What do you notice about this picture?
Not sure?
They're all GIRLS!!
If you have a daughter, like myself, we actually should be worried about their future in sport and physical activity!
In a survey conducted by Sports Wales it showed that 52% of boys were still more likely than girls, at just 44%, to regularly participate in a physical activity and with 1/2 of girls admitting to feeling uncomfortable taking part in PE lessons, it shouldn't be surprising that they don't continue to participate in physical activity outside of school.
So what can we do about it?
An interesting figure that came out of the study was that 73% of girls said that they felt confident in trying new activities and most children (65% boys and 70% of girls) all said that they want their ideas to be listened to when it comes to suggestions on physical education and extra curricular activities i.e after school clubs.
With so many children asking for more in way of variety in their physical education, why aren't we listening?
Physical activity doesn't have to be structured to be beneficial
Any physical activity that a child does, both boys and girls, is important for their overall health and well-being. Make it fun and social and you have a physical activity that children WANT to do - like football is for boys.
GET Roller Skating believes that all children should have the opportunity to take part in a sporting activity no matter what activity it is and YES, roller skating is actually a sport!!!!
Another fact for you to think about......
87% of our skaters are
GIRLS!
Our skating sessions are not structured, by this we mean that they are free to skate at their leisure in a safe and controlled environment without having to follow a structured routine.
We make it fun!! So much so that they don't even realise that what they are doing is actually physical exercise, all they know is that they are enjoying themselves and want to come back again and again AND want to do it at their leisure at the park etc
- who knew exercise could be THAT easy hey?
Schools
We have already delivered our Learn to Skate programme in many schools across South Wales and we want to continue to do so to provide children with as many opportunities to get involved in a physical activity as we can because skating is a skill that is acquired for life.
But isn't skating dangerous?
We know that skating raises a red flag because it is felt that it's a high risk activity, but did you know that skating is
2 x safer than the playground
3 x safer than rugby or tennis
4 x safer than basket ball
5 x safer than cycling
and with our structured lessons under the British Roller Sports Federation (BRSF) Skate Smart, Learn to Skate programme, you can be sure that you are provided with the necessary skills to ensure that you are a competent roller skater ready to skate anywhere and at anytime.
Is there a sporting avenue to roller skating?
If you get hooked and want to head down the sporting route, roller skating is most definitely a sport and the BRSF has five disciplines affiliated to it:
Roller (Quad) Hockey
Inline Hockey
Speed Skating
Artistic Skating
Roller Derby
Although not a sport we also enjoy JAM skating here at Cardiff Skate School - it's a kind of street dancing but on skates - SO much fun!
What next?
If you want to learn how to skate take or skate for fun at a public session take a look at the website www.cardiffskateschool.co.uk
or take a look at our facebook page facebook.com/cdfskateschool
If you're a school? We would LOVE to hear form you!! Please Contact Us for more information