As the 2025 camogie season is set to kick off, questions have been raised about how to encourage and support young women to stay in sport.
Young girls are significantly more likely to quit team sports during exam years compared to their male peers - but what are the underlying causes, and how can the situation be improved?
Former Cork captain and presenter of the docu-series ‘Why Girls Quit Sport’ Anna Geary said that now more than ever, we need to make a conscious effort to “get girls and boys off their phones”.
“Listening to the girls back when we were recording the series, them talking about that idea of being afraid to make mistakes and not being good enough, that was something that came up,” she told The Hard Shoulder.
“Like, ‘Oh, I’m not the fit one, I’m not the sporty one, I’m not good enough’.
“This is generalising, but teenage girls can have a battle with their confidence and self-esteem as teenagers at the best of times and that can kind of be a narrative that’s in your head.
“If that’s being reinforced then by coaches constantly giving out to you and parents constantly telling you you’re not good enough on the way home in the car – or even the words you can use.
“How many kids will walk through the front door of their house after a match and the first question they’ll get asked by their parent or whoever is with them is, ‘Did you win?’”
Ms Geary said the difference in resources for women’s clubs when compared to men’s likely also plays a part in the issue.
Main image: Camogie Association Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor A Championship Final, UPMC Nowlan Park, Co. Kilkenny 27/4/2025. Credit ©INPHO/Tom Maher
