Two top Kiwi runners are leading the way to help other athletes train to their menstrual cycles, with NZ sports starting to get on board to better understand female health. Kristy Havill writes.
Every day, female athletes around the globe are navigating the trials and tribulations of trying to train, perform and achieve results while on their period.
Lydia O’Donnell knows all too well the juggle - and the struggle - is real.
The 32-year-old long distance Kiwi runner hasn’t shied away from sharing her own journey with her menstrual cycle. From being told she wasn’t training hard enough unless she stopped getting her periods, to then suffering from relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) – which LockerRoom has spoken to many athletes about.
O’Donnell had her stomach grabbed by a coach, sending her into a spiral of mental illness and eating disorders, as a result of the pressures on her to train harder and weigh less, and her menstrual cycle was ultimately sacrificed in the process.
Now, O’Donnell and her best friend and fellow New Zealand middle distance runner Esther Keown - with help from leading medical professionals - are educating sports organisations, coaches and trainers that menstrual cycles and periods aren’t to be feared, but harnessed.
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They’ve just launched Femmi Theory – online courses on how to work with female athletes according to their unique physiology. The big ambition is for it to not only become commonplace in high performance sport, but for it to become a necessary accreditation for any coaches or trainers to be able to work with women.
With the importance of female athlete wellbeing finally being recognised, some national sports organisations in New Zealand are now taking part in the course. And O’Donnell wants to take it worldwide.
Let’s not go all squeamish here and skirt around it – periods are a part of life.
For female athletes, it’s something else to think about when they should be putting all of their focus into their performances. In fact, it’s not even something else, but many things.
Will their sanitary supplies fail them - and teammates, coaches and spectators will be able to witness it? Will they feel 100 percent physically when they need to most? Will their period arrive in the middle of a key event or a career-defining match?
Wanting to build a safe environment for women to belong to a community and feel empowered, O’Donnell and Keown founded their business, Femmi, as a place for such conversations and solutions to be found – as well as providing tailored running coaching to athletes’ menstrual cycles.
When LockerRoom caught up with O’Donnell late in 2021, she wanted Femmi to also address the source of the problem: lack of education and accessible information.
Now Femmi Theory is live and ready to be shared far and wide.
It’s a purely online course, and can be worked through in the user’s own time. The full course, with its comprehensive information, takes at least seven hours.
“It’s been a long time coming,” O’Donnell says. “We were about 12 months behind and didn’t make the course live until October 2022, because we didn’t understand how much work or time it would take to create something valuable enough and give women the credit they deserve to be spoken about, and to educate others.”
The course is broken down into two halves: the physiological (Femmi Enrichment) and the psychological (Femmi Empowerment) elements. O’Donnell and Keown present the modules with four other women leaders in their respective fields – endocrinologist Dr Izzy Smith, dietician Sara Widdowson, physiotherapist Grace Coombs and psychologist Lilli Burdon.
Femmi Enrichment zeroes in on understanding the different female hormones and phases of the menstrual cycle, including what causes RED-S, polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis.
Not only is there a huge emphasis on education, but the course also delves into putting all of the information and knowledge into practise, particularly in Femmi Empowerment. A strong picture can be built of how to train to the menstrual cycle, different tools for communicating with female athletes, and helping them build their confidence and identity.
No stone is left unturned, making it invaluable for anyone who may have a role in a female athlete’s life - from parents to teachers, coaches and trainers.
By addressing key topics such as menopause, contraception and during and after pregnancy, the course is relevant for all females who enjoy exercising - regardless of whether they’re performance athletes, and what stage of their life they are in.
O’Donnell says the presenters won’t put out information that hasn’t been proven.
“There’s a lot of physiologists and research scientists doing their own research and putting it out there, which is awesome and we need that,” she says. “But a lot of it hasn’t been proven enough to be validated, so we lean on our experts, particularly Dr Izzy. She’s always researching other people’s research to understand it and prove it’s correct.”
In terms of sports, O’Donnell know menstrual health is a huge area that’s more often than not being ignored and change needs to be made.
Recently Ireland Rugby confirmed they will change the colour of the shorts worn by their women’s teams - from white to navy - to help alleviate players’ concerns. Unfortunately, the change won’t come into effect until next season due to production backlogs.
England’s female cricketers also set up a women’s health group during Covid, while rumours abound the European champion Lionesses football team could be changing their traditional white kit ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup later this year.
As pleasing as it is to see these decisions and initiatives being made at the top level, it can’t be ignored the larger struggle lies at the grassroots. As young girls navigate their way through their teens, they’re at their most vulnerable to drop out of sport and decrease their level of physical activity.
The research is there to prove it, so the Femmi team know how important their course could be to improving coaches and trainers understanding, which in turn enhances the positivity of experiences for female athletes.
Femmi are now working with some national sporting organisations in New Zealand, incorporating Femmi Theory into the education of their coaches and support staff, and the treatment of their athletes.
“A lot of them have been really encouraging about it,” O’Donnell shares.
“We’ve had comments along the lines of ‘we’ve been trying to do this for five years and haven’t been able to’ and ‘this is so needed’. So the fact we’ve created something they’ve been wanting to do for a long time will be a much easier way for them to get it done.
“They also know the importance to their own sport of keeping girls playing sport. We’ve put a few NSOs through the pilot course, and some are going through the full course at the moment.”
O’Donnell has also talked to Sport New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand to bring Femmi Theory onto their radar.
She’s also working on bringing schools into the frame to foster a positive and empowering environment for girls as early as possible.
“That’s a really exciting space for us,” O’Donnell says. “We’re working on how we can make it most accessible for teachers. We need to figure out the legalities around it, but the number of people who’ve said this information needs to be in schools is encouraging.”
Every journey starts with a first step, and already some big strides are now being taken.
Femmi Theory is now an additional learning option for any personal trainers in New Zealand working to become more highly qualified, while Nike shop staff throughout Australia have completed the course to ensure they’re best equipped to assist female customers.
O’Donnell credits New Zealand being a step ahead and more receptive to fundamental change in female athlete health. Australia also receive plaudits for being progressive, but she concedes breaking into the more conservative US and UK markets could be tricky.
“I’ve interviewed a few American athletes, and they didn’t even know that throughout your menstrual cycle your hormones are changing,” O’Donnell says.
“They’ve never heard of RED-S, so it just shows how much that information is needed over there.”
Femmi’s dream to push on and reach more women and girls received a boost, when O’Donnell and Keown were among 12 successful applicants from over 300 to participate in StartMate – the biggest accelerator program for business startups in Australia and New Zealand.
“It was an amazing experience, and we were mentored throughout the entire 12 weeks,” O’Donnell recalls.
“We’re off on our own now, but when you get accepted into StartMate, they also invest in the company. Esther and I are so excited to grow the Femmi movement, to be able to connect with women and girls from all around the world to celebrate our bodies.
“We’re currently talking to tens of thousands across Australia and New Zealand at the moment, but if we can reach millions around the world and push this education across the globe that’s our big goal.”
It’s been a turbulent few years in sports administration in New Zealand with reviews of culture in different sports. At long last, how athletes are being treated and supported is becoming front of mind.
Change is on the horizon with O’Donnell and Keown, athletes who’ve experienced the worst treatment, now seizing the initiative and advocating for other wāhine.
