We are InMotion Network. We connect  agencies and organizations with people promoting and facilitating girls and women in sport and physical activity. We are the only organization dedicated exclusively to sport and physical activity needs of girls and women of all ages in the province of Alberta.

Our mission is to inspire and empower girls and women of all abilities in Alberta to participate in sport and physical activity. Girls and women have been underrepresented in the fields, courts, and pools, as well as the locker rooms and board rooms of Alberta.

Among girls who have participated in sport, there is a dramatic dropout rate observed with 1 in 3 girls leaving sport by late adolescence. By comparison, the dropout rate for teenage boys (aged 16-18) is only 1 in 10. Sport participation rates for Canadian girls decline steadily from childhood to adolescence with as many as 62% of girls not playing sport at all. (Rally Report, 2020)

Participation for All

The InMotion Network advocates that everyone should have the opportunity to grow from the benefits of being involved in sport and physical activity. These benefits range from empirically proven improvements in the broad health determinates that result from regular physical activity to the “soft skill” improvements related to improved communications and social interactions, and increased general self-efficacy; coping self-efficacy and scheduling self-efficacy.

Women and girls experience multiple barriers to participation of regular physical activity (cultural/religious constraints, financial limitations, familial restrictions, age, body shape, individual or group perceptions and/or varied peer pressures).

Did You Know?

The 2019 Alberta Survey on Physical Activity states that on average 64% of Albertans (as sampled) are sufficiently physically active to receive health benefits. This figure has remained consistent over the last decade. On the surface this shows that 64% of Albertans are sufficiently physically active, attention must be paid to other factors that influence the level of physical activity of women and girls in Alberta.

Age

39% of women 65+ in AB self report 150 minutes of PA per week (2020)

Education

Post-secondary and high school graduates are more likely to be sufficiently physically active

Income

Those with annual incomes below $20,000 are least likely to be sufficiently physically active

Employment

Employed Albertans are more physically active than those who are unemployed

Previous studies have shown that females are less likely to be physically active than males. The InMotion Network provides opportunities for physical activity for women and girls to be made available to all women and girls with dedicated emphasis on those from lower socio-economic levels, new Canadian populations, women and girls from communities with religious/cultural constraints and Indigenous women and girls.

Figure: Data extrapolated from the 2011, 2020 Canadian Census and the December 2013 Statistics Canada Health Profile for Alberta.
* The median after-tax income in 2012 for female lone-parent families was $35,395 clearly under the $39,999 annual income level.
** The 2011 Alberta Survey on Physical Activity indicated that employed Albertans are more physically active than those who are unemployed.
*** In many instances these girls and women do not take part in community or school based activities due to religious and cultural constraints.
**** Instances of chronic diseases related to obesity and lack of physical activity within the Indigenous community are well chronicled.