GIRLS do sport – for some it’s a statement of fact, for others a plea for more girls to get involved in sport and then for some, well this can still be an expression of exclamation, of surprise, Girls do Sport, whatever next!

However we aim to change this, as for Scottish Women in Sport, Girls Do Sport is the name of the exciting new project that we are currently working on in partnership with the University of West of Scotland and we are keeping everything crossed that it is going to be a huge success.

To enable us to run with this idea we were fortunate to receive backing for the project from Investing in Ideas, a branch of the Big Lottery Fund and we were bursting to tell everyone about it and sign up as many sports as we can, to be part of this innovative idea.

However,we have been slightly constrained regarding the timing of this announcement as we were subject to the restrictions which were thrust upon many prior to the recent General Election.

Now, though, we can shout it from the rooftops and tell everyone the idea behind #Girls Do Sport.

What we intend to do is to create a series of programmes focusing solely on women in sport in Scotland and screen them through our own you tube channel.

We have funding for nine programmes and we are looking to launch in the early autumn this year. Early planning and engagement of sports bodies and athletes is of course paramount to the success of the project and that is why we are welcoming all those interested to join us on Monday June 26 at the GoGlasgow Hotel in Paisley Road West to hear more about or plans and find out how to become involved. If you are interested, sign up here www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/scottish-women-in-sport-6314823489 The University of the West of Scotland, our main partners in this venture are no strangers to this type of project as they have already created the very successful St Mirren TV.

And with a dedicated studio at the Ayr Campus and staff and students from many departments signed up and raring to go, I can confidently say if enthusiasm equals success, we are on to a winner.

LET’S be honest here, we can all identify some really positive changes in terms of the advances that have been made in many areas for women in sport, however the main stream media looks like it will be the last establishment to fully embrace this change.

The most recent statistics to be aired surrounding media exposure for women in sport from 2014 showed that just over 10% of sports coverage is dedicated to women in sport, with that dropping down to 5% for radio coverage and 4% of on-line coverage.

While there have been advances in this area since then, I still I do not think that the numbers from 2014 will have changed dramatically. Certainly not dramatically enough to represent anythinng like gender balance.

The other worry is of course the choice of sports that the mainstream producers choose to air, given the many sports out there enjoyed by all, coverage is in the main, still focused on a few traditional sports.

These are the ones which I believe ‘the powers that be’ deem to be the more popular sports for audience engagement: We want to look at the many different type of sports and work with as many as possible.

Lack of coverage has a knock-on effect to participation and commercial sponsorship, two extremely important factors that every National Governing Body in Scotland clearly wants to improve upon. We hope that in some small way, we can help them do that and with the recent funding cuts hitting NGB’s hard, our timing couldn’t be better.

Making this work for everyone is largely dependent on good marketing and of course, public and commercial engagement.

So whether you are an NGB, an athlete a sporting organisation or just interested to help accelerate change for women in sport, join us on Monday to help shape our plans for Girls Do Sport and sign up for our social media channels for more information.