That was the message from Jennie Price CBE, Chief Executive of Sport England, as she received an Honorary Doctor of Letter from the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯.
Speaking at the university’s graduation ceremony at the Brighton Centre, Ms Price told graduates how the common excuses given by women for not getting active were: “I haven’t got the time, I’m terribly busy or I can’t fit it in, it’s very expensive.”
But the real reasons for many were much deeper. Little voices in the head say: “I’m not sure I’m the right size, I think I might be a bit big in these clothes, I’m not fit enough, I look ridiculous in those clothes, I’ll look absolutely ridiculous by the time I finish, and I don’t belong here where the sporty people are.”
Ms Price has led a This Girl Can campaign which has won numerous awards and has been called the best campaign of its kind in the world for encouraging thousands of women into sport and exercise.