Anna Geary Is On A Crusade To Find Out Why Teenage Girls Give Up On Sport And Exercise
Huge numbers of teenagers give up sports during their teenage years, and girls are 3 times more likely to give up than boys.
By the age of 13 -15 teenage girls are living by the label “not sporty” according to research from Sport Ireland.
For presenter Anna Geary, sport has played a vital role in her life and she is desperate to understand and investigate the drop-out rate among teenage girls.
This series follows 4 time All-Ireland winning Cork Camogie captain as she takes on her biggest challenge yet to create a Ladies Gaelic football team from the students of Ringsend College, a school on the outskirts of Dublin city where just a handful of female students play sports.
In just 8 weeks Anna will have to encourage the girls to sign up, turn up, and form a team which is ready to play against other school teams in a GAA blitz.
Meeting experts throughout, Anna will look at current research which aims to explain the current state of play, and learn some startling statistics about the impacts of inactivity on teenagers' mental health.
This two part documentary sees Anna grapple with an abundance of unforeseen circumstances and obstacles as she is forced to pivot to adapt to a new normal where contact sport is banned because of the pandemic.
Against the odds, can she convince these girls that sport and exercise is an important part of life and will Anna learn anything herself about her own attitude towards competition and sport?
Anna Geary: Why Girls Quit Sport second and final part airs on Thursday, RTÉ2 at 21:30.
