Anna Geary: Changing the rules of the game for our girls

Whether it's talking about periods, breaking down sexist attitudes or helping them navigate the pressures of social media, we all have a role to play in encouraging teenage girls not to give up on sport and its life-enhancing benefits, Anna Geary tells Marjorie Brennan

Cork camogie hero Anna Geary, pictured here with girls who took part in the new television show, says it is important to accommodate girls’ natural insecurities and make them feel comfortable when they are playing sport.

Anyone who has seen Anna Geary in action, whether it’s on the pitch playing camogie for Cork, as a coach on the RTÉ show Ireland’s Fittest Family or gliding across the dance floor on Dancing With the Stars, will know how competitive she is. After all, she didn’t bag four All-Ireland titles for her native county by holding back. 

However, Geary admits her latest project made her re-evaluate her approach to sport. Why Girls Quit Sport is a two-part documentary for RTÉ in which Geary explores the reasons behind the huge drop-out rate in sports participation in teenage girls. In the documentary, she enlists a cohort of somewhat reluctant girls from Ringsend College, a secondary school in Dublin, in attempts to form a Gaelic football team.