Project Power is the initiative helping to get girls moving we all wish we had at school
There are few women for whom memories of school P.E classes involve actual exercise. Instead, many think back to their school sports and remember uncomfortable uniforms, awkward changing room experiences and attempts to wriggle to the back of the queue to avoid being told they’re next up to bat.
Unfortunately, not a lot has changed for the girls of today. Research has shown that 70% of girls dropped out of sport because of sports kit or body image concerns while many don't enjoy the classes they're given (only 59% of girls in years 10 and 11 report enjoying P.E, compared to 84% of boys).
This won't be a surprise to anyone who has considered the gender sports gap before. It's a reality I knew about 14 years ago when I was the one being forced to run around the netball pitch. Since then, I've listened to and reported on countless conversations and reports denouncing the gender play gap, but few seem to have inspired actual action.
Krissy Cela, a fitness influencer, owner of activewear brand Oner Active and workout app EvolveYou, had also been hand wringing about the state of play. Only, she thought it was time to take action, launching The Krissy Cela School Initiative in 2023. The scheme involves going into schools to host women-led, women-only workshops with young girls to educate them about movement, strength training and confidence. She's also donated £270k of fitness wear to female students.
'The idea came to me as I was reading some journals on women's confidence and I noticed that so many of the problems began in girlhood. I saw stats that showed the majority of young girls are just not moving their bodies and many of them hate their PE kits. I wanted to see what people were doing about it but I discovered there was no charity or no initiative that was actually helping,' she tells me over a video call.
'I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I sat down with my team and said that I wanted to take as much stock from Oner as we possibly could and gift it to girls. But then the ideas started getting bigger and bigger and I couldn't stop.'
Lifting workshops for girls
Today, the Krissy Cela Schools Initiative - relaunching today as Project Power - teaches 70 girls at a time how and why to move - specifically, how and why to strength train - as well as discussing confidence, careers and mental health.
At first, it wasn't easy to get schools to allow her in to their sports halls. 'The beginning was really tough. Schools were adamant that their P.E kit was their P.E kit and the curriculum was the curriculum. I had to convince them to just let me try. But once we did it with a few schools, it opened up a can of worms. Now, schools approach us,' says Cela. She tries to prioritise schools in lower-economic areas or with higher levels of children from low-income backgrounds.
When they arrive at the schools, they give out kit, the girls get changed, and the workshops begin. ‘We used to do it the other way round, talking to the girls before working out, but we noticed that they were so much more engaged and hyped after moving, so we changed it up. We have always multiple personal trainers in the class from Oner or EvolveYou, and we get the girls working in groups and independently. We blast music - things they actually listen to - and they actually start to have a good time,' says Cela.
'Then, once they're energised, we have chats with them. We ask what they're struggling with, what they want from us. They talk, we talk, we take selfies.'
Topics that come up time and time again are social media and comparison. 'Girls always tell me how they lack confidence and that they wonder why they don't look like the women they see online, despite the fact they're 14,' says Cela.
It's why the workshops never talk about the physical effects of strength training. 'We always talk about the psychological side of exercise. How, if you're lacking confidence or energy, doing something for yourself can help. And I also think that just being around me and the other trainers who are really confident as a result of our exercise and careers can help too,' she says.
I wonder how much the fact it's Cela - who still hosts the workshops when she can - that gets the girls motivated, and how much the presence of influencers helps or hinders by way of comparison and inspiration. 'The girls do follow me,' Cela acknowledges, noting that no doubt impacts their involvement. But it’s not a one sided influencer: since thinking more critically about the role of a girls empowerment workshop host, she has changed the way she works.
'I have been making more conscious decisions about how I post and seeing that as a big responsibility of mine,' she says. For instance, she has stopped sharing things that could lead young women to believe that moving, eating and living like her will lead to a body that looks like hers. 'That's not true or fair,' says Cela.
Cela also wants to begin a top-down approach of holding misinformation to account. 'If you have millions of followers, you need to be leading by example. You cannot accept the [incorrect] things that are saying being said online. I also really want to look at who else these girls are following and get those creators involved in the initiative to encourage more people to positively move their bodies,' she says.
If there's anything more interesting than an influencer to young girls, it's new clothes, with Cela saying that the kits have potentially the biggest impact of the day. 'Some girls have to wear the cheapest leggings from high street stores which aren't sports-proof and are then they are told by teachers to layer shorts on top. It’s a lot of hot fabric that’s not appropriate for sports and it's no wonder they don't feel comfortable.
'So few girls also wear real sports bras to P.E too - they run holding their boobs down. A factor in that is that sports bras are expensive and how many parents can afford to spend £30 on one? But it's such a quick win for us: I'm telling you, as soon as they put on activewear that actually fits them, they instantly spark up,' she says.
The shift in girls attitudes to exercise has been so seismic that some schools have let the gifted Oner activewear become their full time P.E kit. 'At first, teachers are apprehensive because they think it will be a bright, printed kit, but we give them simple black T-shirts, bras and leggings. There is the issue of a lot of schools wanting their logos on their kit but the girls feel so much more confident in the performance-focused activewear and it works out better for everyone when they feel that way,' says Cela.
Project Power
Project Power is now expanding with a goal to visit another ten schools by the end of the year, meaning the team will have reached 6,000 girls in 2024. They are also pledging another £360k of activewear.
Project Power will also launch a portal for girls to maintain their interest in exercise after the workshops are finished. 'They will have access to a massive free content hub with workout programs, nutrition, guidance around their period, moving during exam stress and body confidence,' says Cela. 'We want girls to be able to access fitness information safely, rather than just scrolling the internet.'
She also wants to overhaul in-school sports lessons. 'The end goals are firstly to change the policy around kit. I don't think we should be taking kit lightly. And secondly to incorporate strength training into our P.E curriculum, which hasn't changed for decades, so that girls will actually engage in P.E and benefit from the movement they do,’ she says.
I don’t doubt how serious Cela is about this. ‘You'll see me down at number 10 demanding a meeting with the Prime Minister. The curriculum is 100% changing. I won't stop. I've got the time and the energy. We can't have another 10 years of this bullshit,’ she says.
She is so keen to ‘break the cycle’ of exercise hatred because of how strength training changed her own life. Like most of us, Cela found P.E 'very forced. There was no choice and it was never enjoyable.' She discovered strength training aged 19, heartbroken and wanting to change how she looked and felt. What she instead found was a safe haven in the weights room and a realisation that movement wasn't about how she looked but how empowered she felt. 'I wish I had been taught that at 14,' she says.
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