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The results are thought to show the drop off of girls participating in sports, and suggest a restructure of the sports education curriculum. Shutterstock/Fotokostic

Irish teenage boys are 42% fitter than girls

The study measured aerobic fitness by testing students with a beep test – the results of which they then entered into a competition.

IRISH GIRLS ARE less likely than boys to get their recommended amount of exercise, according to new research by Irish Life Health School Fitness Challenge.

The research shows that the gender gap widens as boys and girls progress through school; in Transition Year, boys are 42% fitter than girls, as opposed to first year boys being 32% fitter than girls.

Over a quarter of all Irish secondary schools signed up for the Schools Fitness Challenge in 2016, with 22,764 students taking part; 10,935 girls and 11,828 boys.

Students also experienced a significant improvement in their fitness levels after just six weeks of exercise training, with first year boys (+11%) and fourth year girls (+14%) showing the biggest improvement levels overall.

Dr Kate Kirby, Head of Performance Psychology at the Irish Institute of Sport said that there could be a number of reasons for the reduced participation (which are the result of the lower levels of fitness) in girls compared to boys.

Numerous reasons have been put forward to explain this, including losing interest, limited time, perceived lack of competence in competitive settings and fear of appearing ‘uncool’ or ‘unfeminine’.

“Some additional considerations that may reduce female adolescent drop-out from sport include the provision of single-sex physical activities, de-emphasising competition and increasing opportunities for social interaction within the sporting environment.

“Finally, the benefit of promoting positive athletic female role models cannot be underestimated.”

‘I don’t feel well’

shutterstock_298463408 Shutterstock / DGLimages Shutterstock / DGLimages / DGLimages

Irish Life Health also surveyed PE teachers to get their views on their students’ participation in PE, and 96% of teachers believe that their students fake excuses to get out of PE class.

The top excuse is students saying they aren’t well (63%), followed by students saying they forgot their gear (23%). A further 71% of teachers feel their students avoid PE as they are just uninterested in doing physical activity.

The School Fitness Challenge, now in its fifth year, has been overseen by Professor Niall Moyna in the Centre for Preventive Medicine, Dublin City University with a total of 126,162 secondary school students taking part from 2012-2016.

Moyna says that the “rigidity” of the current PE curriculum needs to change to short periods of physical activity that encourage senior cycle students – particularly girls to stay active.

The School Fitness Challenge was created with the aim of making physical fitness a national priority and to encourage young people to be proactive in adopting a healthier and more active lifestyle.

You can find out more about the Challenge here.

Read: Ireland has one of the worst hospital waiting times in Europe

Read: GAA clubs are branching out to people who have no interest in sport

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39 Comments
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    Mute Imnotrodten
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    Jan 30th 2017, 9:41 AM

    They’ll lose weight when they tale up smoking. No worries

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    Mute Paul Ryan
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    Jan 30th 2017, 9:44 AM

    Next thing they’ll be sayin’ spicebags are bad for ye!!

    187
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    Mute filthypete
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:03 AM

    That’s just crazy talk. Nothing that tastes that good could be bad.

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    Mute Eoin Mulhern
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    Jan 30th 2017, 9:37 AM

    That does not say a lot now that Ireland is the second fattest country in Europe and getting fatter each year especially among kids.

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    Mute Beachmaster
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    Jan 30th 2017, 9:59 AM

    Fattest?! I think you mean curviest.

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    Mute Peter King
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:34 AM

    Stop country shaming!!

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    Mute Minom Pnom
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    Jan 30th 2017, 11:51 AM

    @Beachmaster: or body-confident big-boned bubbly beauties?

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    Mute Banana Rama
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    Jan 30th 2017, 9:47 AM

    Newsflash: girls and boys are different.

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    Mute mac.kerel
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:45 AM

    Did you just “assume their genders”??

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    Mute Melissa O'Callaghan
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:54 AM

    @Banana rama – news flash split gender schools. The School’s attitude to fitness at a early age is very different between the two schools. And the female school is getting worse as the kids are much less fitter than were even 3 years ago. If it wasn’t for the GAA coming into school it would even worse. The school even gives out that the pupils loose jumpers because they get hot when the GAA comes in. Strangely not the other time in the week when the school does PE! Maybe throwing bean bags into a hoop isn’t enough to get the girls hot. Totally different in the boys school where they nearly every day do something physical.

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    Mute Gavin Tobin
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    Jan 30th 2017, 11:37 AM

    @Melissa O’Callaghan: Male teachers in male schools with an interest in sport. Female teachers in female schools with no interest in sport….perhaps?

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    Mute Anne Marie Devlin
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    Jan 30th 2017, 11:50 AM

    @Gavin Tobin: But it shouldn’t be dependent on individual teachers. It’s an integral part of the curriculum. My daughter had no PE in primary school. Irish dancing once a week covered the requirement. My son had on/off dependent on the teacher. The GAA also came in for 30 mins a week. What drove him mad was the different attitudes towards sports and music. They would get given out to for not practising tin whistle by the classroom teacher and the tin whistle teacher, but no one was expected to practise sports between lessons and certainly no one was ever given out to for not catching a ball as opposed to blowing the wrong note.

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    Mute Melissa O'Callaghan
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    Jan 30th 2017, 1:13 PM

    Strangely that isn’t true in my experience. Though the head is male for boys school and opposite for girls but staff are predominately female in both. Maybe social stereotype of the necessity to burn off energy for boys encourages more physical exercise.

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    Mute Yenreit
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:12 AM

    But what if some of those lads are gender fluid? What’s your number now?

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    Mute cortisola
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:51 AM

    @Yenreit: True, true – lot of these fitted boys my be in fact girls soon.

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    Mute Wurps
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    Jan 30th 2017, 11:09 AM

    It’s a bit chicken and egg though… isn’t it?

    The local sports clubs don’t even have female teams. It’s boys only. So where are they supposed to go?
    (soccer and rugby I’m thinking of, GAA are actually pretty good for female sports)

    And there is a responsibility on the parents. We can’t expect schools to do everything. If they can get the reading, writing and maths to a high standard, I’ll take care of the fitness as a parent. There are woods for running around in, orienteering events run regularly. I can teach them to ride a bike, swim etc. It’s tricky when you work full time, but it’s my responsibility.

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    Mute ktsiwot
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    Jan 30th 2017, 12:03 PM

    @Seán Lynch:
    I take your point Sean, but in general boys do have a big advantage regarding sports. Where this really comes into play is in your 30s when you are putting on weight and something has to be done, those that have been active in sports when they are young have a physiological and physical advantage in getting fit again, in general there body is in better condition in the first place and taking up what ever exercise they need or is enjoyable is not as near as intimidating as it otherwise would be.

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    Mute Pseud O'Nym
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    Jan 30th 2017, 1:38 PM

    Wurps, I think this is getting better though of course it depends where you are. My local soccer club has put a big emphasis on girls over the past few years and now has squads at every age group to U14. Nearly 30 in the u7s squad alone. Keeping them there long-term is another thing, of course. But it’s a change from the days when it was camogie or nothing.

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    Mute Shane Hogan
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    Jan 30th 2017, 5:51 PM

    @Seán Lynch: @Wurps – The Road Safety Authority and Garda fetish for wrapping every man, woman and child in the country in hi-vis clothing before the step out is one of the factors that discourages teenagers from cycling. Like it or not, teenagers are fashion conscious, and girls especially so. The RSA and Gardai keep giving the message that cycling is a hazardous activity, and that you have to look like a dork to cycle on the road. They also keep pushing helmets, though cycling is similar to walking in terms of risk, and there is little evidence around the benefits of helmets. Funnily enough, the Gardai and RSA rarely give simple messages to drivers, like: Put down the f-ing phone and stop killing people. Much easier to blame the victims it seems. The countries with the best cycling rates don’t have helmets and hi-vis. They provide good cycling infrastructure, and people cycle in ordinary clothes all the time.

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    Mute Melissa O'Callaghan
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    Jan 31st 2017, 5:58 AM

    @wurps I sort of agree but I also think it’s a shared responsibility. Especially in the winter week days when parents come home and it’s dark, it’s harder. If the schools can manage to find time for half the population then maybe they should look into their culture and encourage by education healthy physical education for girls also. Boys with too much energy fight physically whilst girls bitch and exclude. A bit more exercise in school would make for a healthier mental environment especially enhancing self esteem.

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    Mute The End Is High
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    Jan 30th 2017, 9:43 AM

    Liberals love the whole boy vs girls thing for some reason.

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    Mute mac.kerel
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:47 AM

    Yup, now we will have a “pound gap” in addition to the “pay gap”…

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    Mute mac.kerel
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:49 AM

    …And it’s all fault of the white patriarchy.

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    Mute cortisola
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:49 AM

    I would blame Trump for that !

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    Mute Jonny
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    Jan 30th 2017, 11:29 AM

    Somewhere there is a goon working on a quota.

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    Mute Paddy Lions
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    Jan 30th 2017, 9:35 AM

    41% I could believe but 42% is difficult to accept.

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    Mute Alison O' Connor
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    Jan 30th 2017, 11:18 AM

    I’m surprised that PE teachers are failing to mention the lack of facilities for changing clothes and time for showering as one of the reasons girls don’t like to do PE. I skipped PE all the time and it had nothing to do with lack of interest it was more the thought of having to change in full view of everyone and not being able to shower because a) no time was allowed for it and b) it was open showers (not even a curtain!). So many teenage girls are shy and insecure about their bodies – I definitely was (still am in some respects) and the thought of having to be even semi naked in front of others literally made me sick to my stomach. Perhaps if they allowed you to shower and dress in private you wouldn’t have so many girls avoiding the class!

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    Mute Gavin Tobin
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    Jan 30th 2017, 11:38 AM

    @Alison O’ Connor: Boys don’t dress and shower in private, don’t be ashamed of your body.

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    Mute Mr Snuffleupagus
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    Jan 30th 2017, 2:18 PM

    @Alison O’ Connor: They should ave forced you to do PE. In my day, you had to do it like any other subject.

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    Mute Laura Walsh
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    Jan 30th 2017, 3:01 PM

    Not surprising really, we had a class of 30 in secondary school split around evenly by gender, and yet only 4 or 5 girls ever did P.E. Swimming weeks were especially disastrous. I think body confidence issues are huge for teenage girls and can definitely come into play, but something needs to be done to encourage girls WHILE they are still young to keep participating and keep exercising, because bad habits as a teenager leads to bad habits as an adult.

    26
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    Mute Pharmyco
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    Jan 30th 2017, 3:25 PM

    The irony is, skipping exercise will make body self-consciousness worse due to flabby, unfit physiques

    22
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    Mute Rudiger McMonihan
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    Jan 30th 2017, 2:00 PM

    Its all about the role models girls are supposed to idolise. Women like the Kardashians (“do nothin b*tches” as Ronda Rousy calls them). Whereas boys follow athletes like Roy Keane and Brian O’Driscoll. This isnt something little kids choose either. Its encouraged by adults. Not intentionally, but children watch what adults do. When their mams watch tv they choose shows like Expose, while their dads choose to watch sports. Then there is the stuff that adults do do intentionally, like telling a little boy not to play with a pink toy, or making a girl wear a dress and giving out to her if she gets it dirty.
    The government can get schools to do extra PE classes and can tax sugar, but that doesnt get to the heart of the problem, which i dont think there is an easy solution to. Todays kids will grow up and their children will copy them. You cant change how humans are wired unfortunately

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    Mute Ciara Baines
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    Jan 30th 2017, 3:33 PM

    @Rudiger McMonihan: “When their mams watch tv they choose shows like Expose, while their dads choose to watch sports.’ Wow. Generalise much??

    3
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    Mute Tara Ní Dochartaigh
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    Jan 30th 2017, 6:14 PM

    No mention of periods? That was 2 weeks every month that I couldn’t do PE. At least 1 in 10 girls have debilitating period pain, so in an average class that’s at least 3 girls every week unable to do PE.

    9
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    Mute Darren Hickey
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    Jan 30th 2017, 1:21 PM

    Women generally have a lower VO2max with similar lactate thresholds and running economy. This puts them at a substantial disadvantage for fitness test like the beep test. Does the gap arise because of education differences and PE teaching, or because of the physiological changes of puberty?

    8
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    Mute patient pNibbler
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:01 AM

    where did i see this before……..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzjaUsIjsN4

    4
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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Jan 30th 2017, 10:47 AM

    @patient pNibbler:
    Congrats on godwinning your response so very quickly.
    If you don’t know what godwins law is then do some reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin’s_law

    13
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    Mute patient pNibbler
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    Jan 31st 2017, 4:01 AM

    @Barry Somers: ever hear of pnibber law?

    every conversation ends with some idiot quoting godwin

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    Mute Rachel Hororwitz
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    Jan 30th 2017, 5:06 PM

    Wow, this amazing. Could this be because men are naturally physically stronger than females,
    Due to the natural genetic differences between the two sexes? I think this a line of inquiry the journalists
    should pursue.

    3
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