“This is often the easiest to stop”: one in two girls abandon sport in adolescence

One in two girls turn away from sport in adolescence. This dropout is six times higher (49%) than the rate of loss in boys, according to a UNESCO report (new window) Dated July 2024. In France, on the 11-14 year old age group, only 14% of young girls reached, before the Pandemic of COVID-19, the standards recommended by the WHO (new window) 60 minutes of daily physical activity, compared to 25% of boys, revealed a public health study France (new window) published in March 2023. For 15-17 year olds, their level of activity was even lower (11%).

A sporting disengagement “worrying” For handball player Léna Grandveau (new window)MGEN ambassador, mutual actor whose objective of countering this trend via his program “MGEN Champion Club” (new window). “When you read that one in two girls stop sport in adolescence, it’s a little scary. There is something to wonder”underlines the 2023 world champion with TF1info and Olympic vice-champion (new window) Last summer with the Blue.

The practice of sport is not contradictory with femininity

Laëtitia Guapo, French basketball player

“With my job as an EPS teacher, I am at the forefront. Unfortunately, around me, I see more and more adolescent girls forced to stop”tells us about the basketball player Laëtitia Guapo (new window)which leads his career at the Tango Bourges Basket, his club, and in 3×3 with the French team. “When a young girl is 8-18 hours every day in college or high school, lives at 30 minutes or more by bus, does not go home before 6.30 p.m.-7 p.m. every night and that her parents do not push her to do Sport, we understand why she comes to let go. “

This demobilization is motivated by various reasons. First, the body changes linked to puberty. A transformation that affects girls more than boys. “Adolescence is a complicated age, where we ask questions and during which we face many changes”explains Léna Grandveau, 22 years old. “Sport is often the easiest to stop.”

Our teens do not do enough sportSource : JT 20h WE

“I can see myself at that time, I remember that there were often derogatory remarks that were rushing between teens”recalls Laëtitia Guapo, 29 years old. “They are really hard between them, when we are in full identity creation. Our body changes, evolves, transforms. However, practicing a sport is not contradictory with femininity, no more than sweating or muscles . “

A feeling of not inclusion

If this rejection of sport is partly based on physiological explanations, like menstruation, “A taboo subject that we only speak very little, if never”it also depends on very gendered standards and significant stereotypes. From school, we thus make girls understand that sport is not made for them. “We see it when it is necessary to determine the teams. The boys will choose the boys first and the girls in last. There is a feeling of not inclusion”advance the world champion 3×3 in 2022. “In my village, we have a 3×3 field. This summer, I went there. Many boys were playing, but very few girls. You have to push them to take more initiatives, even if we are in the midst of Identity construction, it does not come like that. “

“It brings me back some memories”continues Léna Grandveau. “In college, I was one of the only ones who could compete with boys. The other girls felt aside, suddenly they came in jeans. By dint of putting groups, separating them from boys, They ended up internalizing that sport was not for them. “

Girls internalize that sport is not for them

Léna Grandveau, handball player

However, in adolescence, affiliation prevails among young girls. “We are looking for a feeling of belonging. We need to feel included in a circle, a group of friends, to share moments and emotions, it’s super important to build.”underlines Laëtitia Guapo. “At that age, when you make life choices, there can be group effects.” So, if a girl is selected in a team, but her girlfriend is not retained, the first can be more easily pushed to drop out.

Beyond passing – perhaps – alongside the future talents of tomorrow, we exclude girls from “leisure sport”. “Me, I wanted to play high level, performance. But, alongside, the girls who were only there to have fun left each other”confirms Léna Grandveau. “Today, there is a lack of means to accompany them, to find a balance that will allow them to continue playing sports. In National, for example, clubs are quickly on four training sessions per week. For some girls, it is Difficult to follow because they study or work next to it.

A public health issue

“In the long term, less young girls must stop sport very quickly”continues the half-center of Metz Handball. Both for physical benefits and mental well-being and bring the practice of sport. “It’s a bit like the saying ‘eat five fruits and vegetables a day’, everyone understands and knows it. Now, we have to do the same with sport”insists Laëttia Guapo. “Doing sports, it allows you to feel better in your body and your head. If every week, we do two or three sessions, it becomes a routine, a new lifestyle. We sleep better, we eat better. We is more efficient in studies, we are more able to endorse big days. “

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“Now, it must be taken earlier and younger in the continuity of the school. Two or three hours a week, it is not enough. You have to educate everyone in sport, especially young girls “”launches one of the best players in the world of 3×3. “The Paris Olympics have helped in this direction by being the first joint games. There are lots of women who have shown that they were efficient, you have to surf this wave.”