Puberty equals changes in the body and when they meet the realities of adolescent / teenage life, it can be a recipe for angst and girls’ anxiety levels can be seriously elevated as much as 90% of the time.
Research has revealed that 41% of teenage girls take a break or drop out of playing netball completely and 48% of teenage girls lack self-belief and don’t feel good enough to continue playing netball.
NETBALLHer was launched in April 2023 as an initiative to better educate and support women and girls at all levels of sport about their female health across the different life stages
Over the past 12 months, NETBALLHer has helped to normalise conversations on topics about the female body and created an important cultural shift within the Netball Family.
For Claire Bowen, the initiative is embedded into her day-to-day work through her role as England Netball’s Netball Development Officer for Derbyshire.
Her netball involvement doesn’t end there though as outside of work, she’s a club and county pathway coach.
Claire has seen firsthand the impact NETBALLHer is having on and beyond the court in creating environments where all women and girls can show up authentically, without apology and truly belong.
Listen to her experience of opening up conversations with teenage athletes around puberty…
Building on the foundations that the NETBALLHer website has created, the NETBALLHer Learning Offer, created in partnership with The Well HQ, is a free online learning opportunity designed to exclusively empower our over 18 and secondary school group members with a comprehensive understanding of female health in netball.
It aims to take eligible members’ learning around female health one step further, teaching them how to practically enhance their own netball experiences during key life stages, as well as those of other women and girls.
To learn more about the NETBALLHer Learning Offer, click here.
If you want to access the NETBALLHer Learning Offer but are a Social and Supporting member, or not a member for 2023-2024, enquire about upgrading your membership or join the over 18 membership here.
