The University of Bristol is launching a new study to assess whether a peer-led intervention could address the steep reduction in teenage girls doing physical activity at secondary school.

Lecturer, Dr Simon Sebire, who is leading PLAN-A (Peer Led physical Activity Intervention for Adolescent girls) believes this approach could hold the key to keeping females active into adulthood.

“New interventions are needed to develop ways to empower young people, especially girls, to adopt an active lifestyle that they can enjoy and susain through their adolescence and into adulthood,” he says.

“Peers can have a strong influence on adolescents’ decisions of whether and how to be active, so if we can harness the power of peer-influences then this could be a new way to inspire girls to become and stay active.”

Funded by the National Institute of Health Research, the study will involve Year Eight girls from six schools in South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

Students will nominate peer supporters to receive training about how to be active, overcoming barriers to activity and communication skills. These girls will then informally diffuse positive messages about physical activity to their peer group.

In a feature for the forthcoming April 2015 issue of Health Club Management magazine, Fit for Sport CEO Dean Horridge argues that more needs to be done in primary school to teach physical literacy so that all children have the confidence in their ability to run, skip, jump, throw and catch, when they go to secondary school.

"By the time they leave primary school, two thirds of children have disengaged with playing sports because they have had a negative experience," says Horridge. "Out of a class of 30, 10 will be always be naturally good and always have the ball. Those 10 will get the main focus, as they will be picked for school teams and go on to be active adults. To reverse this, the focus needs to be taken off sport and placed on being an active school."