Supporting female performance in sport and fitness

Do you support women’s performance in sport or fitness as a coach or parent? Are you a female athlete who wants to optimise your performance using recent research insights? If so, then this free course is for you. It addresses the problem of sports science research traditionally being male dominated and the assumption that if it works for men then it must work for women. It allows you to explore specific female physiological and psychological topics such as relationships between the menstrual cycle, breast support, pelvic floor health and physical performance. You will also find out more about how to effectively communicate with female athletes.Watch the following video presented by Emma Ross, winner of the Gamechangers award at the Sunday Times Sports woman of the year event in 2021.Transcript355 This content forms part of the Dangoor Education collection, the educational arm of The Exilarch's Foundation.  Enrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation – which also displays your Open University badge.The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our start-of-course survey. Once you complete the course we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement, in our end-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others. This course is accredited by the CPD Standards Office. It can be used to provide evidence of continuing professional development and on successful completion of the course you will be awarded 24 CPD points. Evidence of your CPD achievement is provided on the free Statement of Participation awarded on completion.Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course is able to do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning of the Statement of Participation.  

• Introduction and guidance
• Introduction and guidance
• What is a badged course?
• How to get a badge
• Acknowledgements
• Session1Session 1: Mind the gap: gender differences in sport science research and its impact on female athletes
• Introduction
• 1 Original gamechangers: still breaking barriers
• 2 It does not have to be this way!
• 3 The default male in sports science research
• 4 Why is the female ‘problematic’ in sports science research?
• 5 Why do we need to study women separately?
• 6 Why is there a post-puberty dropout?
• 7 Females being left out of medical research: another example of male bias?
• 8 This session’s quiz
• 9 Summary of Session 1
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Session2Session 2: Demystifying the menstrual cycle
• Introduction
• 1 Does the menstrual cycle impact on exercising females?
• 2 What do you need to know about the menstrual cycle?
• 3 Women’s experiences of their menstrual cycle
• 4 How does the menstrual cycle impact performance?
• 5 What does the research say?
• 6 How can hormones be used to a female athlete’s advantage in exercise?
• 7 How can tracking cycles help?
• 8 This session’s quiz
• 9 Summary of Session 2
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Session3Session 3: Hormonal contraception: a solution or more challenges?
• Introduction
• 1 How do hormonal contraceptives work?
• 2 Why might athletes take hormonal contraceptives?
• 3 The impact of hormonal contraception on the female and their menstrual cycle
• 4 What does the research say?
• 5 Hormonal contraception or natural cycle? An individual choice
• 6 This session’s quiz
• 7 Summary of Session 3
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements
• Session4Session 4: Pelvic floor muscles: out of sight and often overlooked
• Introduction
• 1 What does pelvic floor dysfunction look like?
• 2 Introducing the pelvic floor and its muscles
• 3 Which muscles are we talking about?
• 4 Athletic performance and pelvic floor dysfunction?
• 5 What does the research on athletes say?
• 6 Strong to the core: training the pelvic floor
• 7 From the pelvic floor to the gym floor
• 8 This session’s quiz
• 9 Summary of Session 4
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Session5Session 5: Breast health and choosing the correct breast support
• Introduction
• 1 Why is breast health important?
• 2 Breast anatomy and natural support
• 3 Breast biomechanics
• 4 The impact of poor breast support on sports performance
• 5 Bras and breast support available
• 6 Getting the right fit
• 7 Case study: Equestrian sports
• 8 Practical recommendations for coaches and athletes
• 9 This session’s quiz
• 10 Summary of Session 5
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Session6Session 6: Injuries and the female athlete
• Introduction
• 1 Female athletes and their susceptibility to specific injuries
• 2 Why are there so many ACL injuries in female sport?
• 3 What can be done to protect female athletes against ACL injuries?
• 4 Reducing injuries among female athletes
• 5 Sport concussions and the female athlete
• 6 Why do females fare worse from sport concussions?
• 7 This session’s quiz
• 8 Summary of Session 6
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Session7Session 7: Low energy intake and missed periods: the risks
• Introduction
• 1 Medals or menstruation? What the athletes say
• 2 What is the problem?
• 3 The period is a vital sign of health
• 4 The impact of RED-S on performance
• 5 Warning signs of RED-S
• 6 Preventing RED-S in female athletes
• 7 The importance of carbohydrates to female athletes
• 8 Managing athletes and active females experiencing RED-S
• 9 This session’s quiz
• 10 Summary of Session 7
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Session8Session 8: Effective support of female athletes
• Introduction
• 1 ‘Females are just emotional!’
• 2 Do female athletes prefer certain styles of coaching?
• 3 What do female athletes want from their coach?
• 4 What does research say about the psychology of the female athlete?
• 5 Final thoughts on coaching female athletes
• 6 Key learning points from the course
• 7 This session’s quiz
• 8 Summary of Session 8
• Where next?
• Tell us what you think
• References
• Acknowledgements