30 Sep 2021
Sport England launches into digital fitness market with Studio You platform
BY Tom Walker
Sport England has spent £1.5m launching its own on-demand fitness platform, with the hope of inspiring teenage girls to get active through digital physical education (PE) lessons.
Marketed as a "Netflix-style library" of non-competitive and non-traditional activities, the new Studio You service is designed to give 13-16-year-old girls a more positive experience of PE.
Studio You has been created in consultation with teenage girls and PE teachers and is an extension of the sports body's "This Girl Can" campaign.
The platform, which features more than 100 workouts, was developed by Hopscotch Consulting.
Supported by the Association for Physical Education, the platform will be free and enables PE teachers to teach classes in activities such as yoga, boxing, Pilates and dance – proven to be popular among teenage girls than more traditional offerings.
Kate Dale, who led the project for Sport England, said: "Many girls grow up to have a negative relationship with exercise.
“Studio You is the resource we need to help them have a positive relationship with it instead. And for some girls, PE at school is their only chance to get active – so it’s important to make it fun and get the experience right for them.
“We know PE teachers want all their students to enjoy PE, but the pressures of school life and being a teenager make this challenging.
“Studio You is here to help teachers to get girls enjoying exercise, to close the gender activity gap and to help girls build healthy habits for life.”
Studio You follows Sport England research which revealed that more than half (57 per cent) of girls aged 13-16 are not meeting the physical activity guidelines set out by the Chief Medical Officer.
Of those deemed inactive, 52.9 per cent cited a lack of confidence and 57.2 per cent said self-consciousness is a barrier to them getting active.
Studio You has been designed to break down these barriers, with non-competitive activities and featuring instructors of all sizes and shapes.
To find out more about the Studio You platform, click here.
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