Sports Marketing Surveys have released a new report that looks at how women's experiences of different sports change through their life stages. They have also identified opportunities for the sector to help more women enjoy a longer and more connected sporting journey. 

Insights include how women’s experiences of different sports change through education as well as key stages of adulthood. The research compares:

• Play frequency over time.
• The main motivations for playing sports at different ages.
• Barriers that resulted in less frequent or lapsed participation at particular points in life.

The study identifies high risk age categories at which participants are most likely to drop out of sport, as well as prime ages to return. These insights can be transformed into new initiatives and pricing strategies to help keep women active and involved in a range of sports.

One of the most striking recommendations from the research is sport’s need to ‘re-frame’ the value it offers women across every stage of their lives so that sport is properly recognised as a powerful tool for wellbeing. Sports Marketing Surveys hope the insights in the report will help to change the narrative in women’s sport from “I wish I had returned sooner” to “I returned as soon as I was ready!”

The research shows that tapping into these intrinsic motivations to exercise and play sport can significantly reduce women’s tendency to drop out of sport at various life stages.

Gender inequalities in sports participation still exist at every age, so any insight that helps to re-dress this balance is incredibly valuable.

Read the full report here.