Positive Coaching Alliance joins forces with Dove to promote BODY CONFIDENT SPORT, a First-of-its-Kind Online Coaching Program co-created with Nike to Help Build Body Confidence in Girls Globally

11.2.2023

Oakland, CA (October 26, 2023)– Girls who participate in physical activity – and stay with it through adolescence – are more likely to have higher body confidence and experience benefits throughout their lives. However, NEW research from Dove and Nike reveals 45% of teenage girls globally drop out of sports – at twice the rate of boys – with low body confidence as the biggest driver.

As the world’s largest provider of self-esteem and body confidence education, Dove has teamed up with Nike – the biggest champion of athletes and sports – to launch the Body Confident Sport online coaching program. Body Confident Sport is a first-of-its-kind, scientifically proven set of coaching tools to build body confidence in 11–17-year-old girls.

Coaches can be powerful role models to create a positive environment for girls in sports, one that prioritizes self-esteem over performance. In fact, 83% of girls in the U.S. say their coach was the reason they felt more confident and 61% of girls would be interested in hearing from coaches about body confidence education.

Positive Coaching Alliance, a leader in coach training dedicated to creating a positive, equitable, and accessible youth sports experience, has joined forces with Dove to promote BODY CONFIDENT SPORT to youth sports organizations and coaches. Annually impacting over 65,000 youth coaches, Positive Coaching Alliance is the leader in reaching youth coaches. Additionally, their coach training places an emphasis on not only teaching youth how to compete, but also leveraging sports to impart invaluable life skills.

“As part of our longstanding commitment to support women and girls, we want to ensure coaches have the support they need to build young people’s self-esteem and body confidence. We are proud to partner with Positive Coaching Alliance to promote Body Confident Sport as they understand the importance of creating a positive youth sports experience. Together, we can take action to make sports a place where girls can thrive and feel their most confident,” stated Leandro Barreto, Senior Vice President, Global Dove.  

Co-developed by Dove and Nike over the course of two years, in partnership with world-renowned experts, including the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) and the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, Body Confident Sport addresses new findings on how the sports environment impacts girls’ body confidence and self-esteem.

When girls reach adolescence, they experience significant changes to their bodies. As girls move and play sports, this can leave them feeling exposed and vulnerable to judgment for what their bodies can and can’t do, but also how they look. 

In the U.S., 48% of girls dropping out were told they don’t have the right body for sports and 56% were objectified or judged on their physical appearance.

• 51% of girls dropping out were told that they are not good enough.
• Yet girls understand the benefits of sport, with 69% saying they would be more body confident if they had stayed in sport for longer.

The Body Confident Sport online coaching tool is proven to reduce self-objectification and increase body-esteem and will be delivered through a global network of organizations in schools and sports clubs. The program aims to reach more than one million young people around the world.

“We are thrilled that Dove and Nike have created Body Confident Sport and have made such a significant investment in helping youth coaches understand the importance of self-esteem for girls. We are proud to be providing coaches with these tools to empower girls with a lifetime of confidence.” said Jason Sacks, President PCA.

Visit bodyconfidentsport.com to learn more and access the Body Confident Sport program. 

Contact:

For Positive Coaching Alliance: Casey U’Ren ([email protected])
For Dove: Samantha Colton ([email protected])

About the Research

Dove and Nike have commissioned this survey to expose the reality of girls’ experience in sports and the impact it has on their confidence, as well as the drivers behind girls dropping out and potential solutions.

They asked 4,917 children of different ages, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds in Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and US to take part in a 15-minute online survey.

The study included 3,506 girls aged between 9-17 years old (approximately 500 from each country) and 1,391 boys aged 9-17 years old (approximately 200 from each country) who had the consent of a parent or legal guardian to take part.

About Body Confident Sport

Body Confident Sport provides coaches with the materials they need to tailor their coaching to inspire body confidence and keep girls from dropping out of sport. The program includes input from girls and coaches from 6 countries, including France, India, Japan, Mexico, the U.K., and the U.S, and the curriculum includes tools that were scientifically proven in clinical trials with more than 1,200 girls and are proven to improve girl’s self-esteem and body confidence.

About the Dove Self-Esteem Project

Dove is the largest self-esteem education provider in the world, offering no-cost, academically validated tools to parents, teachers, mentors, and kids for nearly two decades with the Dove Self-Esteem Project. To date, Dove has reached more than 100 million young people globally across 150 countries with DSEP, with a goal of reaching 250M young lives by 2030.

About Dove

Dove started its life in 1957 in the US, with the launch of the Beauty Bar, with its patented blend of mild cleansers and ¼ moisturizing cream. Dove’s heritage is based on moisturization, and it is proof not promises that enabled Dove to grow from a Beauty Bar into one of the world’s most beloved beauty brands. Women have always been our inspiration and since the beginning, we have been wholly committed to providing superior care to all women and to championing real beauty in our advertising. Dove believes that beauty is for everyone. That beauty should be a source of happiness and not anxiety. Dove’s mission is to inspire women everywhere to develop a positive relationship with the way they look and realize their personal potential for beauty.

For 60 years, Dove has been committed to broadening the narrow definition of beauty in the work they do. With the ‘Dove Real Beauty Pledge,’ Dove vows to:

• Portray women with honesty, diversity and respect. We feature women of different ages, sizes, ethnicities, hair color, type, and style.
• Portray women as they are in real life, with zero digital distortion and all images approved by the women they feature.
• Help young people build body confidence and self-esteem through the Dove Self-Esteem Project, the biggest provider of self-esteem education in the world.

About PCA

PCA’s vision is to build a world where every child benefits from a positive youth sports experience with a coach who inspires them to become the best version of themselves in the game and in life. PCA trains coaches and partners with youth sports organizations, parents, sports leaders, and communities to make youth sports more positive, equitable, and accessible to all kids regardless of social or economic circumstances.

For more information, go to positivecoach.org

SOURCE: Dove