DISAPPOINTING news, but indeed not surprising, that the recent research carried out by the health and sport committee on the expected legacy, in terms of increasing participation in sport, from the 2014 Commonwealth games, actually didn’t materialise.

It seems that the one area which is giving a lot of concern, in particular, is the lack of increase in participation by women and girls.

The survey revealed that females were almost twice as likely as males not to participate in regular sport or physical activity and cited lack of time as the biggest barrier to participation. That coupled with the fact that many females are still very self-conscious about their body image, were the main issues.

In terms of time, it is a fact that for many women, no matter their work circumstances they still carry out the majority of household tasks, as well as taking on the main role of caring either for their children and/or ageing parents, something that doesn’t leave them an awful lot of ‘me time’.

Let’s be honest here, this is not really news, this information has been and will continue to be fact until we fully understand the many diverse issues that prevent women from being involved in sport and start to create programmes that work with women and girls and not against them.

Some of the areas that we need to look at are, timing, cost, kit, pushy coaches who are only interested in creating an elite team to challenge for the top sport, and other women who don’t exactly roll out the red carpet to welcome newcomers into sport. We all have an anecdote relating to that!

All of these things conspire to stop women from getting involved in sport. When you have so little free time, you want to ensure that you use it wisely and that you enjoy it, to feel that you are welcomed into the environment – and of course you aren’t put under pressure to commit to a regime that is unmanageable.

What puzzles me the most is that this information has been clearly documented now for some considerable time, yet sports still persist in ‘the shrink it and pink it’ approach to creating opportunities for women and girls.

Take a successful programme that is currently running for boys and add the word ‘and girls’, that is how some sports think they will encourage an increase in participation and at the same time, tick the diversity box.

For so long women thought that being equal, having parity, was getting the same as boys and men, but this isn’t the case at all, particularly where sport is concerned.

Women and girls should of course be offered the same opportunities, however we have to tailor these opportunities to ensure that they appeal specifically to women and girls.

Let’s take a look at one of the positive stories from the 2014 Games, Netball Scotland. They set up their Bounce back to Netball programme following on from the games, and have seen an amazing increase in the number of recreational players of all ages.

They offer pay-as-you-go sessions, where a big t-shirt and leggings are the standard uniform, and they make it fun.

There is no commitment to attend on a regular basis, it’s come along, bring a friend and have some fun, that’s what women want and this approach has proven extremely successful.

However it’s not all doom and gloom as Glasgow and Scotland has benefited enormously from the games in many other ways. We have some first class sports facilities now and that will continue to encourage more world class events to the city. The East End has been transformed with some great new housing stock, and we still have our memories of some spectacular successes by the Scottish team, which still elicit a wistful smile for those of us who would bid to host the games every time.

So let’s not judge success on one factor alone, but let’s take stock on how we can continue to improve participation, whether or not is a ‘legacy’ requirement.

This is something that all sports are continuing to work towards and I am sure that given more time and a little more understanding, success will follow.