About
We're 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.
Most of us are familiar with the physical, social, and psychological benefits of physical activity, yet beginning at age twelve, girls' involvement in physical activity declines until only 17% are active by age seventeen (Hay & Donnelly, 1996).
Why Female-Only Programming?
The InMotion Network advocates that every female 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. A significant portion of the female population of Alberta 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 2015 Alberta Survey on Physical Activity states that on average 60% of Albertans (as sampled) are sufficiently physically active to receive health benefits. This averaged figure has increased from 59% in 2013. On the surface this shows that 60% 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.
This same survey details the following factors affecting the physical activity levels:
Age
Only 28% of Albertans 65 + are physically active
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 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.