THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT
Galway company aims to make it easier for athletes to talk about menstrual cycles
LYDIA Ko has always been a trailblazer. The youngest golfer to reach the top of the world rankings when she became number one, three months before her 18th birthday, she was also the youngest player to ever win an LPGA event at 15 and to win a Major when she claimed the Evian Championship at 18.
Little wonder that the New Zealander has been included in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people and named one of the world’s most impactful athletes by ESPN. She has amassed almost $13million in prize money since turning professional in her mid-teens.
For all her achievements, it was her candour in an interview last week that may prove to be her most influential moment.
When golf channel commentator Jerry Foltz wondered if she was carrying an injury because of tightness in her back and hips, Ko simply explained that she had her period.
‘I hope not,’ said the world no. 3. ‘It’s that time of the month. I know the ladies watching are probably like “yeah, I got you”. When that happens, my back gets really tight, and I’m all twisted.’
Foltz floundered, searching for a suitable response.
Ko lightened the mood, laughing off the awkwardness, ‘I know you are at a loss for words, Jerry. Honestly it is.’
Ko has been widely lauded for normalising the impact that menstruation has on female athletes.
Foltz’s slight embarrassment aside, there is no reason why the subject shouldn’t be out in the open. One of the world’s best golfers starting the conversation should encourage others to talk
“I was never asked about my period”
about it. And it is something that needs to be talked about more.
Too many young female athletes aren’t aware of the effect that menstruation can have – and the tendency to get injured at different times of the cycle.
Republic of Ireland national team manager Vera Pauw has spoken before about what she has observed during more than 30 years coaching soccer and how players are more susceptible to ACL injuries, in particular, at a certain point of their cycle.
Galway company Actimet, who have developed a wellness app for sportspeople, are hoping to play their part in starting the conversation because they have created a tool that allows female athletes to track their menstrual cycle and which allows a private and secure connection between athlete and coach.
The company was co-founded by Lukasz Kirszenstein, the Polish strength & conditioning coach famed for his work with Galway’s All-Ireland winning hurlers in 2017.
Kirszenstein also worked with the Irish rugby team when they won the Grand Slam in 2014 and it was while working there that he got the idea for this tool.
‘There are a lot of male coaches in women’s sport,’ says Rory McGuaran, co-founder alongside Kirszenstein. ‘And typically, men are awkward or even embarrassed when they are talking about periods and menstrual cycle. So, hopefully this can help raise awareness and maybe start the conversation a little bit.’
Galway camogie star Catriona Cormican feels that the conversation needs to be normalised in women’s sport.
‘I have been playing camogie a long time and I don’t remember ever being asked by a coach about my period or how it was making me feel,’ she says.
Cormican is also a GP, so she knows from her professional life that women can keep it to themselves if they are suffering during their periods.
‘We need to normalise the conversation, not just in sport, because it is a natural thing. It is great that this tool is here as part of the app, especially for younger players, who might be a little more reluctant to talk if they were having issues. The conversation just needs to be normalised in dressing-rooms, so there is no nervousness around it.’
A global survey of over 14,000 female athletes conducted by St Mary’s University in Twickenham a couple of years ago revealed that 74% of athletes believed their menstrual cycle negatively impacted their performance and that 82% of athletes in Ireland and the UK had never discussed their cycle with their coach.
Cormican feels things are slowly changing over the past couple of years and there is more of a conversation happening.
And a tool such as the one developed by Actimet will educate both the coach and the player, and allow them to tailor training accordingly.
Research is currently being conducted into the increased risk of ACL injury in athletes, just prior to ovulation because muscles will be reacting differently at this time in the cycle.
And the more research that is done, the more prepared that athletes and teams will become.
The Actimet team worked with Sinéad Bradbury, who did a masters thesis on the experience of female GAA players during menstruation. She had interviewed 150 senior inter-county camogie and Ladies Football players.
And her results helped to design the component in the Actimet app. In time, maybe more female athletes can be like Lydia Ko and just be honest in interviews. Let the world know that it is their time of the month and that’s why they have been playing poorly. It is all about normalising the conversation about something which is, in fact, completely normal.
‘And if we can normalise the conversation in sport, it will help to normalise it in wider society,’ Cormican feels.
‘I have patients come into me, older patients who have been struggling with their periods for years and they have never talked about it with anyone and just thought it was the way it was.
‘So, something like this goes some way to normalising it, and it has the added benefit of raising awareness and educating players too,’ she says.
Actimet is currently being used by around 50 teams at club and county level in camogie and Ladies’ football as well as rowing, basketball, soccer and rugby.
But as the conversation becomes more regular, more female athletes will be encouraged to pay attention to their menstrual cycle.
And their sporting careers may benefit in the long run.