Breaking barriers at 60: How walking football helped Wendy reclaim her health and happiness
Sixty-year-old Wendy from Birmingham hasn't looked back since discovering walking football in her 50s. During a dark time in her life, the game provided much more than just exercise – it gave her a lifeline.
“In 2021, I had the worst year of my life,” recalls Wendy. “We were in and out of lockdown, my father lost his life to Covid, and my long-term partner left me unexpectedly.”
“I had no support system,” shares Wendy. “My mental health totally plummeted. I was depressed and broken.”
“My relationship with movement also changed at this time,” she says.
“I was once an avid runner, but a back injury put a stop to that” Wendy recalls. “As you get older, your body also goes through so many changes. You can’t do what you used to.”
Wendy is not alone in navigating a new relationship with movement as her body ages. As part of recent This Girl Can research, over three in five (62%) women aged 55-74 on lower incomes said they find certain movements more difficult.
“My generation's relationship with movement is overshadowed by the fact that girls were never encouraged to be into sport,” shares Wendy.
“I always wanted to play football as a girl, but I wasn’t allowed,” Wendy remembers.
In fact, women on lower incomes over the age of 55 years old are more likely to feel like they don’t belong in the world of physical activity at all compared to younger women, This Girl Can research has shown.
Wendy refused to believe she was ‘past it’, so took charge of her mental health and made a change.
“I joined a walking football group and, six years later, I haven’t looked back,” Wendy says. “It saved me during a really dark time.”
“The group of amazing women I’ve met became a support network when I desperately needed it. They held me together,” shares Wendy.
“Funnily enough, it also helped my back, so I am a lot more mobile,” Wendy says.
“Don’t be fooled by ‘walking’ – it’s not a slow game! it’s much more intense than people think,” Wendy explains. “I love it.”
“I managed to find a way to get active that’s fun and doesn’t feel like exercise in my 50s, and other women can too,” Wendy says. “
“Walking football is my second home - I still want to be playing when I’m 80. Why shouldn’t I?,” she concludes.
Wendy appears with her walking football team in This Girl Can’s new campaign – We Like the Way You Move – which re-writes the narrative of what getting active should look like and who it’s for, celebrating women like Wendy as they move through life in their own way.
The wider campaign is working to ensure all women feel they belong in the world of sport and physical activity. This comes after research finding women from underrepresented backgrounds are less likely to be active. In particular women from lower social economic backgrounds and those who, additionally, are South Asian Muslim, Black, 55-74 years old, pregnant or with a child under one-year-old.
To find out more, visit: To find out more, visit https://www.thisgirlcan.co.uk/move.