There should be less competitive forms of GAA to get older girls back into the sport, a psychotherapist and clinical practioneer has explained.  

Sport Ireland previously discovered that 7% of girls aged 14 to 15 get the required level of physical activity, which affects how much they exercise in their adult years.  

Author of The 4-7 Zone Colman Noctor told Newstalk Breakfast girls disengage from sports because "it gets serious too quickly and you don’t feel good enough”. 

“There's quite an all-or-nothing element to sports, especially when you get into teenage years,” he said. "You have to train twice a week and play a match and there's a high level of commitment.” 

Dr Noctor said girls in sport are branded as non-competitive – but there's a difference between “high competition and high commitment”.

He said boys have more time to commit to sports, while girls try to engage in more activities and don’t have enough time for competitive sports.  

“Menu of options” 

Dr Noctor said there should be more levels of GAA sports that do not involve intense competition.  

"I'd love to see more a menu of options that would allow much more of a social engagement in it,” he said. 

“We need to think of other ways of engaging young girls, and it might be something like cycling walking groups,” he said. “Something along those lines, that doesn't involve competition.” 

Dr Noctor said GAA could expand more on some of their initiatives to engage people less likely to play sport and offer opportunities for people trying to get back into the sport.  

“Gaelic for Mothers was really good, I’d love to see something similar to that for late teens early 20s,” he said. “Invite girls back into something at that level that doesn't mean they have to join girls who have been doing it for 10 or 15 years.”