government of Canada is providing support to organizations with innovative ideas aimed at improving the sport experience of all Canadians.”

—The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage

« Bien que la majorité des filles pratiquent un sport en bas âge, les adolescentes ont tendance à abandonner le sport et l’activité physique à un taux beaucoup plus élevé que les garçons. En fait, au Canada, une fille sur trois abandonne le sport avant la fin de l’adolescence. Nous avons besoin de plus de projets comme She Plays, dont la mission est de trouver de nouvelles façons de garder les filles dans le sport dès maintenant. Grâce à l’Initiative d’innovation, notre gouvernement apporte son soutien aux organismes qui ont des idées novatrices visant à améliorer l’expérience sportive de tous les Canadiens. »

− L’honorable Steven Guilbeault, ministre du Patrimoine canadien