Girls Active Activity Festival 2020
The annual Girls Active Activity Festival took place in early March with over 200 teenage girls from across County Sligo in attendance. This event was a celebration of their participation in the extracurricular ‘Girls Active’ programme in their schools. There was an energetic atmosphere in the IT Sligo Knocknarea Arena as the young women participated in a fun dance–based group warm up led by the IT Sligo 3rd year Health Science students. Following the warm up, the participants split into smaller groups to take part in taster sessions in a variety of activities, including; Pilates, Dance, Gym, Spinning, Boxing, Rugby, Indoor Rowing, HIIT Class, Archery, Kettlebells, Boccia and Skittles. This jam–packed day concluded with a yoga style relaxation cool down session again led by the Health Science students.
Click HERE to browse the 2020 Girls Active Photo Album
Girls Active, a joint programme between the Health Service Executive and Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership, is currently running in 13 secondary schools and training centres throughout County Sligo including Mercy College, Ursuline College, Ballinode Community College, Sligo Grammar School, Grange Post Primary, Coola Post Primary, Colaiste Iascaigh, Jesus and Mary Secondary Enniscrone, St. Mary‘s College Balisodare, Youth Reach, Sligo Community Training Centre, Corran College and Colaiste Muire, Ballymote. It aims to increase the number of teenage girls involved in long-term regular physical activity through the provision of non-competitive extra-curricular activities in schools, while developing more supportive environments. The programme takes the emphasis off competition in sport, which can sometimes be off–putting for girls, and places a greater emphasis on the social and health benefits of being physically active, while offering opportunities to try out different ways to get active for example, Yoga, Dance, Boxercise. In the 2019/2020 school year over 300 teenage girls were involved in the programme. This programme would not have been successful without the support of the Girls Active Co-ordinating teacher based in each school, who volunteer their time to organise after–school and lunch time programmes and encourage the girls to participate each week.
Kate Frahill, SSRP Support Co-ordinator for the Girls Active Programme said “Girls Active has been very successful this year, there has been an increase in participants and the festival is a great way for everyone to come together and celebrate their programme achievements. It is important to recognise the effort the participants have put in all year.”
Hopefully in the future we can again come together to celebrate sport and physical activity, but for now practicing ‘Social Distancing’ in all our activities is extremely important. Follow the guidelines from the HSE and why not look at Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership’s social media sites, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook where links will be posted for home works outs and ideas on how to stay active in your homes.
If you would like any information on the Girls Active programme please contact Theresa Kilgannon at Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership at 0719161511 Email: theresa@sligosportandrecreation.ie or check out www.sligosportandrecreation.ie.