Something happens to girls and sport somewhere around the age of eleven or twelve. Participation drops, and it drops much more sharply than it does for boys. It has been a consistent pattern in UK research for years, and it happens at precisely the point when the benefits of being active are becoming most valuable.
What the drop-off is actually about
It is rarely about not liking sport. When girls are asked, the reasons cluster around self-consciousness: being watched, being judged, kit that does not feel right, worrying about being visibly bad at something in front of people. Periods and the practicalities that come with them play a part. So does the sense that sport has become serious and competitive, and that if you are not going to be on the A team there is not much point turning up.
Each of those is addressable, which is the encouraging part.
Why it matters more in the teenage years, not less
Bone density is largely established during adolescence, and weight bearing activity in these years affects skeletal health for decades afterwards. This is one of the few genuinely time-limited opportunities in health: the window does not reopen later.
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There is also a substantial body of evidence linking regular physical activity in adolescence with better sleep, lower anxiety and improved mood. For a cohort experiencing well documented increases in reported anxiety, that is not a minor benefit. Exercise is not a treatment for mental illness, and it should not be presented as one, but as a protective habit it is one of the more reliable things available.
And then there is the thing that is harder to measure. Girls who play sport spend time in bodies that are doing something rather than being looked at. At an age where a great deal of pressure is aimed at appearance, having a physical competence that is yours is worth a lot.
What actually helps
Breadth, first. A girl who does not enjoy netball may well enjoy rowing, fencing, climbing or strength training. Schools with genuinely wide provision keep far more girls active, because the question shifts from whether you like sport to which sport you like.
Depth of participation, second. If only the top team gets fixtures, everyone else works out fairly quickly that they are not really wanted. Schools that run C and D teams, and take them seriously, hold on to participation.
Practical things, third. Properly fitted sports bras, sensible kit options, and staff who treat periods as a logistical matter rather than an awkward one. These sound minor and are not.
You can see this breadth-first approach in schools that treat physical activity as something for everyone rather than for athletes. The sport programme at Lady Eleanor Holles in Hampton runs across a dozen or more sports with participation at multiple levels, which is the structure that tends to keep teenage girls involved.
What parents can do
Ask which sports your daughter has actually tried, rather than whether she likes PE. Take kit complaints seriously, because they are usually about comfort and being observed rather than fussiness. Be a bit careful about the language of talent; girls drop out when they conclude they are not good enough, and that conclusion often arrives from adults who meant to be encouraging.
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Most of all, treat activity as something that is simply part of life rather than an achievement to be earned. The goal is not a county place. It is a woman in her thirties who still moves because she always has.