Activating Change – Data & Digital Pathways for Girls’ and Women’s Sport
Last week, I joined the Sports Technology Alliance’s (STA) USA Summit in Colorado Springs, representing etrainu alongside our STA partners, Spotler, ActiveXchange, and Sport:80. As the final STA event of the year, it was a standout, and honestly, our strongest one yet.
The USA Summit echoed the themes of the London and Dublin summits held earlier in the year, underscoring the need for global collaboration across sports. But among all the conversations, one session hit especially close to home: Activating Change – Data & Digital Pathways for Girls’ and Women’s Sport.
Led by Alicia Pelton from the Tucker Center, the session unpacked both the data and lived realities shaping girls’ and women’s sport today. Drawing on her 30+ years of lived experience in women’s sport and leadership. Alicia shaped her talk around three words that set the tone for lasting change: Commitment, Compassion, and Choices.
1. Commitment: Look at the Data
The Tucker Center is a research center focused on accelerating change for girls and women in sports and physical activity. The Tucker Center also leads the Coaching HER® project, a resource that helps sport coaches of girls challenge the status quo and the assumptions about what it means to coach girls.
Alicia Pelton drew on the Tucker Center’s research to kick off the session, exploring the future of the women's and girls’ sports market, women’s fans, and girls’ participation at the community level.
Interest in women’s sports is accelerating rapidly. Four out of five U.S. sports fans now follow women’s sports. More than half of those fans have become engaged within the past five years (McKinsey & Company, Closing the Gap in Women’s Sports, 2024) and were 2.8x more likely to buy female-endorsed products (Parity Now, 2024).
At the community level, parents played the biggest role in whether girls got involved in sports, through their behaviour and beliefs about sport. 82% of girls aged 5-11 with sporty parents were found to love sport compared to 59% with non-sporty parents (Women in Sport, 2023).
"Today’s parents are changing the algorithm, the one driving the explosion of women’s sports. They’re the ones putting their girls in the game, and the data shows it,” said Pelton.
“They understand the benefits go far beyond the scoreboard -social, emotional, physical, mental, and even occupational. They value equity, expect inclusion, and want better experiences for their daughters than what they had."
In 2023, the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative found that 38% of girls aged 13-17 played sports, the highest level since 2012.
So what does all this data mean? It shows that sports participation in women and girls is on the rise.
2. Compassion: Question the Data
While the data is positive, it’s not enough for sporting organizations to be satisfied with a growing participation in women's and girls' sports—more needs to be done to ensure women and girls are engaged in and supported by their chosen sports.
This especially rings true for adolescents, with 45% of teenage girls dropping out of sports (Dove & Nike, 2023). In fact, girls drop out at twice the rate of boys.
Most girls drop out of sport because of low body confidence, limited support, and coaches who aren’t trained to navigate the realities of coaching girls — from communication to understanding menstrual health.
Factors such as sexual objectification, gender stereotypes, beauty pressures, weight bias, eating disorders, and uncomfortable/poor-fitting uniforms/sports clothing all contribute to declining body image and disengagement from sport.
98% of girls reported wanting their coaches to be knowledgeable about menstrual health, with up to 70% stopping playing sports due to challenges associated with their period. Coaches also agreed that they are often unaware of how to navigate menstrual health challenges and believed that education and training would provide them with the necessary tools to support their athletes.
While the data may indicate one thing, it also reveals the gaps in research—particularly in understanding the barriers to women’s and girls’ participation in sport and what can be done to support them. Questioning the data is just the first step; real change requires action.
3. Choices: Change the Data
The next question is: What can be done to change the data and improve pathways for girls and women?
The answer lies in upskilling & supporting coaches: 80% of girls say a positive relationship with their coach is a top reason they keep playing.
Quality coaching education can go a long way. Coaching HER® is one such initiative—led by Alicia Pelton and her team at the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center—that equips coaches and organizations with the tools to lead with impact. Through its free Organizational Champions program, evidence-based courses, and interactive events and webinars, Coaching HER® tackles central and often overlooked issues such as girls’ self-perceptions, sport experiences, gender bias, and stereotypes, helping more girls get into, and stay in, sport.
“Now is the time to lean in. Girls stay when they feel seen, heard, and supported—2.5 times more likely to stay when their voices matter, and 40% higher retention in organizations with trained coaches. If we want to change the data, we start by training coaches to create environments that meet girls where they are,” said Pelton.
Supporting and upskilling coaches — alongside amplifying the voices of women and girls in sport — is key to creating genuine inclusion. Girls and women need visible role models to help them see what’s possible and stay engaged. That visibility shouldn’t be limited to major events — it can start at the club level, by regularly spotlighting players, sharing their stories, and celebrating their achievements year-round.
Through such initiatives, there’s a clear path forward to change the data and improve outcomes for women and girls everywhere. By equipping coaches with the right tools and education, we can build on this momentum — helping more women and girls not just stay in sport, but truly thrive in it.
From Insight to Action
It was clear to me that these were the practical takeaways from this session:
- More data needs to be collected. Research on women and girls in sport is still incomplete, with physical, social, and hormonal differences underrepresented.
- Curiosity is key. We need to ask why girls aren’t joining or why they’re leaving — and build that questioning mindset at every level of sport.
- Material changes matter. Review uniforms for comfort, ensure facilities are genuinely fit for purpose, and include sanitary products as standard.
- Coaches need more training to better support girls’ physical and emotional needs, particularly menstrual support.
- Visibility matters—sports organizations should showcase diverse athletes and stories year-round to create role models girls can see themselves in.
At etrainu, we see this every day. When sports organizations connect their data and systems, they gain clarity and with it the ability to create a lasting impact. That might mean building new learning pathways for coaches, improving existing ones, or designing safer and more inclusive environments.
That’s what activating change looks like in practice, and it’s the kind of progress we’re proud to champion & be a part of.
Follow our Sports Technology Alliance LinkedIn page to explore recaps from other sessions and stay up-to-date with future events.
