{"id":27546,"date":"2024-08-28T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=27546"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:10:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:10:54","slug":"what-can-any-practitioner-do-today-to-support-female-athlete-health-here-are-three-quick-wins-in-a-world-searching-for-solutions","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/what-can-any-practitioner-do-today-to-support-female-athlete-health-here-are-three-quick-wins-in-a-world-searching-for-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"What Can Any Practitioner Do Today to Support Female Athlete Health? Here Are Three Quick Wins in a World Searching for Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 28 Aug 2024 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

What Can Any Practitioner Do Today to Support Female Athlete Health? Here Are Three Quick Wins in a World Searching for Solutions<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Coaching & Development<\/a>, Human Performance<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/what-can-any-practitioner-do-today-to-support-female-athlete-health-here-are-three-quick-wins-in-a-world-searching-for-solutions\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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Ellie Maybury told us it\u2019s a grey area, but her approach points to practical steps that sports scientists can take.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch with additional reporting from Joe Lemire<\/h6>\n
Ellie Maybury, the Founder of the Soccer Herformance consultancy, has spent two decades working as a sports scientist in the women\u2019s game.<\/h6>\n

She cut her teeth at the Football Association and Birmingham City Women in her native England before crossing the Atlantic in 2015 to join US Soccer. She served the federation in several roles and would spend four years as the Head of High Performance for the USWNT between 2019 and 2023.<\/p>\n

In June, she came on the People Behind the Tech<\/em> podcast to discuss the gains made, particularly during her time with the USWNT, but did not attempt to mask the problems that face female players in comparison to their male counterparts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFemale athletes want to be equipped with the information that\u2019s going to help them succeed,\u201d said Maybury, who now works with a multitude of players, coaches, clubs and federations. \u201cQuite honestly, the way in which we can deliver information at the moment is very grey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2018grey\u2019 stems from the male bias in sports science research. Females have tended to be lumped in with males and so there is limited understanding of what female athletes require when it comes to training, preparation and recovery.<\/p>\n

Maybury mitigates the grey on a daily basis and we return to our chat to lift three quick wins for any practitioner in women\u2019s soccer.<\/p>\n

1. Be honest about existing limitations<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are numerous unknowns in female athlete health so it\u2019s better to take control of that narrative. \u201c[Players] want a black and white answer where really a lot of our knowledge and research in this area is still limited,\u201d said Maybury, who stressed the importance of building trust and managing expectations. She may have an answer tomorrow, in six months\u2019 time or she may still be searching in a year. \u201cI\u2019d rather be comfortable saying \u2018hey, I\u2019m going to hold on this. I can\u2019t give you everything you need right now\u2019, than rely on something that maybe has come from a different environment or, deep down, looking at the information, I know isn\u2019t going to give them the most accurate, honest answer\u201d.<\/p>\n

2. Embrace the subjective\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

You may have fewer resources than you like, but don\u2019t dismiss what you\u2019ve long been doing. Subjective data is critical. \u201cIt\u2019s something I will always rely on and have always relied on,\u201d said Maybury while explaining that tech supports were scarce when she first worked at Birmingham in 2007. \u201cAlthough the game has transitioned and technology has transitioned, I really try to hold onto some of those key lessons and experiences I had when we weren\u2019t as fortunate and lucky enough to have technology at our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cOur intention is to know enough about the athlete and their trends so that we can get ahead of any negative effects, whether it\u2019s a bad night\u2019s sleep or whether it\u2019s issues with menstrual cycle symptoms\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maybury\u2019s emphasis on the individual is shared by Richard Burden, the Co-Head of Female Athlete Health & Performance at the UK Sports Institute. At last September\u2019s Leaders Meet: Driving Step-Change in Female High Performance, Burden observed that case studies are undervalued in the hierarchy of evidence<\/a> due to their small sample size. \u201cI don\u2019t care what the mean for the whole group is \u2013 I need to know why athlete X is different from athlete Y,\u201d he told the audience at Manchester\u2019s Etihad Stadium. \u201cCase studies are really impactful for us \u2013 if you can collect case studies then you start to build an evidence base. When trying to understand things like the menstrual cycle, generalised approaches just aren\u2019t going to cut it.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. \u2026 and build a bigger picture of female athlete health<\/strong><\/p>\n

Female athletes have long been overlooked in the tech space. \u201cA lot of the technology we have absorbed into the women\u2019s game has come from the men\u2019s game or from men\u2019s sporting environments,\u201d said Maybury. \u201cMaybe some of the processes and metrics that we use with the associated technology get transferred as well.\u201d That picture has to change, but never stop leaning into your relationships with athletes. \u201cIt really was about those side conversations and those continuing conversations,\u201d said Maybury of her time with the USWNT. \u201cThen [it was] the individual capacity to gauge buy-in and just continue those education messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen to the full conversation with Ellie Maybury below:<\/em><\/p>\n