Female Athlete Network Event Sunday 12th December 2021
On Sunday 12th December, Strive Sport attended the inaugural Female Athlete Network Event in Geelong.
It was an amazing day filled with excellent informative presenters to share in the discussion about how we can better support female athletes on their sporting journey. Emily Shears, Founder of the Female Athlete Network did a great job in pulling this event together.
The day started with a panel of amazing athletes sharing their perspectives on being female athletes and how the conversation has changed over the last couple of years in regards to their coaches and support network being able to understand what it means in being a female athlete and how training a female athlete is different to training a male athlete. The athletes on the panel were Milly Tapper (Paralympian Silver medallist, Olympian and Paralympian Table Tennis Player), Annabelle Smith (Olympic Bronze Medallist, Triple Olympian and 3 x Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist in diving), Jemima Montag (Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the 20km race walk), and Mel Hickey (former AFLW player and current AFLW Coach).
The moderator asked the athletes what they would say to their 12 year old selves. The athletes message across the board was similar have confidence in your abilities, train hard, knowledge is power, and don't worry about what others think of you. An important message for all young and aspiring athletes to hear.
The keynote speaker was Dr Alice McNamara (Sports and Exercise Medicine Registrar and dual World Champion lightweight rower). Alice shared her journey of being an athlete and how that has motivated her to become the doctor she is today.
Alice is one of the key Doctors involved with the AIS Female Performance and Health Initiative recently established by the Australian Institute of Sport. This initiative was established in October 2019 to improve female athlete specific knowledge and systems of support. To find out more about this initiative click here . This group conducted a study that involved Tokyo Olympians and Paralympians. They surveyed the athletes about their knowledge around the affects of their menstrual cycle affected performance. 16% of female athletes able to name oestrogen and progesterone as the female sex hormones. 18% of female athlete knew what amenorrhoea was. 60% of elite Australian athletes are on hormonal contraception and 60% of elite Australian athletes are affected by their menstrual cycle.
Strive Sport would encourage all athletes, coaches and support staff to check out the resources on the Female Performance Health Network for education modules, fact sheets and stories from athletes about their journeys.
Following the lunch break we were all enthralled by the next line up of guests covering a range of different topics relevant to being a female athlete.
First was Strength and Conditioning Coach Durham McInnis (Core Advantage) Durham provided some great insight into how he trains the female athlete with strength and conditioning compared to the male athlete. Starting with a female athlete’s hips changing the angles of the bones are structurally meaning female team sport athletes are four to eight times more likely to suffer an ACL injury and have significantly elevated risk of most injuries when compared to male athletes. However there are some great strategies that can dramatically change this risk such as learning how to land effectively and learning how to plant your feet in the right direction when running certain drills. Learn more about Core Advantage by clicking here)
Next up was Natalie Kyan a Psychologist from the Maribyrnong Sports Academy. who talked to us about how brains perform under pressure. The brain has one key role to keep us alive so when threatened the brain goes into survival mode, even if we are not actually in immediate danger. Pressure to perform in a competitive environment can be felt as a threat. In high pressure situations we need to learn how to take advantage of the increased blood flow to the brain by having some key strategies that we can utilise for example learning to ground, stay calm and composed. and developing clear direction of focus and capacity to keep coming back to your focus until the job is done. For example you are competing in a running race and keep focusing on what might happen keep bringing yourself back to the process of how you are running. Other strategies to calm the mind iniclude slow controlled breathing, mindful body movement, imagiery and smiling, laughing and playfulness. To find out more about Natalie and the services she offers please click here.
Next we heard from Dr Sachin Khullar APEX Sports Physicians. Sacchin talked about Concussion in Women and whether we need to manage it differently. Structurally women have longer necks putting their heads at greater risk of concussion. Concussion treatment is evolving in terms of the best treatments for it. It needs to be recognised, removed, re-evaluate, rehabilitate, return to sport along with risk reduction strategies. The AFL provides some great resources on concussion management, check out this link here for more information, To find out more about Dr Sachin Khullar and his team at APEX Sports Physicians click here.
Next up was Dr Sam Hoffmann a lecturer and researcher in Applied Exercise and Sport Science at Deakin University. Sam has recently studied female specific sports apparel including the evaluation of body protective garments and the evaluation of sports bra designs. Breast care during exercise is a very important aspect to breaking down one of the barriers to participating in exercise. 72% of women and 44% of elite female athletes report experiencing breast pain during exercise. Doing running without breast support breasts can move on average between 4.2 - 9.9 cm in the vertical direction with as much as 7.7 cm of movement during jumping. The forces through the breasts are higher for those with larger compared to smaller breasts and when completing activities with more torso and breast acceleration such as jumping or horse riding compared to cycling or walking.
Dr Hoffman identified some research that identified the hybrid sports bra that is a combination of the standard sports bra with cups to support the breasts as the most supportive option for those that need more support. Dr Hoffman highlighted some resources from the Australian Institute of Sport as a great place to start for more information via this link.
Dr Hoffman also discussed breast injury prevention where a recent study showed that the Zena Z1 performance vest significantly decreased impact across the upper torso compared to wearing a padded or unpadded sports bra alone. To find out more about the Zena Z1 Performance Vest click here.
Finally we heard from the team at Physio Pod Co, Dr Lauren Earles a Women's Health Physiotherapist and Luke Bertram a Podiatrist. Lauren spoke about the importance of pelvic health and how it impacts more female athletes than what we realise. Having good pelvic floor health is important for all women not just elite athletes. Athletes who experience bladder leakage often find themselves modifying their behaviour such as going to the toiler more frequently before during and after training and drinking less water which can affect performance. We would like to encourage all women that it is ok to seek treatment and this is not something that you need to deal with alone. Your foot flexibility and shoe choice can impact your pelvic floor strength. This is why Lauren and Luke established Physio Pod to collaborate and asses patients together which allows for more accurate diagnosis and treatment plans.
Luke spoke about how most shoes are designed from a male foot mould and how shoe sizes can vary even in different models from the same brand. this is why it is important to fit the shoe to your foot, not your foot to the shoe. Strong and competent feet give you a sound base to be able to perform at your best.
The last session of the day was a panel with four passionate individuals working to make a difference for all female athletes. The panel consisted of Donna Johnson from Zena, Dr Dom Condo (Dietitian), Professor Vinay Rane (Obstetrician and Gynacologist) and Emily Shears (Femlate Athlete Network Founder)
Donna discussed the development of the Zean Z1 Vest, having been a relatively new product to market in the last couple of years after realising there wasn't any other product like it available.
Dom Condo a performance nutrition expert spoke about ensuring athletes have energy through nutrition to perform, and the relationship between diet and sleep.
Professor Vinay spoke about the importance of supporting all women on their health journey and make sure that they have all the information to make informed decisions about their health particularly in regard to taking the contraceptive pill to help manage their menstrual cycles.
Emily Shears spoke about why she started the Female Athlete Network and what she is hoping to be able to achieve with it. Emily started the Female Athlete Network to support all female athletes to feel supported, empowered and educated to be able to have open discussions about their bodies and how to achieve the best performances that they can.
The key take away that I took from the event overall is that "knowledge is power" which was a comment made throughout the day by a range of different presenters. For athletes, coaches and support staff to have better knowledge on how to support female athletes is very powerful and can provide a competitive advantage if everyone involved is willing to let it.
Thank you to Emily Shears for making this wonderful event possible. Thank you to all the wonderful presenters that made their time available on a Sunday to come and talk to us. Please Contact Us at Strive Sport if you would like to know more about the conference or if you would like to know more information about any of the content that has been discussed in this article.
