Local professionals Cara Cook (left), Nicole Koch (centre-left) and Asta Lumsden (right) with Echuca-Moama Athletics president Kate Downward (centre-right) at ‘The Female Athlete’ information session last week. Photos: Jordan Townrow.
Echuca-Moama Athletics presented its ‘The Female Athlete’ session at Moama Bowling Club last week, receiving a positive response from the local sporting community.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The session provided a host of information about female athlete health, with the main topics covered including common injuries, pelvic floor health and menstruation.
Club president Kate Downward wanted to put on the event to better educate EMA athletes, but also felt it appropriate for participants in all sports, including but not limited to netball, football, soccer, tennis and basketball.
“These topics are very important to both young women and not so young women in sport,” she said.
“I had a couple of occasions recently where it became obvious that these conversations need to happen, and not just for one squad or one team, but across our community.
“Athletes, coaches, parents, and team managers should have some awareness about issues that affect women and young women in sport.”
A phone call to Matthew Dobeli at Echuca Moama Physiotherapy put the wheels in motion to organise the event, which led to three local professionals deciding to get involved.
Dietitian Cara Cook, pelvic floor physiotherapist Nicole Koch and physiotherapist Asta Lumsden all spoke to what was a strong attendance of 150 on the night.
Given the importance of the topics discussed, some local teams even made it compulsory for their athletes to go.
“I think people showed by those strong numbers that these are conversations that we should be having in our sporting circles,” Downward said.
There was a strong turnout at Moama Bowling Club.
Cook, Koch and Lumsden sparked specific conversations about injuries women and girls sustain more often than men and nutritional advice for younger athletes, particularly those with intense training regimes.
Regarding common injuries, much existing research has shown that female athletes are far more likely to suffer anterior cruciate ligament injuries than males, with this trend also covered.
“There’s a lot of ligament differences between men and women,” Downward said.
“Asta went into the precautions we can take to prevent these injuries and hopefully some people go away and perhaps change the way they train or add in the things that she suggested.”
Downward was pleased with the response the session received from the community, adding that she’d like to put on a series of similar events moving forward.
The president mentioned the possibility of other topics such as pregnancy and menopause being covered in future, but admitted the sessions would not be too regular given the effort required to organise them.
11°C