Charitable social enterprise GLL has secured £200k of National Lottery funding for its ‘For the Girls, By the Girls’ project.

The scheme aims to encourage 5,000 girls and women aged between 14 and 25-years-old who have not previously been physically active, to take part in a range of sports.

The initiative will be piloted across GLL’s leisure centres in five regions – Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, South Oxon and Cambridge, over an 18-month period.

Activities will focus around netball, boxing, cheerleading, volleyball, basketball, football, aquatics and street dance.

Mark Sesnan, Managing Director at GLL said: “Research by Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation shows that 80 per cent of women are not doing enough exercise to gain health benefits, while participation in sports amongst women still remains significantly lower than men, particularly in deprived areas and amongst 14 to 19-year-olds olds.

“The statistics show that there is a real need for a scheme like ours and we hope ultimately to be in a position to roll it out nationwide.”

To read more about the scheme, click here.