This Girl Can: Powered by you

Mother Yvonne and daughter Patrice started being more active for different reasons. Yvonne began experiencing the symptoms of menopause. Patrice, on the other hand, discovered her weight gain was partly due to polycystic ovary syndrome and wanted to make a change while helping her health.

The two started being more active together, doing circuits at home or going for a quick jog. Yvonne finds she has more fun and stays motivated with Patrice by her side. And Patrice gets so much out of being active that she has now made sports her vocation in life.

Glynis

Glynis fell in love with swimming during primary school. But as she got older, life often got in the way of being active. Consequently, she found her confidence in the pool fell. Joining an accessible group at her local gym has helped reignite Glynis’ love of swimming and has encouraged her to stick with it. When she’s in the water she feels free. She knows the pool is always there for her – and that whenever she wants to, she can get right back in.

Lisa O’Keefe, Sport England Director of Insight, hopes the advert will convince women they don’t need to be in shape or super confident in their bodies to take part.

“This Girl Can is about helping women feel confident, so they can overcome the fears about being judged that our research showed was stopping many from getting active,” she said.

“Since we launched five years ago, we're seeing more relatable images in advertising and social media, but there's a long way to go until women's lives are being shown in a realistic way.

“We've designed the new adverts to show things we're still not seeing – women using exercise to manage period symptoms or juggling motherhood – all while celebrating women of all shapes, sizes, abilities and backgrounds.”

Now in its 5th year, This Girl Can has helped to get nearly 3 million women into sport, helping them to get fitter, healthier and it's all thanks to you, players of The National Lottery, for making it possible.

17th January 2020