Tennis coach Judy Murray is urging schools and sports organisations to put greater emphasis on physical education and to create more pathways for women in the sporting workforce. Announcing an expansion to her Learn to Lead scheme, Murray said sport builds leadership, resilience and communication skills, and supports young people’s physical and mental health. She also urged children to aim for at least 40 minutes of activity a day and argued that “physical literacy” should be treated as seriously as reading and numeracy.
Thanks to investment from Sky, Learn to Lead will grow from 25 schools to a total of 75. A Sky-commissioned report referenced by the campaign found that girls aged 11–18 miss out on around 280 million hours of sport each year compared with boys, and that taking part in sport as a child is as strong an indicator of later success as earning a university degree.
Launched in June, Learn to Lead targets P6 and P7 girls (10–12 years). The programme trains older pupils to run lunchtime and after-school tennis clubs for younger classmates. Each participating school must provide a teacher or activity coordinator to supervise the sessions, but the girls lead the activities: organising sessions, setting up equipment and running fun coaching games. Murray’s team delivers training sessions in schools and supplies videos, lesson plans and equipment to support the pupils and staff.
Murray said the initiative is about more than tennis. By giving older primary-school girls real responsibility in a sporting setting, it aims to build confidence and prepare them for leadership roles later on. “If we can start that process in primary school, where they’re comfortable with younger children, then hopefully some of these girls will become the sporting leaders of the future,” she said, stressing the need for a bigger female presence across the sports workforce.
She also highlighted school sport’s role in teaching life skills before children move to secondary school. Murray points to her own early experiences captaining school tennis and hockey teams as formative: they taught her how to communicate, bring a team together and lead under pressure.
Jonathan Licht, Sky’s chief sports officer, said the broadcaster is committed to raising the profile of women’s sport and boosting grassroots participation. He referenced the Game Changing report, which emphasises how sport develops confidence, teamwork and communication that carry beyond the playing field, and described Sky’s support for Learn to Lead as a way to give more girls the resources and opportunities to get involved.
Learn to Lead builds on Murray’s earlier Miss Hits programme, launched in 2014 to introduce young girls across the UK to tennis. With the expansion, the scheme aims to reach many more pupils, create stronger school-based leadership opportunities, and narrow the participation gap between girls and boys.