Leicester City School Sport Partnership hosted its sixth annual Women in Sport and Physical Activity (WISPA) conference Braunstone Leisure Centre in March.

The conference which is organised in partnership between Leicester City School Sport Partnership and Leicester City Council is designed to re-engage Year 9 girls who wouldn’t usually be interested in PE and encourage them to participate in more physical activity.

In total, more than 170 year 9 girls attended this year’s event from 17 Leicester City schools, including pupils from both Ellesmere and Netherhall Specialist Schools. They took part in a variety of diverse and exciting physical activities, including Street Dance, Trampolining, Cheerleading, Boxercise and probably most popular of all, Kangoo Boots.

A sports panel of local women were also invited to talk about their experiences of sport. This year the panel was made up of a professional coach, sports development officer, physiotherapist and school sports co-ordinator. The panel talked about their various roles, the qualifications they had to gain and what a ‘normal’ working day consists of.

All the girls received a club directory, listing all the contact details of various clubs within the local community. This directory gives the girls a chance to follow up any interest they may have in a certain activity and begin participating in sport and physical activity regularly outside of school.

WISPA as a whole has been very successful in changing year 9 girl’s attitudes towards PE and sport. More girls across Leicester City are now more willing to take part in sporting activities both inside and outside of school. The girls leave the conference feeling inspired to continue to take part in sport whilst maintaining a physically active lifestyle.

Sarah Lansdowne, Partnership Development Manager (PDM), said: “It is a great opportunity for girls across the City to experience a range of fun new activities. Girls are provided with details of where they can continue the activity within the local community. We have found that this provides the perfect platform to introduce girls into regular sport and physical activity”.

Following the Conference, girls formed their own WISPA groups, selecting representatives from each year group and coming up with ideas as to how to develop PE lessons within their schools. The WISPA groups have also gone onto to work with the School Sport Co-ordinator to plan ‘mini WISPA’ activities in their feeder primary schools.

For more information about the work of Leicester City SSP and WISPA please visit www.leicestercityssp.org.uk.