Reclaiming Physical Space: Co-producing Active Futures with Digitally Isolated and Marginalised Youth

Physical activity offers significant physical, social, emotional and psychological benefits for young people (Eime et al., 2013; Kemel, Porter & Coombs, 2022). Regular participation is associated with improved mental health, increased confidence and self-esteem, stronger social relationships, and improved long-term health outcomes (Bengtsson et al., 2025; Li et al., 2024; Sin et al., 2023). Research consistently demonstrates, however, that transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) young people participate in sport and physical activity at lower rates than their cisgender peers despite often reporting similar levels of motivation and interest in being active. This disparity reflects not a lack of desire to participate, but rather the existence of multiple barriers that make participation difficult or inaccessible.

Existing evidence highlights a range of structural, social and individual barriers affecting TGD young people's participation. Structural barriers include gender-segregated facilities, binary sport categories, gendered uniforms, and limited access to private changing spaces. Social barriers include bullying, exclusion, discrimination, harassment, and concerns about being judged by peers and adults. Individual experiences often include dysphoria, body dissatisfaction, anxiety, and fears about safety and belonging. Importantly, these barriers are not inherent to trans and gender-diverse young people but emerge from environments and systems that have historically been designed around cisheteronormative assumptions.

This toolkit was developed through the ESRC Impact Acceleration Award Project Reclaiming Physical Space: Co-Producing Active Futures with Trans and Gender-Diverse Young People at Coventry University. Across a series of workshops with trans and gender-diverse young people from youth organisations across the West Midlands, participants engaged with dance, basketball, yoga, mindfulness, fitness activities, talking circles, body-mapping exercises, creative reflection activities, and collaborative design tasks. Young people were invited to reflect on their experiences of movement and imagine what more inclusive activity environments might look like.