Why Do So Many Teenage Girls Drop out of Their Sport?

According to Women in Sport, over one million teenage girls fall ‘out of love’ with sport. These factors are due to a fear of feeling judged, lack of confidence, pressures of schoolwork & not feeling safe outside. These factors can be extremely discouraging towards teenage girls, which can lead them to develop depression, anxiety & more commonly, body image issues. Women in Sport surveyed over 4000 teenage girls and found that 43% of teenage girls who once loved sports now feel like they are “not good enough” for sports anymore.

Body image is a huge issue that the majority, if not all, women go through, especially in their teenage years. Your teenage years are defined as one of the most vulnerable, emotionally charged, and uncertain seven-year rollercoasters that you go through. There are a lot of positive emotions (ex., graduating, getting your licence, etc.) & there are a lot of negative emotions (ex., fear of failure or not exceeding expectations, feeling judged by others, etc.) Teenage girls' major reason for why they no longer contributing to playing sports is because of body image issues. 78% say they avoid playing due to their period, while 73% do not like it when others watch them play.

According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, by age 14, many girls are dropping out at two times the rate of boys. The article argues that there is a lack of access. Girls have fewer opportunities to play high school sports than boys do. The majority of high schools have boys' sports teams, while they do offer girls' sports teams at some high schools, there is always a girls' sports team that gets left out. The majority of the time, it is sports with higher physicality, such as flag football & hockey. This can also happen because of a lack of money. Some schools would much rather invest in their boys’ teams rather than their girls. Some girls do have external options outside of school, such as other sports teams, facilities & more, while some do not & have to rely on school for their physical activity. 

They also argue that girls in their teenage years have a lack of positive role models. In today’s society, social media plays a huge part in our daily lives. For some people, the first thing they do when they wake up is check social media. Being a teenage girl on social media is full of ups & downs. You have the happy, positive, inspiring content & then you have the sad, negative, hurtful content. As stated above, body image is a huge issue in teenage girls & social media is a huge reason behind that. You see women who could be just as young or a bit older than these teenage girls getting Botox, facelifts, injections, etc., which can harm the way teenage girls perceive themselves. Some of these girls want to desperately fit in with today’s beauty standards, & without having a positive role model, especially one who participates in sports, it may be hard for teenage girls to have a positive mindset in their teens. If there is no encouragement for teen girls to participate in sports & healthy physical activity, the results may lead girls to drop out altogether. 

CBC reports that one in three Canadian girls drops out of sports by their late teens. They report that sport participation rates for Canadian girls decline steadily from childhood to adolescence, with as many as 62% of girls not playing sport at all. Some factors that were reported in turning these girls away were similar to those listed above, such as low self-confidence, negative body image, etc. A notable factor CBC listed was the perceived lack of skill(s). Meaning some girls feel like they cannot play sports because they do not have the skills for it, so they may feel like they are being judged. 

Many negative factors contribute to this specific study. It is hard to specifically point out what exactly makes young or teenage girls fall out of love with playing sports, but the common trend here is body image issues. Social media plays a huge part in how we look at ourselves. One moment, a positive body image post appears & what happens next? Their comment section is more than likely flooded with negative comments. The majority of people are on social media, especially during their teenage years, as it is used as a form of expression. Whether that is through posting on your feed, story, liking a post, commenting under it, etc. There are so many ways you can express yourself on social media. 

But why is this so important to teenage girls playing sports? Unfortunately, a lot of professional women’s sports leagues & teams' comment sections can easily flood with hate, even when broadcasting accounts such as TSN or Sportsnet post something about women’s sports & it is hard to protect teenage girls from those types of comments. They will see those comments & more than likely doubt themselves for being a woman athlete & think they are not good enough, which then leads to them thinking they are not fit enough, tall enough, the list goes on. 

At the moment, it is important to protect young girls & their love for sports, especially in their teenage years, when they can be so vulnerable. While it is inevitable for them to see & hear negative comments either on social media or in person, it is important to remind them that they are more than those comments. These young women athletes need to be encouraged by everyone, as they are the future of sports. They need to be reminded that they are good enough for the sport(s) they play & could potentially become a top athlete in a professional women’s sports league. 

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Sources

BBC News. (2022, March 7). Millions of girls fall out of love with sports by their teens. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-60646352

CBC News. (2020, October 7). 1 in 3 Canadian girls drops out of sport by their late teens: CBC Sports. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/sports/youth-sports-teenagers-female-male-participation-1.5607509

Women’s Sports Foundation. (n.d.). Do you know the factors influencing girls’ participation in sports? Retrieved November 3, 2025, from https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/do-you-know-the-factors-influencing-girls-participation-in-sports/

Women in Sport. (2022, March 7). More than 1 million teenage girls fall ‘out of love’ with sport. https://womeninsport.org/news/more-than-1-million-teenage-girls-fall-out-of-love-with-sport/