Sport Ireland Launches the Girls Get Active Hackathon

Sport Ireland has announced details of the upcoming Girls Get Active Hackathon which aims to leverage the ideas and passion of the public to promote sport and physical activity among teenage girls and gather ideas to inform a number of pilot programmes targeted specifically at this cohort. 

A hackathon is a short concentrated event that brings people together to brainstorm and share a range of creative and innovative ideas around a challenge.  It’s a effective way for people to come together, share ideas and create positive change in society.

Sport Ireland want to build on the findings of the recently published Adolescent Girls Get Active Research and develop a series of pilot programmes that will encourage girls to engage, or re-engage with sport and physical activity in a way that is meaningful and enjoyable to them. 

Individuals or groups of secondary school students, TY students, teachers, parents, third level students, researchers, sport development officers, NGB and LSP staff are invited to register for the Sport Ireland Girls Get Active Hackathon, share their ideas and input to the pilot programmes. 

How does it work?

The Hackathon will take place online via Zoom in April. Groups and individuals must register in advance. 

Day 1: Friday April 16th 4pm-6pm

• Group Learning and Understanding - Day one will involve presentations and updates from Sport Ireland staff to further outline the problem to be addressed. The facilitator will begin the process of discovery and analysis. 

Day 2: Saturday April 17th 10am-12pm

• Research & Brainstorming Ideas - Groups will begin to brainstorming and come up with different ideas

Day 3: Sunday April 18th 10am

• Consolidating Ideas: Groups further refine their group thinking and select the best idea to pitch and present

By taking part in the Sport Ireland Girls Get Active Hackathon you will be part of the solution to tackle female adolescent inactivity and sport dropout. Your voice will contribute directly to the creation and development of a new programme aimed directly at encouraging young girls to be more active and to reconnect them with sport and physical activity. 

You will be part of a team of like minded individuals tackling a nationwide problem in an innovative way, developing collaboration and problem solving skills that will benefit you in your own life and career.

Sport Ireland Women in Sport Lead, Nora Stapleton commented "We learned a lot from the Adolescent Girls Get Active Report regarding what’s important in girls lives and what they want to get from sport and physical activity. The 8 Principles of Success are extremely helpful in guiding us all in the development of sports and physical activities for teenage girls. However, one of the key messages that came through was that girls should have a say in the activity they want to participate in. Our aim with the Hackathon is to ensure the teenage girls voice is heard before we design programmes to pilot off the back of the report. And not only teenage girls, but teachers and those who work with them in schools, others who conduct research on this topic, third level students as well as sports providers and parents. This event is open to anyone who is passionate about trying to solve the problem of teenage girls drop out from sport. We’re really looking forward to this event and encourage everyone to get involved."

Visit the Hackathon page to read more and to register to be part of the event.