“Women are not small men” is the message netballer-turned-coach Elissa Kent is trying to instil in her team of young professional female athletes.
Key points:
- The Australian Institute of Sport is raising awareness of women’s health and elite female performance
- Resources will be made available for coaches, athletes and the parents of young competitors
- Initially, the focus will be on the menstrual cycle, then other issues affecting top athletes
In the early stages of her career, training around her menstrual cycle and dealing with hormones wasn’t something widely talked about, even among her teammates.
“I played centre so I was a running machine, and all of sudden I was a late bloomer and I got hit with hormones and I put on about 10 kilograms in one year,” she said.
“It really did derail my netball for some time, until it all settled down a few years later.”
The former Queensland Firebird and Melbourne Vixens player now balances being a mother of three and coaching the Melbourne University Lightning.
She has just been enlisted by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) to help develop more education and resources about women’s health and elite female performance.
Learning about female physiology
Dr Rachel Harris is spearheading the project, drawing on her experience as the Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Paralympic Team and Australian Water Polo Team.
Adding to her credentials is her experience as an elite swimmer representing Australia at the Sydney Olympic Games.
“[The conversation] certainly has changed a bit from 20 years ago, but we’re not there yet, we still need to improve,” Dr Harris said.
“We certainly don’t want to go around and repeat all of the studies that have ever been done in male athletes, but there’s unique parts about our, the female physiology, that are really important to learn about.”
While the project is still in its infancy, Dr Harris said the main aim would be to educate, provide additional research and break down communication barriers around women’s health in elite sport.
The AIS is already in talks to collaborate with international bodies and support further research into how to best utilise female physiology in performance.
“I think we really just need to do normalise the conversation around being female athletes and, you know, the unique health and performance issues that we have,” Dr Harris said.
Periods and performance
Coach Elissa Kent was recently part of the focus group of elite female athletes that the AIS brought together to discuss ways in which the system was failing.
Ms Kent said she drew on her experience as both an athlete and a mother, and also what she’s observed among the players she’s currently coaching.
“I have a few different athletes that have endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and that can really affect the way that they recover and train,” she said.
While the main education resources for coaches, athletes and parents of young female competitors won’t be available until March 2021, Dr Harris said it was important to start the conversation around women’s health as soon as possible.
The AIS has begun providing initial information about the project on its website.
“We really wanted to have a place that athletes and their parents, their coaches and people within the system could go to,” Dr Harris said.
“Talk about it, open up the communication, get people to understand that you can perform really well if you’re on your period.
While the focus of the project initially will be the menstrual cycle, the AIS said it would also investigate medical conditions impacting female athletes.
These include endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), as well as concerns affecting athletes during pregnancy and mothers returning to elite sport.
