Six weeks of sport, on their terms
TrailfindHERS is a free six-week programme for Year 9 girls who have drifted away from PE and school sport. We run it in your school, using your space and your timetable, and it’s delivered by Ealing Trailfinders Foundation coaches alongside players from our professional women’s squad.
There’s no cost to the school and no equipment for you to buy.
Six weeks of sport, on their terms
TrailfindHERS is a free six-week programme for Year 9 girls who have drifted away from PE and school sport. We run it in your school, using your space and your timetable, and it’s delivered by Ealing Trailfinders Foundation coaches alongside players from our professional women’s squad.
There’s no cost to the school and no equipment for you to buy.
Why we built it
Sport England’s Active Lives survey keeps showing the same pattern. Girls’ activity levels fall away through secondary school, and Year 9 is where the drop bites hardest. The reasons girls give are usually practical ones. Kit and changing rooms, periods, being watched, not wanting to be the worst player in a competitive team.
So we built the programme around those reasons rather than around a sport. The approach takes its lead from This Girl Can: start where the girls actually are, take the pressure off, and make taking part feel normal.
What happens over the six weeks
Activity sessions
Alternatives to mainstream team sport, chosen with the group in week one rather than decided for them.
Girls Talk
Short discussion sessions that sit alongside the activity. Periods and how they affect training, social media, confidence, role models, and the things that stop girls taking part in the first place. The girls steer where these go.
Sessions with our women’s players
Players from the Trailfinders women’s squad deliver part of the programme. They talk about their own route into sport, including the parts that weren’t smooth.
What we need from the school
- A named staff contact who can help identify the group and keep an eye on attendance
- A space for one session a week. A hall, a gym, a studio or a corner of the field all work
- A group of Year 9 girls. We’d usually ask the school to pick them rather than open it up, because the girls who benefit most rarely volunteer
- A member of school staff present during sessions
We bring the coaches, the equipment and the session plans. All Foundation staff are DBS checked and safeguarding trained.
What it costs
Nothing. The Foundation covers coaching, equipment and session planning, so TrailfindHERS is free to your school.
Arnold Hill Chartered Accountants funded the programme in 2025/26 and we’re grateful for their support.
