The Female Athlete Health Report w/ Kyniska Advocacy

The health of female athletes is often overlooked or underrepresented in sporting organizations across the world. This is one of the reasons why Mhairi Maclennon and Kate Sealy founded Kyniska Advocacy – to educate, advocate, and provide support for female athletes. In cooperation with Project RED-S, they recently released the Female Athletes Health Report, which will form the basis of many recommendations in women’s sports.

Key Takeaways

Recommendations from the Female Athlete Health Report

1. Mandatory female health training within all sports organizations

2. A toolkit for athletes to have information early

3. Support network about RED-S and female athlete health

4. Equipping medical professionals with the information they need about RED-S

About Kyniska Advocacy

Kyniska Advocacy advocates for progressive policies in women’s sports, enacting change one campaign at a time. They want to instill an equitable sporting culture from grassroots clubs to the Olympic games and everything in between.

Their vision is to create a sporting community that fosters a safe environment and has the protection of women at its heart. To develop sport, where decisions are made with women in mind, by people who understand us, and where women have a seat at the table. And to build a world where men’s sport isn’t the default standard for women's sport. 

Kyniska Advocacy is fighting for equity in sports, and sports tailored to different needs.

They work through three principal pillars; educate, advocate, and support. They educate via webinars, resources, and campaigns. They advocate by working with parliamentarians and sports governing bodies to shape policies and procedures to better protect, respect and celebrate women and girls in sports. And they support through our athlete support service, our athlete blog & using our platform to give women in sports a voice.

Policy Change for Female Athletes

Kyniska Advocacy Co-Founders Mhairi Maclennan and Kate Seary join the conversation today to talk about their initiative and why they co-sponsored the Female Athlete Health Report with Project RED-S. They build their foundation because of the lack of responsibility within UK sports organizations for the abuse and overall health of female athletes. 

Mhairi and Kate share some of the challenges they’ve experienced around any policy change for women’s sports. While they experience resistance across the board, more and more athletes find their voices powerful and can enact change.

The Female Athlete Health Report

Understanding female athlete health is pivotal to the work of Kyniska Advocacy. They partnered with Project RED-S for the Female Athlete Health Report, where 800 female athletes filled out the survey. They focused on details such as RED-S, eating habits, and how female athletes view themselves and their bodies. 

One common theme across the board is how a female athlete’s body image can drastically impact their performance. The other big issue is RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport), which impacts the menstrual cycle.

Do you feel supported as a female athlete? What are your support systems? Share your thoughts and experiences with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• What inspired the creation of Kyniska Advocacy [5:00]
  
• Some of the UK sporting challenges affecting policy change [8:15]
  
• How the procedures and policies differ from sport to sport [15:15]
  
• Why Kyniska Advocacy partnered on the Female Athlete Health Report [22:00]
  
• How your body image can impact your athletic performance [25:00]
  
• The different challenges elite athletes face [32:30]
  
• The correlation between the menstrual cycle and RED-S [39:00]
  
• What is next for Kyniska Advocacy [48:30]

Quotes

“It’s across the board. I think everyone responds in the same way to abuse in sport: they think it’s terrible. But it’s actually getting to the root cause of abuse that people start [to hesitate]. The issue we come across with coaches is a lack of support from their governing bodies, so they’re not informed of safeguarding and welfare, so when they are, they become defensive.” [11:07]

“We want an independent body that the big cases get sent to so that we know that there is consistency across all sports. It’s independent, so it’s more transparent and trustworthy.” [16:53]

“I think because there are these different moving parts and because sport has been independently operated, there has been a reluctance from the government to step in, but I think that in order for us to make real change, and for sports to have one unifying structure, it is necessary.” [20:42]

“Because sport is so performance-focused and success-driven, we don’t prioritize thinking holistically about eating and body image, and they fall by the wayside. We think our bodies are machines because that’s what we’re told.” [26:16]

“We have this belief that there’s an athlete in every body. If you move you’re body, you’re an athlete.” [32:31]

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