THE perennial fight to get teenage girls interested in sport and fitness got a boost last week when more than 100 girls from local secondary schools attended a course at Bath University.

It was the culmination of five months of a lifestyle course being offered by the Mid-Wilts School Sports Partnership, based at Devizes School sports college.

The selected girls, from year 10 at schools in Devizes, Chippenham, Calne and Market Lavington, were able to choose from courses in beauty therapy, squash, badminton, fencing, yoga, Pilates, kick boxing and rock climbing.

It culminated in the Lifestyle Girls conference at Bath University on June 13.

Many of the 117 girls from the area who attended were knocked out by the variety of activities on offer.

Alison Izatt, from Devizes, said: "It was a fantastic day.

"I was particularly excited about judo and, in fact, I will now be joining Devizes Judo Club.

"We also did yoga and we laughed a lot at that. You had to get into so many peculiar positions."

Beauty therapy was also popular with most girls. Alison had never applied make-up before the course.

She said: "They started from basics - looking after your skin, moisturising and so forth and choosing the right colours for you."

As a result of the dietary advice on the course Alison has also decided to become a vegetarian.

She added: "Teenage girls have got so many pressures on them to think about make-up and boys, it's not surprising that they let things go as far as PE and sport is concerned.

"I chose to do PE at GCSE and even I got fed up with it. But the course has fired my enthusiasm all over again."

Clair Bradford, from Potterne, said: "I can't believe how much confidence I've got since I did the course.

"It was so worth doing, especially the team building exercises.

"It was great to work with a group of girls on the same exercise."

At Bath University, the girls were addressed by England women's rugby player Danielle Waterman who said: "It's all about getting off your backsides and doing something with your lives."

Hannah Fraser, a teenager from Chippenham's Sheldon School, was another to be fired up about self-improvement after the course.

She said: "We all had a brilliant day and I think this has given us a real insight into how we can exercise daily and what sport we might consider to take up in the future."

Devizes School sports teacher Sharon Smith thanked local companies such as Roses the Ironmongers, Devizes Motor Panels and Sarah's costume hire in Sidmouth Street for their support.