Puberty is a time of difficult physical and emotional changes. As girls experience everything from a changing body, new social rules to follow to their first period, there can be lots of complex barriers which can affect their enjoyment of football. 

Historically, girls have persistently been less active than boys, with less than half of 11-16 year old girls meeting the CMO guidelines for physical activity. As girls move into their teenage years they are also more likely to refer to themselves as ‘Used to be Sporty’. Women in Sports in depth research brings to life the reasons why, but more importantly, what you can do to prevent girls at your club from being less active. 

Women have the capacity to perform on any day of the cycle. But symptoms might affect their ability to use that capability, with 88% of active women say symptoms make their performance worse with 35% of women saying their symptoms are severe and affect their quality of life.

This workshop is designed to support, players, parents and coaches in gaining a better understanding of how fluctuating hormone levels can impact female players differently depending on what stage of the monthly menstrual cycle they are in and how symptoms associated with different cycle staged may impact their performance. It also explores the actions that players can take to manage their cycle and develop resilience and the importance of female specific sports kit to ensure performance is impacted as little as possible. 

This workshop was recently delivered to LCFC Women's Academy teams, with 100% of their players saying they would recommend the workshop and stated that it gave them a better understanding of the menstrual cycle, the impact it can have on their performance and how they can manage their cycle symptoms.