Mothers and daughters targeted in Cardiff sports plan

Hundreds of schoolgirls will take part in mass sporting events under plans to get more women in Cardiff into sport.

Cardiff council wants 300 primary and 300 secondary pupils to take part in the two "girls together" events.

Sessions for mothers and daughters to try sports together are also part of its plans.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson said the plans were an important step to get more women active.

The projects are part of a £240,000 plan to increase participation in sport drawn up by Cardiff council and Cardiff Metropolitan University, which were discussed on Thursday.

Under the local sports plan, a new scheme will be introduced to mark clubs as "Safe Clubs", to show would-be members that the organisation is "fit for purpose" and has "all the minimum standards in place".

The mass events, by Sport Cardiff's Girls Together, will be held on the International Day of the Girl and International Women's Day in 2019.

There are also plans for pre-natal and post-natal exercise support programmes for new mothers.

Sport Cardiff said that 45% of girls say sport is too competitive and 46% of the least active girls do not enjoy PE activities.

Cardiff-born Welsh Paralympic champion, Baroness Grey-Thompson said: "A lot of mothers drop out of physical activity, we have got to do something to get them more physically active.

"Often mums put themselves last, they recognise it is good for their children but they forget it is important for themselves too."

She said body image could stop girls getting involved in sport, saying: "There is a big difference between getting boys and girls into sport. We can't offer sport and physical activity in the same way anymore."

Laura Williams, senior sport development co-ordinator at Sport Cardiff, said: "It is no secret that participation in sport has always been lower in girls rather than boys.

"We really put a focus on that and this is the biggest role-out of our programme yet."

The projects also aim to tackle barriers such as lack of confidence and awareness of opportunities which can hold disabled people back from sport.