Jane Welch, a single mother with children aged 10, 8 and 7, recently resumed playing netball, which she had stopped when she left university.

Despite working full-time, running a stationery company, she manages to play twice a week but it is an expensive exercise in time management.

“It costs me about £200 a year to play in a team and then there is babysitting at £20 an evening so it’s tough,” she said. “I make sure I can afford it but for other women it’s not an option. The mums I know do not play sport but many would die to get back into netball or hockey.”

Ms Welch, 39, of Acton, West London, thinks that more women would keep fit if the costs of childcare were covered as part of the activity and believes sport should be brought to women rather than the other way round.

“Who really likes going to the gym? I don’t have the time to go and I even get free membership as part of my role as a swimming coach.

“The question is how do you get mums to have a go at sport, especially team sports,” she said. “Most have a fear that they are no longer good enough or fit enough but they just need the opportunity to try it.”

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