Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
Menstruation is a normal condition, but each woman reacts differently and it’s usually not a subject easily discussed due to a number of reasons such as sociocultural and religious beliefs.
Some women even find it difficult to discuss the subject with other women and for women in sport, the experience can be a huge challenge to them, especially younger athletes.
While some are not affected by the condition, other athletes have experienced a decline in performance during the time they are menstruating.
But the question is how do athletes and their coaches deal with this condition, especially the young ones.
Some sporting disciplines like water sports are tricky areas for menstruating athletes.
A male karate coach reportedly failed to accept a request by a mother to postpone karate qualifiers by a few days to allow her child to go through her menstrual cycle.
“We were supposed to go to the Region 5 championships and the kids had to compete to choose one to represent the country. My daughter wasn’t feeling well and I informed the coach, but they disregarded that and made her fight in that condition. Obviously because her mental state wasn’t okay due to her condition, she couldn’t make the team. The treatment my child got still haunts me,” the mother said.
Raymond Muchairi, a volleyball coach at Divine Junior School in Chitungwiza, says women in sports and menstruation was a sensitive subject, especially at grassroots sports level.
“I used to coach the Dewure Primary School volleyball team and if you check the age group of those players, they are not free to discuss that subject. School is not that environment where they are free to talk about those issues, they feel like it’s an embarrassing issue, but as a coach you need to have a relationship with your players that makes it easy for them to open up to you. But as a male coach, it’s hard to approach a girl athlete and talk to her about menstruation. That’s the major challenge faced by male coaches,” said Muchairi.
He said some players even choose not to come for training or competitions for fear of spoiling their playing kit.
Nonhlahla Mkumbuzi, a physiotherapist with a PHD in Exercise Science, believes not much research is done on female athletes.
“Not much research is done on female athletes. So what we know is still limited. However, we know that the menstrual cycle does have an effect on performance. Up to 90 percent of female athletes report an effect on their training, but about 90 percent of them do not talk to their coach/ support staff about it. The reasons are varied, but for the most part it’s shame/ embarrassment at broaching the subject.
‘Women’s business’ is still taboo and a subject of shame. That most coaches are male doesn’t help with the embarrassment,” Mkumbuzi told Chronicle Sport.
She said there was need for people to freely talk about the subject, although sociocultural beliefs make it hard to do so.
“It’s not exactly a subject that one can easily broach into. As the (mostly male) coach, he can’t just go up to the athlete and ask about their periods so that he can plan his training schedule. It may be misconstrued as harassment. Similarly, the female athlete may find it difficult to just walk up to the coach and mention their tender breasts (tackling and contact sport may be sore as a result).
So before we can start speaking freely in teams, we need to educate or at least make sports stakeholders aware of the importance of the menstrual cycle in female athletes. After that, it may be easier to start the discussions at personal level,” said Mkumbuzi, who was the Mighty Warriors’ physio at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Online Reporter