After five years you get bored with badminton: young women's conversations about physical fitness activity

This article draws on contemporary literature and the findings of a small empirical study that explored young womens’ perspectives on their participation in physical fitness activity. The study was undertaken in the context of an agenda for improved health and wellbeing in Scotland that reflected similar agendas throughout the UK. Against a backdrop that suggested young womens’ participation declines significantly in the early teens, this article identifies what influenced the young people in this study to participate in fitness activity in order to illustrate why these trends persist and how participation might be increased.