Sport NZ And Les Mills Join Forces To Help Young Women Get Physically Active

Sport NZ has launched a collaboration with Les Mills to encourage and support young women to move their way.

The digital collaboration is the next step in Sport NZ’s #itsmymove campaign, which was launched in February to address lower physical activity levels in teenage girls.*

Together, Sport NZ and the fitness giant have developed a series of short-form online workouts that allow young women to explore a wide range of movement options. The workouts are choregraphed by young women for young women, with everything from stretching and yoga, to dance and combat in the mix.

Sport NZ Women and Girls Lead, Luciana Garcia, says more young women are using digital devices to be active, but social media can sometimes portray unrealistic, and unattainable body images.

“The opportunity to work with experts like Les Mills means we can provide online workouts for young women that encourage participation, promote wellbeing and importantly, showcase positive body image.

“Young women often lack time, confidence and motivation to try new things, but on-demand activities can be done at any time, and wherever young women feel safe.

“This is about inspiring young women and showing them it’s not about what you look like, or what you wear, it’s about feeling good and having fun. We are so fortunate to have worked alongside Les Mills presenters who are also passionate about sharing the message that movement can, and should, make you feel good.”

Les Mills International Chief Creative Officer Jackie Mills says it’s all about creating a safe and fun environment for young people to move.

“Combining good music and simple movement patterns puts the emphasis on enjoyment and not on performance. Getting young people to equate movement with fun is so important as it helps establish good habits for life.

"Our BORN TO MOVE programmes are already working in schools around the world, so it’s really special to partner with Sport NZ and bring these new workouts to young women here in Aotearoa.”

The workouts are 15 – 20 minutes long to fit in with the busy lives of teenagers. They are available for free on Sport NZ’s digital channels, including You Tube, so they can be enjoyed by groups or individuals at any time. View the workouts on the website here.

Notes:

Sport New Zealand Women & Girls - Key Research Findings:

• Males spend more time being active, especially from age 16. There is a 17% gap at age 16 in the volume of activity done by young men and women. By age 17 this has increased to 28 percent.
• Girls are more likely to cite judgment, lack of confidence and fear of failure as barriers to increasing participation.
• Young women feel that judgment is prevalent in every facet of their lives. Three in four young women are concerned about how they look every day.

*Reference: Sport NZ Research (September 2021). Young Women Profile.

young-women-profile-2021_v22.pdf (sportnz.org.nz)

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