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The Lidl One Good Club programme is a five-step mental health awareness programme developed in partnership with the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) and Jigsaw – the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. The programme aims to build and encourage positive mental health promotion in the participating clubs & their communities. Lidl are honoured to have Donegal’s Emer Gallagher, Dublin’s Carla Rowe, Galway’s Nicola Ward, & Waterford’s Caoimhe McGrath as programme ambassadors. For full details, see https://www.abettertomorrow-lidl.ie/onegoodclub/

WHAT HAVE WE DONE SO FAR?

We launched our sponsorship with the LGFA in 2016 and since then have invested a massive €4m in the LGFA and its local communities including supporting over 450 schools and juvenile teams nationwide, donating more than 11,000 jerseys, balls and equipment and providing over 300 clubs with cash donations.

We also commissioned the first Irish-based research into how sport participation impacts the lives of women and the factors that influence dropout. Worryingly the research revealed that by the age of 13, one in two girls will have dropped out of sport and are three times more like to drop out of sport than boys. Since then one of the primary objectives of our sponsorship of the LGFA has been to encourage more young girls to participate and stay in sport. Our nationwide Lidl #SeriousSupport Schools Programme was launched in 2019 and aimed to tackle dropout rates of girls aged 11-14 by delivering inspirational assembly talks and skill-building workshops.

It all begins with a school or a club, we want to provide solid support for players at the outset to ensure young female talent is nurtured and developed.

TEAM SPORT IS SO BENEFICIAL FOR WOMEN, BUT WHY ARE THEY DROPPING OUT SO EARLY?

We’ve learned that team sports build so much more than teams. They build a solid foundation for the future. We wanted to understand this a bit more, so we asked Irish women of all ages questions no one had asked them before.

We spoke to women all over Ireland about life, sport and what it means to them. Our independently commissioned research, used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to get a broad view of these women’s attitudes. Our study is the first of it’s kind in Ireland and offers fresh new insights into something that we, at Lidl feel really passionate about.

Our study has revealed that playing team sports helps women build a strong set of life skills, like better mental well-being, dealing with pressure and self-confidence. But unfortunately, half of them drop out by the beginning of secondary school.

At Lidl, we want all women to become the best possible version of themselves. We hope that by sharing our research, we can help encourage more Irish women to stay in sport.