The Promoting Period Dignity in Sport eLearning course will address menstrual health in the world of sports. The hour long course aims to support you in your role to ensure the people you work with in your sport can perform with confidence and without worry.
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Hey thank you so welcome everybody to the round table discussion today on how to promote perod dignity in sport I’m Georgia and I’m going to be hosting the event today I’m a former snowall cross athlete and I have quite a few years of experience in trying to get more women
Into outdoor sports but we have an amazing panel of guest speakers today so I’m G to throw to the speakers individually if you can give us a little bit more information about your career and background we’ll start with Chalo Quint which she is author presenter she’s activist and founder of period
Positive and author of the books own your own period and be period positive chla if you can kick us off with some of your background hello well let’s see so I became a Drama teacher because my parents were frightened of me getting injured in sport um so I’m really
Excited that this panel is happening I was I was a very late bloomer and then uh I was suddenly shot up to the dizzying height of 5 foot two but um my parents were really worried because all the other kids got bigger than me and I still love playing football and I I’m
Just practic it was really exciting that we found a sport I could play uh I ended up in goal and I kind of excelled at that and that was pretty much it but I was I enjoyed it a lot and then my parents started getting a bit worried
About all the other girls in the Saturday League just being a foot taller than me suddenly uh and they signed me up for drama classes and I really was excited about this I thought improv this will be fun um so I don’t know I might have been a footballer uh if if this
Hadn’t happened but in the end I ended up teaching drama uh doing a lot of uh health education issues through drama finding out that kids responded really well to to stigmatize topics using drama and the Arts and ended up revamping our school’s period education curriculum with the help of the young people and
That has sort of blossomed into the period positive campaign we did a lot of AD busting at first in my school holidays and it’s become the period positivity movement uh young people marginalized communities all working together to try and ensure that when we talk about periods we talk about
Everyone and everything and don’t leave anyone out love it amazing thank you H then we have Helen Ward former professional footballer and Ambassador at FW hi everyone yeah so I’m a recently retired footballer I retired last summer from both International and domestic foot football played for Wales for over
15 years managed to get over 100 caps as well so very special time um and then I finished my career playing for Watford where I’m now also the general manager as well as being an faw ambassador thank you Helen and then tan Martin which is head of insight and Innovation at women in
Sport good afternoon everybody lovely to be here yep as um Georgia just said I’m the head of ins Innovation at charity called women in sport we were founded around 40 years ago um essentially our mission is to drive gender equality within the sports sector and Beyond to
Make sure that all women and girls can benefit from the lifelong benefits of sport because we know that doesn’t always happen unfortunately um so my responsibility within the charity is to really head up all of our insight and Innovation so our research um around women and girls lives and their
Relationships with SP on exercise um and how we can create a better environment for them to be able to you know engage in sport and phys activ and the way that kind of works for them and thinking about what that Insight means in Practical terms so translating into
Solutions and ideas and initiatives um that can support women and girls to be more active and particularly around this topic I would say in terms of um periods and period dignity we’ve done a huge amount of work with teenage girls over the past four or five years really
Trying to explore in- depth the impact that puberty has um and obviously all of the changes that come with that and obviously period is a very big part of that so it’s an area we are really incredibly passionate about in terms of supporting girls to be able to manage
That time within their lives and making sure that sport is set up in a way for them to be able to do that brilliant thank you then we have priia chande Global brand director at wuka hi everyone an absolute pleasure to be here um so I I’m from wuka wer is um
The reusable period underwear brand for those of you that don’t know uh W stands for wake up kickass if anyone didn’t know and that’s because we believe that um anyone with a period should be able to wake up and kick ass uh to to the best of their ability on their periods
And they should not hold them back and I think that that is nowhere more relevant and appropriate than in the world of sport which is why I guess I’m here today uh to advocate for that uh we launched in 2017 uh as the first brand to completely replace the need for pads
And tampons so with a very sustainable and Eco kind of mission but along the way with our wake up kickass spirit it’s always been um with a view to also smash stigma and break the taboos surround um periods and all other aspects of menstruation for women and girls
Throughout all stages and uh ages um as they navigate life so such a pleasure to be here today especially because we’ve done a lot of work in the last five years within the area of sport have some fantastic Partners in Wales uh Watford FC Scottish gymnastics I can see some
Familiar faces on this call um which is a real pleasure so I can’t wait to bring some of that insight to the table today and share it with other people on the call to give you some hopefully some inspiration on how how you can also become period positive um places of work
And and places for sport um so yeah excited thanks for having me brilliant thank you and what a name for love it then we have bethan willly National women and girls participation manager Ates hi everyone uh great to be on the call with you this afternoon um like
Georgia said my role at the FW is National women and girls participation manager I’ve been in that role now um for almost three years and have been involved in football um throughout kind of My Life um so played at a a high Youth Level and then went to University
And um upon going to University really un started to understand the the struggles and the barriers that that females face in football more specifically um so switched my focus at that age to um ensuring that more girls and more women had an opportunity through football no matter which path
They wanted to go down um so worked in in England for a time for a period of seven years and moved across to Wales back to my home country um a few years ago um where really now we’re starting to look at breaking the stigma around um periods and providing opportunities and
Comfortable environments for women and girls of all ages um within any aspect of football brilliant thank you wow what a panel I’m very ex excited about this discussion so before we delve into it just to let everybody know that the session is going to be recorded so there
Will be a link available if you then want to re access the session or if you want to share it with anybody who you think could benefit from it and if you have any questions at all just pop them in the chat and we’ll try go through in
Them go through them at the end in the Q&A session so we’ll start off with a little poll which should be launched on your screen hopefully you’ll be able to see that we well people up that on there now and it’s with regards to period poverty so what percentage of the
World’s population do you think does not have access to feminine hygiene products do you think it’s 5% 12.5% or 25% I’ll just give you a few seconds to fill that in okay wow yeah 25% and that is the correct answer which is a stagger in over 5 100 million people that would be
Which is a really sad result um and that is one in 10 people who menstrate have been unable to afford sanitary product uh according to plan International UK in 2017 which is a really sad result and I mean period poverty is still very much uh a big thing now though we are seeing
Products being more made available to places like schools often see them in places like libraries museums but I want to know if this is the same for Sports Club so I’ll come to you bethan and Helen now to see if if this is something that we are seeing in the sports clubs and
Organizations yeah it’s it’s definitely it’s getting better um we’re definitely not in a position where all clubs are providing products currently and but we’re definitely on the road to achieving that we we offer an initiative called environments for her the faw which really focuses on a whole host of
Different aspect ects in terms of ensuring that we have a female friendly environment at our clubs and in our spaces facilities um and within that we also talk around providing period products um how we can potentially um include them in our kit bags I know a
Lot of our leagues well as well have joined the the journey in terms of becoming period positive and and ensuring that they are offering clubs um access to to free products as well and but likewise as well we start looking at the professional game I know swansea.ma have just become a a period
Positive partner as well in terms of offering and female fans the opportunity to access Sanitary products as well so we’re definitely on on the right path we’re on the right journey and there’s a lot of Education I feel that is is needed as well in that space a lot of
Our coaches in football are male and don’t have the same lift experiences as well so we we’re on an education Journey at the moment but we’re we’re definitely making strides in that area yeah same for same for me I’m obviously I’m heavily involved at Watford and as a club I know that the
Stadium and the training ground there are period products in in all the bathrooms or toilet spaces um and then for our players as well we we have a sort of a a box of stuff that goes into the changing room um you know probably not so much the poverty side of it but
You know what female players are like they forget things all the time but just to know that if they if they can’t get hold of anything they will have it in in the sort of kit bag if they if if you like that that comes with us to home and
Away game so as a club it’s been something I think that they’ve been doing for quite a few years now um which is great I’m being a fan myself as well as working for the club it’s always nice when you do go into the toilets at the stadium that there’s things available
And as a staff member at the training ground um all the female toilets also have have products readily available and they’re they’re restocked on a regular basis as well which is which is obviously you know you never know some places it’s good to start it but actually keeping up with it is another
Thing but you know from from our point of view I’m I’m proud to be part of a club that definitely does that brilliant and that is great to hear to be honest I was just thinking I take my she’s only three but to the local Rugby Club it’s a really small Rugby
Club but actually I recently saw that in the bathroom they have got you know boxes of it and it is just s of raising awareness and not being afraid you know to offer all these products really in the bathrooms for young girls what do you think should be included Ed in
Sports clubs and organizations bathrooms to make them more period friendly uh priia Chella with like your background what should we be seeing more of do you think sure I mean I can I can jump in Chell if that’s all right first I think um are you so um so I’m glad the the
Guys in Wales and at Watford are seeing communication because we at wer have worked hard with those clubs to make sure that that comes is all up and available I think there’s a few things and it’s echoing um what bethan kind of started with which is none of this can
Really move forward if we don’t educate and if we don’t communicate effectively um with pride about what periods are and without the euphemism euphemisms and without the blue liquids and really just call these things out for what they are but also important with that is the allyship and taking the others who don’t
Have periods and that lived experience on that Journey with you um we know that the sports industry is male dominated and so therefore there is a journey to go on in order to sort of educate those male members of teams of clubs of Staff you know any any of of parents of
Children you know whoever that husbands whoever it might be partners to to Really educate them so that they’re also along along the journey with you so I think there’s an element of you can put products everywhere but ultimately if the education and the training is not
There then the products will will end up being kind of just sort of more product for the sake of being you know being there I think it’s interesting sometimes we we hear about um advocates for period positive workplaces or Sports places feeling like they can’t get approval on
How to sign off budgets for free period products to be put into toilets and I always say well sometimes it’s often a case of just making the the the comparison really obvious you wouldn’t not provide toilet paper for free so maybe go to the budget holder and ask
Them well if you don’t you wouldn’t not give toilet paper for free and that’s a very natural thing that we all have to do every day um if not multiple times a day so how about period products because we also don’t have control over that when that period decides to you know
Turn up unannounced or is on a super heavy day or flow so I think that there’s there’s that aspect of kind of really kind of encouraging the person that is the main advocate for change within the organization is mentoring and supporting them to find ways to overcome
The challenges that they will face and it isn’t sadly it’s just an an easy kind of sometimes easy conversation to have nor an easy sign off process to get these things off the ground those are the kind of two things training and and obviously product and it would be you
Know I wouldn’t be from wuk if I didn’t say don’t forget the power of reusable products in this process you know pads and tampons require topping up and filling up and and constantly keeping replenished in toilets the power of a reusable brand or product in in in the
Mix is that they don’t need to be using those reusable uh single use products all the time they don’t need to be burdening on kind of the the waste and the that you know that can come with those products from a eco perspective as well as a club so really promoting and
Encouraging training staff and and members of teams to really like embrace the reusable side because it brings with it so many benefits in terms of not needing to remember to pack them because you’ve got you know a pair of pants on already or not needing to to to opt for
Single use wasteful products so those are my recommendations so it won’t surprise anyone to know that wuka has already earned the period positive award um and was the first company to earn it it’s also incredibly powerful to hear someone who sells menstrual products for a living absolutely say that products
Are not the be all and end all of period positivity because that is the truth um so the period positive movement started a billion years ago I made up the phrase in 2006 because I was promoting a comedy show about periods that I thought would help people outside of school be better
At talking about them to support my people’s Insider school who wanted everyone to know um and then developed into this this logo and this award that the kids wanted anybody to wear or display to show that they were trustworthy whether you were a place or school so we had period positive places
And period positive schools but over the years we have developed it into uh like a tried intested framework that is not just you know stamp of approval for giving out products it is you got to work for it so we develop 20 parts to a pledge but they’re not all things you
Have to like achieve at once they are things you can identify that you already do well or know a lot about and things that you can get better at or can get support with and the award is free and the reason it’s free is because it’s it’s more valuable than money it is
About creating a real culture shift in our society that achieves all the things that PRI has just been talking about where we have the education um Beyond products um we look at menstrual literacy as the sort of overarching aim of what period positivity wants to deliver and and we’ve been defining it
Recently after um a pilot with a lot of schools in Sheffield and some uh some young people facing Charities here that um it’s about body literacy first so that you know about yourself and you can internalize um the taboos or if you don’t have a menstruating body you can
Learn about how other people’s bodies work we always say everybody had a room that was a womb everybody once lived inside a uterus even you know those male Sports coaches they have a right to know how those bodies worked and they have a a responsibility to make sure that
Anyone with the uterus now can get on well then products what’s good for you what’s good for the environment what’s good for the people that you serve or work with and then after that media literacy why was that blue liquid around for so long how come movies make fun of
Period sometimes still what can we do to make sure that people who menstruate aren’t the butt of the joke why don’t we see more scenes about menstruation in films like you know why why don’t we why do we Panic about leaking why isn’t why isn’t leaking pered blood a badge of
Honor of some kind like like other like sports injuries can be like like I all my skateboarding friends would show off their like elbow scabs and then after that finally is Cultural Literacy and I think a lot of us who are already in the period space are working on this for
Ourselves and starting to share these kinds of messages with our communities what does it mean to be a disabled menator a queer menator a brown or black menator like what does it mean if the space that you just kind of see sometimes that kind of talks about periods a little also doesn’t include
Other aspects of your identity and how do you reconcile that so I think a lot of the things that sports clubs are already doing well looking at diversity looking at accessibility looking at you know all genders inclusion those things can just widen a little bit so that they’re tackling what we’ve started
Calling institutional menstral shame big institutions the NHS the government education sport these are ships that are hard to steer and turn right if one person in a club thinks that you know being period positive is a good idea and wants to invest get it further they may
Reach out to us we can offer the award you know we can license it it’s it’s free but if that person leaves so does that relationship and so what’s really valuable is if everybody in an organization everybody at every level is willing to to open up to grow and learn
And when it’s taboo and stigma it’s hard and we find joy play uh humor are all of these things help um that’s my probably about 20 quids worth rather than two pence worth but there you are thank you and it’s true such important points you’ve all touched on
There I mean and education is at the basis of it isn’t it creating that awareness that it is so natural like you said a skateboarder would show off their injury and blood why are we so ashamed of this really natural process isn’t it Tanya did you have anything that you
Went to adds to that I think bethan andella have just explained it beautifully you know how important the educational piece around this is and also the Ally piece you know because we are we make up half of the population but there is a whole other half of the population that really needs
To know and understand what is happening to women in their bodies and girls in their bodies and in particularly in sport as you said prya because you know lots of sports are led by men they are dominated by men they are the decision makers they are the budget holders they
Are the policy makers and while we’re obviously trying to drive that change in other ways you know we the conversation has to be started there and has to be had with those men and boys as well you know we shouldn’t be separately educating boys and girls around you know
This is what happens to your body and this is what happens to yours we need to have a shared understanding of each other so that we can appreciate those differences and understand those differences and start to remove some of that kind of stigma away and I think just around the Practical points because
I know the question was kind of like what needs to be in those bathrooms absolutely products of course we talked about that but I think what we also don’t see in sports clubs is sign posting to really good quality information and resources because imagine you are that you know 9 10 11
12y old girl depending when they’ve started and they’ve walked into that club for the first time and started their period who did they go to for support where do they get information you know and sign posting I think is really really important within and around the club to say that there are
Free period products so that girls don’t also have the embarrassment and unfortunately the shame they still feel in asking for those products so they know where to access them they can access them for free and that we are signposting them to relevant help and
Support if they need it um and we in the past kind of 18 months have had a an initiative called Big Sister up and running within Leisure centers um with our partners spes Leisure and that’s all been about understanding how we can create those more female friendly spaces particularly in changing rooms locker
Rooms wherever it may be but also in the whole club environment the whole Leisure space environment so that it becomes a much more period positive friendly Pace where girls and women know that they can get support they know they can access products and how do we start to as I
Said break down some of that stigma and taboo actually because I think unfortunately women and girls bodies have just been under a cloud of secrecy for far too long we just don’t talk about them because we have haven’t prioritized them in sport and that is what we really need to change and
Particularly when you think as we said earlier so many of the men in Co in coaching roles as well who are coaching girls and coaching women need to have a fundamental basic understanding of how periods can impact women and girls um if they’re able to coach those people in
The right way and support those people in the right way so again that’s probably my 30 quits worth of bits and pieces but just building on tell and PR is fantastic point because I think they are absolutely right it starts with the education it starts with the awareness
And it starts with how we communicate that to both men and women and girls amazing thank you and like you said sign posting that is such an obvious thing really isn’t it but we don’t see it we don’t do it yeah so thanks for that and
And like we’ve all said you know many people especially like at school age they really get that anxiety of taking part in sport in exercise because they’re on their period because they’re afraid of leaking or because they don’t want their friends to know that they’ve got their period I mean I remember when
I was in school most of the girls used to just sit out because they were on their period and it’s such a sad because that is then evolves on how they feel about sport in the future as well um what I’d like to talk about is what you
Think the impact perod has on sports performance because I remember seeing you know an interview with Dean Asha Smith the athlete um and how she spoke about openly that she was on a period and she was struggling we don’t hear that about really you know athletes at a
High level uh Helen I don’t know if you can touch on your experience and the impact that maybe you’ve seen on on what it’s like with sports performance yeah I mean for me personally I I get quite bad uh cramps with my period so I’d wake up and have to go to
Training and I’d be in pain and just the thought of even though I know that exercising does relieve symptoms the thought of doing it and actual getting up and getting out of bed and actually going and and getting on with training sometimes was quite hard particularly on
Sort of one and two of of my period And I know that that’s the same for for other players and you get different um different symptoms can and obviously affect different people but also I think around football in particular there’s been a lot of talk around ACL knee
Injuries and the potential link to to being on your period for that and and different injuries as well so I think there’s also a little bit of fear and because the research not hasn’t happened or hasn’t been going on for long enough um I think there is that little worry as
Well that maybe when you go to training you have to be a bit more careful and then that in turn could affect your performance and all that kind of stuff because you you can’t really you can maybe dip out of training if you need to
But if you if it comes on a game day there’s not much you can do so there is that fear around it um so a lot more research needs to go into you know that injury in particular but how menstration and and periods do affect that and and
Different times in a month can affect you in so many different ways which you know for for men and their hormones they’re I I learned quite recently how they sort of just do this nicely day to day it’s the same thing every day and then for women it’s like this all over
The place so it’s just um it’s a bit of a mind field and I think that can affect performance and yeah the pain the headaches the fatigue all those kind of different things can can really affect performance but at the same time as I mentioned before actually exercise can
Be really beneficial to ease some symptoms and I think that maybe needs to be the more positive message surrounding it that we give to particularly younger girls because I remember when I was younger and within the first sort of year of me starting my period I’d wake
Up on a Sunday and if I had my period I’d say to my mom I don’t want to go to football I don’t want to play I’m in too much pain she’d make me go because she knew it was good for me um and I’m obviously I’m glad she did but I think
That’s what we need to sort of teach our our younger girls is actually going out and doing some exercise not only will ease the symptoms but it will make you feel happier and will get you out of that sort of period fuzz that some some people do experience 100% it’s so interesting my
Next question was going to be actually about the symptoms because personally same I always found in a way that it helped me but so many people still don’t understand that or I mean some people have such severe symptoms that they cannot get out of bed and I you know I
Agree that but maybe should we be changing like you say the awareness the language that we are using when we’re trying to promote sports for girls whilst they’re on their periods yeah I think so um I think it’s it’s key to do that really um I’m sure other people
Have got opinions as well so I’ll let someone else speak as well we have a a key phrase around this that comes up again and again that might be helpful and then another little thing that’s a practical tip the phrase is try and explain periods um not so that there a
Terrible thing that happens to you but so that they’re part of a larger cycle that is a really interesting thing that bodies can do so that’s that’s the sort of saying that we try and promote but practically speaking um a lot of people forget to Center ovulation they might
Forget about it but they might also be a bit worried that if you talk too much about ovulation all the kids will just go get pregnant and that’s not the case the more young people know about ovulation and fertility the less likely they are to accidentally get pregnant so
What’s really valuable practically is talk about the that the period between the last day of your period and the day you ovulate is when you’re at like your most excited and ready um not just because in the olden days that was maybe how cave people went and made babies but
It’s because that’s your body is just sort of amped up and there’s a great way to put that into practice whether it’s in sport or something creative or making business decisions like all of that stuff as well as you know maybe going out and looking for people to date all
Of that stuff is really good skills that your body can do then and then maybe at the later stage of your cycle wind down and I remember reading a couple of great articles about um the the England women’s team and how when they won the
Euros which I got to go to some of the matches of in Sheffield which was amazing um but like when they were like doing all of that um the the cycle charting was what was helping them get you know as far as as Wembley because what they were doing was doing I
Think and somebody who’s more about sports training than me can correct me if I get this wrong they were doing the more intensive active cardio stuff in the first part of their cycle and then they were getting toward the sort of PMT and period bit they were actually
Starting to do slow stretching kind of exercises and and just be bit more restful and patient with themselves and because they kept that cycle up they were able to get as far as they did and make everybody so proud so yeah yeah and I think I think at that point I’ll jump
In because you’ve you it’s a nice segue to what I was going to say which I think there’s a couple of issues here first of all is exactly as Chella says this fixation on the period and the bleed itself when in actual fact we’re talking about cycles and hormones which
Are as to Helen’s Point not like our you know counts are are you know men that have it very fairly consistently you know few dips up and down here and there but we’re are constant up and down and you know um and and so I think there is
A real importance of um not only making en sure that people at at a young age young girls understand that the menstrual cycle is a cycle it’s not just a period it’s more than that and that has different phases which comes with education um but even as we get older is
Encouraging individuals to understand their own bodies and there is a wealth of information that is available through these cycle tracking apps out there which honestly I mean I’ve started using it in the last three years and it has blown my mind how much I’ve started to learn about myself let alone other
People um so I think that that is a really important aspect is is just not talking about periods as though they are the bleed because that is literally just one aspect or one phase of the cycle um but if we take it back to to kind of the
Impact that not acknowledging or or not confronting the symptoms of the the menstrual cycle can have we at wuka have have really focused on teenage girls as like the starting point and the reason for that being is again similar to chello trell’s work in education is that
We know that more than four in five uh teenage girls that’s 84% of teenage girls say that their interest in sport diminishes after starting their periods and really sadly 45% of girls drop out of sport by the age of 14 now the benefits of sport not only on their
Physical health but on their mental health and also their broader wider skills such as teamwork resilience communication are so huge that if we’re losing 45% of them by the age of 14 we are really missing out on not only talent for this professional sporting industry but actually a wealth of skills
That our young girls need to have in order to become incredible women um and people as they progress in their careers whatever path they choose to take so I think for us we’ve really focused being ultimately a product business uh with products we’ve really focused on helping
To avoid that Dropout of sport providing them with products in the form of our sports shorts our Sports leggings our Sports swimwear that mean that actually if it is about the bleed and if it is that one week a month that they decide to skip that they don’t have a reason to
Because now there’s no fears of like I can’t do that because I don’t I can’t go in the swimming pool with a pad on it’s okay you’ve got a swimsuit now Etc so we have dealt with that at a practical level but we really have index with the
Young people because we can see that that starting young will help us to kind of get you know to keep them in sport for longer and then as I say with the work we do with more adult clubs and and kind of older older individuals it’s around kind of understanding the cycle
As a whole and increasing that un that awareness of how the cycle and the impact of your changes in your cycle can impact your performance Etc and working with clubs at local levels to be able to really impart that knowledge um across across you know all genders and all
People of all backgrounds I agree on everything you said and like you say it’s so important to teach the these young well young girls about the whole cycle like yourself I’m the same as an adult I’ve learned more about my whole cycle and what is actually happening to
My body than I did when I first came on my period And I was thinking why aren’t we being taught this when we are starting our period and actually understanding what is going on with our body because that is what is linked then to the whole anxiety isn’t it what is
Actually happening why is this happening to me um even though it’s so normal um and with regards to that um and obviously everything that goes with it um there was a a campaign which was called hash Bloods normal that was started in 2017 by a company called body form to normalize menstruation blood
Using real blood like you mentioned before and not the blue liquid we previously saw an advert and wooka launched a similar campaign last year showing blood clots in the shower and apparently received over 300 complaints which yes being kickass comes comes with uh comes with its challenges
Sometimes but it it the the the principle of being a kickass brand is speaking the truth and not hiding behind euphemisms and and all the shame and the kind of language and depiction of periods that has until now really just perpetuated this shame that we just are
Surrounded by all the time so yes we did dare to show um to share to show periods and not just periods but blood clots which are an incredibly common aspect that we have all experienced at some point um on TV it did gather the attention of some individuals um as I’m
As as I’m sure it we knew it was going to um but every single every single complaint was upheld and and um we are still on air still showing on Sky TV today and very proudly so because we believe that this is entirely natural um I uh will never forget something that
The Welsh rugby team Welsh Rugby Union team that we work with mentioned to us which was we get nose bleeds on Pitch all the time and um and we don’t think anything of it why would we care if a little bit of blood went through our our
Shorts you know during during during a match and and that was really encouraging to me now I do applaud the efforts taken by the fa and you know with the line S’s and other and other you know Wimbledon recently also saying agreeing to sort of allowing to soften
The rules on white white skirts and shorts for for women um but I think there is a a debate to be had here you know and maybe today is not the place for it but I know cheller and I would certainly debate this for a while which
Is you know do we need to be hiding it and is it is that actually overcoming the problem itself however if anyone wants in the room wants tips on how a sports club could be more inclusive if that is something that majority of your team members or you know community
Members feel would be helpful then Embrace that you know with Watford FC we very proudly work with them on their on their shorts and their branding uh they’ve got darker shorts for the for the girls and for the women so that’s obviously something that helps um anything that can just help to reduce
That level of anxiety but at the same time not not shy away from the fact that periods happen and in all of their trickly gushy rushing blood clot ridden forms so there you go I it’s I had in my notes to mention that and I’m so I’m like just delighted that you mentioned
That briia because yeah absolutely it’s like uh the darker shorts is a foot in the door to a bigger conversation but um with my pupils and I worked on a a lesson plan once that was uh called stains TM what if you Market the period stain as the sports emblem you know what
If that’s like the swoosh you know and that’s the recognizable logo and how does that get you thinking about leaking differently but that’s like step two step one is definitely Whatever Gets You in the door and keeps you keeps you on the pitch so yeah but we could
Definitely talk about it tons longer the advertising side of things is really fascinating to me in particular because because that was where I got my start I was when I was a kid I saw clots for the first time and I genuinely thought my liver was falling out I didn’t know what
Clots were I was petrified took ages to work up the nerve to find out what was going on and I didn’t want that to happen to young people and I noticed that all of the teaching resources that I was working with came from disposable menstrual product companies um and
Didn’t cover a lot they kind of were like here’s some free samples this is the basics off you go and were teachers that felt really squeamish who you know were like okay that’ll do off you have it there you are no mention of reusables nothing like you know about plastic free
Disposables nothing Beyond products you know and when we started working on it and kind of like revamping it I was really starting to take adverts to task so we had a lot of campaigns going about get rid of the blue liquid so you know it it was great when a big multinational
Disposables brand did it in 2017 but it was really great when when Moon cup did it in 2013 with a web advert so I think reusable products and independent companies have come a really long way that wuka is on you know a big mainstream television channel with a TV
Ad you know and yeah there are complaints but there are complaints about lots of different menstral products and I think that’s a bigger issue um around how people feel when they see menstrual products in public and I think there’s so much that like allies in different sectors can do to
Support that so you know like you guys wanting to become a period positive Club means that message is getting out to more people wuk could doing an advert means that message is getting up to more people and you know we are the media and we as customers and as you know as tast
Makers and whatever roles we hold we create that stuff as well as consume it so I I think really the biggest thing to acknowledge around that is uh the people who maybe didn’t have the power before are now taking the power and making really powerful choices with with what
They’ve got so when they’ve got when they’ve got the mic they’re they’re shouting you know about being open about periods or they’re or they’re handing it off to somebody else who can do that and I just think that’s really incredible in terms of you know empowerment empowerment of girls and women um and
Other people who mate I think that that’s just an incredible result and that keeping the momentum going would be amazing 100 and maybe the other adverts will change too one day we’ll see we’ll come back to period products just one moment I think we’ll launch another poll
Um as we’ve been talking about awareness and this one is with regards to endometriosis it should pop up on the screen now so how many people assigned female at Birth are affected by endometriosis do you think it’s one in 1,000 one in 100 or one in 10 let give you a few seconds
Okay these are quite close so 16% I don’t know if you can see the results on your screen but 16% of you said 1 in 1,000 45% 1 in 100 and 39 said one in 10 and the answer is one in 10 one in 10 people have endometrio endometriosis
Sorry and again like we spoke about awareness so many people that I have spoken to don’t actually realize that they have endometriosis until they’re much older so they are affected by it suffer with it for so many years and then just when they’re adults then which
Is quite sad um and again I think that goes back to everything that we’ve mentioned with regards to being open about it talking about it more research and awareness um but as you mentioned about period products um you like you said there’s tampons menual cups sanitary pads um reusable period pants
Do you think there’s certain products which are best for certain Sports bethan have you seen like particular differences or yeah so so for myself I was probably one of the majority when we started having the conversations at the faw because I just wasn’t aware of all of the different products that were
Available to be completely honest and it wasn’t until from a work capacity that we started exploring the different options um that I started to educate myself a little bit more in terms of um how hygienic all the different problem all the different products are understanding kind of the sustainability
Of the products ensuring that actually there is no fear that if I’m going to wear period pants they’re not going to leak they’re going to be absolutely fine really educated myself over the past year or so so that we can then start spreading the the message even further
But like many of of you have said on on the call is that actually we just didn’t get that education when we were younger um so unless we go and educate ourselves elves is how are we supposed to know what would fit best for whichever sport we’re doing or whichever activity we’re
Doing um so so from from my understanding I definitely don’t have the expertise of some of the people on the call around the different the different products that are available to to particular particular Sports and I think it it it’s something that we need to explore a little bit more in terms of
Sharing that message with our clubs with our leagues with our girls that are participating to explore different options um to understand exactly what fits best for them I think everybody is an individual as well and something that works for for one person might not work for another and it’s a casy serve of
Trial and error a little bit in terms of what actually makes you feel comfortable um and also alleviates that Fear Factor as well so that actually you’re not worrying about um being on your period when you’re playing the sport you only have to worry about performing um which
Is the way in my eyes that it that it should be so I probably don’t have enough knowledge to share what would be best for football but I think from from my understanding and the education that we’ve received here at the FW is around understanding what works best for you as an
Individual 100% thank you Beth and it is it’s knowing about the products and feeling comfortable with trying something new when you are doing sport isn’t it so I guess it’s just trying it in our daily life then Tanny I saw you nodding was there something that you
Wanted to add to that as well yeah absolutely I think Beth’s hit the now on the head it’s about having that education of the broad variety of products that are out there and finding what works for you and I think within that we just need to be sensitive
Particularly to young girls who are just starting out in their periods actually and thinking about what they are going to feel most comfortable using and doing and I think a lot of the issues that that Pria and Chella talked about earlier in terms of the kind of lack of
Education and the the scare mongering really that is around periods because of the lack of knowledge and that leads to a lot of myths and Mis misconceptions around around different products around usage and the fact that sport is very physical thing that you do obviously you know instills that fear of things like
Leakage and being looked at and possibly you know embarrassing yourself and all of those things we shouldn’t have to worry about but unfortunately we have been almost conditioned to um so I think yeah that education around those different products is really important but also being very sensitive to the age
Of those young girls as well and what is going to be most suitable for them we know that some you know girls generally are starting their periods earlier and earlier all the time and so having conversations around something like a a sanitary product a to would be very
Different to having a a conversation around something like a menstrual cup for example so I think it’s just also about layering that sensitivity and being mindful of who we’re talking to at what stage of their periods they’re at um and understanding either you know the the lack of knowledge and information
They’ve probably already not had from either schools or home wherever it may be um so just thinking I think sensitively about that and and and educating girls on what products might be best but enabling them to have some of that trial and era like Beth said and
Giving them some the support to do that is really really important yeah and if I I might add to that I think so there’s the Beth and I actually love that you started this because I think you represent um what is pretty much the the majority of people
Out there who actually don’t know that there are other options Beyond just the pad and the tampon that you were kind of shoved as a young person like Chella said at the age of eight off you go here you go use them you know have a go see
What happens and you’re like oh okay what do I do with this where do I put it where does it go which hole but the reality is is that um the majority of people don’t know that there is a choice so I think this comes down to two things
It comes down to one knowing that you have a choice knowing that there are choices out there that is the work that we are doing to make people aware that choice exists beyond the mainstream that we have all been just blindly served for the majority of our lives so you
Represent a very large proportion of people who we have a mission and and a responsibility to educate and to inform in a very kind and gentle and welcoming way the second is access right accessibility is everything too we only just after 5 years of campaigning um successfully got tax removed from period
Pants and a period underwear prior to that period tax was abolished on single use products but pants were still considered a luxury item in what world do we live in that that can be deemed a luxury item and we’ve still got a way to go because now periods Sports where are
Still not included in that tax break so we wer continues to continue its Mission we were on a call with hmrc and the government the other week to say it’s great thanks so much for removing the tax but what about period swimwear what about period leggings what about period
Shorts so you know we have so much of a way to go in order to not only create that make that choice more widely available get it onto the supermarket shelves and into the mainstreamer channels and Arenas where people shop and browse in order to know that they
Exist um but also to make sure that it’s accessible from a price point perspective because this shouldn’t be something for the for the reserved for those that can afford it and have the privilege to be able to afford it this needs to become completely democratized and accessible for everyone so that’s
The those are the two things I think this hinges upon entirely the the other thing I would like to add as well is again just decentering periods from all of this as well we’re talking about menstruation as a whole we’re talking about Cycles so therefore we’re talking about life stages and different things
That can happen at different life stages you might be going through postpartum you might be going through pregnancy you might be going through per menopause and menopause there are other factors to consider other than just that first period other life stages for which you might need other products too
Incontinence something we’ve not talked about on this call at all but is something that is equally as important um and at this point I I will flag the amazing work of the Scottish Gymnastics Association who we working with and we’re proud to have partnered with they undertook a survey that found that 63%
Of young gymnast experience urine leaks during performance right urine leaks sometimes before they’ve even had a period because they you know the work that they’re doing on the mats at an early age we need to consider a lot more um factors and issues that women have in
Young girls in sport uh other than just periods but know that there are solutions and products that are out there um and we myself Chella and everyone on the call are here to help all the clubs and all the Advocates on the call today Beyond this
To help you to bring that education to the in whatever way you need um including information on what products are there as well so that’s my contrib yeah we we meet people where they are whether that’s teaching a cheerleading cheer about the four types of products so we have internal external disposable
Reusable but for really little ones so I think Tanya might enjoy this is inside outside throw away keep using something as simple as that we call it the menstrual product Mambo it’s very easy to teach it but suddenly the idea is in your mind that there’s more than one
Type of product out there but we we’re really we want we believe anyone can be period positive and we want everyone to be um the young people asked to have this special logo and phrase trademarked so that we could protect it from people who didn’t want to do the work but
Everybody we’ve met is like a really hardworking bunch and it’s free to earn so we really would love it if everybody would get in touch we are working out strategies for scaling up to to get everybody but it’s it’s a mindset and that mindset of we don’t know everything
Yet but but there’s always more to learn and we’re always learning and growing I think it’s true for the whole world like the you know around the world we have Partners who do work aligned with period positive who are also exploring this there’s um a charity in India who’s
Looking at being more period positive in sport right now who reached out there’s um you know there’s a global conference about um s of menstrual knowledge where they’re talking about this and you know it would be fascinating if there was you know periods at the Olympics being like
A huge topic next year like this or this year now gosh and you know we we we would love for this to be a thing we never have to do ever again like we’d love to be obsolete one day but it’s so exciting having having so many
Colleagues in this space and it I don’t want anyone to think that because they don’t know what’s out there that they’re they’re not entitled to find out you know somebody next to you will know and I think one of the most simple and positive things any young person can do
Or that anyone can teach a kid to do in sport or women in sport is don’t don’t be afraid to ask you know don’t be afraid to ask questions don’t be afraid to talk about periods with someone beyond your your sphere normally because there’s there there’s no silly questions
And if there are we will all just have a really good laugh about it and then we’ll figure it out I agree Helen you had your hand up was there something you wanted to mention yeah I was just going to go back to the the awareness of products and um
As pri’s mentioned wer worked with us at Watford and and last year came in and spoke to us as a team um and I was just sort of gutted that I’d only really found out about these or these only come to to light in the latter stage of my career because I think
When beforehand you’d hear the word period pants and you imagine these big horrible things that just aren’t comfortable and they’re bulky and that sort of stigma around them but when wer came in and talked to us and they were thong there were briefs there were all kinds of different styles shapes colors
Of everything and you think we’re actually that’s so much nicer to wear particularly during sport because it’s comfortable you know a lot of our players will wear a thong to play in that’s just what they like but on their period do they have to change that so I
Think that awareness it was more it was kind of like an awareness and a thank you really to Hooker for for enlightening us as a group of players and you know they were kind enough to give us all a a pair each everybody wanted you know we signed up and gave
Our sizes and preferred style and yeah I still use them now even though I’m not playing and I just think they’re they’re a brilliant product and yeah it was kind of just a a thank you for raising that awareness but also for sharing their amazing products with us amazing thank
You you’ve sold them I’m gonna have to try them next time I do sport um I’m conscious of time so I want to get the Q&A because I know we’ve got a few questions just when well this could be a whole discussion on its own but you’ve all kind of mentioned it and
Chella just said about um feeling free to ask questions we are surrounded by a lot of male coaches I had many male coaches in my experience what can we do to get the mail coaches to help young girls is there silence you know how can we get
Them to be more open or accommodating in an appropriate manner for young athletes bethan or Tanya I’m yeah I’m I’m happy to take this one so I mentioned before we have an initiative called um environments for her um and within that is uh a section where we
Very much focus on the practicalities um and the support that we can provide to to young females or women um whilst they’re on their menstrual cycled as well so um a few areas that we touch on in in there are things around the changing rooms uring the sanitary bins
For one as well um in the toilets and not just in the changing room um and locks on doors all those types of things to ensure that our females feel confident and and comfortable in terms of of being on their period while they’re in those environments but also around the male coaches understanding
Each individual a little bit more um I know from an emotional aspect um when I’m when I’m due on I am an absolute nightmare to be around and if I was on the football pitch um there would be tears there would be tantrums and and it’s just around understanding our
Players a little bit more and and not knowing exactly you know what time of the month and things like that but just understanding how our players are um and how we can support our players a little bit more we we look at on Pitch considerations as well um and creating
That safe space um we also touch on um having volunteers within the the the club that maybe aren’t the coaches it may be a parent or it may be just an ally that comes along and and supports those conversations and it could could be any aspect of of a young female’s
Life that they maybe want to confide in about and it doesn’t have to be around the menstrual cycle but um just somebody that is in the club that um can have those confidential conversations um maybe if a young female doesn’t feel quite as comfortable going to speak to
The coach who who may be a male or may not be a male in in those situations as well so um we explore a whole a whole host of avenues and we provide that training to any of our clubs that that choose to to attend our workshops as
Well and we’re we’re looking at vamping them up to to ensure that every Club across Wales has access to that education and we also include it now within our um one of our coaching licenses as well and so providing all coaches and that go through our C license and understanding of Performance
Based um side effects to to being on your on your period or through the menstral cycle but also and considerations during that time as well so we’re we’re on our on our way to support in terms of education but there’s still a whole host that that we
Can do and um it’s been really good to hear some some stuff on this call actually that we can take away as well as an association because we’re never at that end point we’re always learning in terms of how we can support um our clubs and our females even further as
Well amazing thank you for that um before we move on to the Q&A uh we’re going to touch upon the training that is available for people working in sports organizations and clubs within the area if there’s any other if any of the panel have any other information of training
That they would like to mention um no other than to say we provide a whole host of free resources we know that such clubs small organizations um don’t have endless amounts of time don’t have endless numbers of people on hand to get these things off the ground so if it’s a case
Of a a poster that you need to hang you know to to print out and put up in your changing rooms um just just let us know reach out after this um call we’d be more than happy to help um and um and and just also to say lean on us for
Resources you know we we don’t do any of this work to keep it in our own camp we do it to share it and to spread the word because we know that if we do that then we ultimately get to our end goal faster um and and we join forces with cheller
And with the period positive kind of movement from day dot to do that as well so I’m sure we can join forces together to help to provide something that caters to everyone if needs be off the back of this call um and on the topic of product
You’re all welcome to have some wer at a discounted price so I’ll pop a discount code in the in the chat for everyone because I think there’s some love going on with the woas today so I’ll I’ll share that in the wooka discounts are amazing everybody oh my gosh I don’t
Think I’ve paid full price ever and that’s not from like special favors except maybe once but like the rest of the time their sales are great but anyway um we offer the period positive award to anyone we also have noticed a re a surge of Interest lately which we
Have got volunteers across the UK who help help us meet but it’s free to earn the award uh but it’s it’s registered so that means it’s it’s got value so we do ask people to ask permission to use it but then display it so that any young
People or Partners or colleagues who see it know and if you’ve done any other things around um periods or reproductive health or uh queer inclusion or disability inclusion those are often things that feed into evidence you can show that you’ve you’ve used to earn the award more quickly um another thing is
We have resources on our website but we’ve also just put out a set of um activities with young people um that they created with their teachers and we don’t have a PE themed one yet so if there are any sports folks who’d be interested in partnering with some young
People and trying out the the design Sprint kit with those young people and creating a resource we are piloting them now and we’re launching them in May we’re also launching uh two campaigns right now that you can get involved in one is Sheffield’s been a period
Positive City for 5 years this year uh it was announced in an early day Motion in Parliament in 2019 and we’re looking at what does it mean to be a period positive City for 5 years and we’d love other cities and local councils get involved we did some work with Swansea
Council a few years ago through stop who also have earned the period positive award they’re the first charity to do so and we’ve got a campaign going that’s linked to my PhD which is around intergenerational conversations around the entire menstrual span so it’s called connecting the dots we’ll be talking
About it uh this month and international women’s day to include all genders of men trators and it’s about how do you how do you deal if you’re somebody who’s approaching Perry menopause and you’ve got a pre-teen who’s driving you Bonkers and what do you do to cope with with
Those transitions together and what what do you wish you’d learned uh when you were either of those ages and who can you go to for support so we’re just encouraging those kinds of conversations um and so it’s really exciting to have all of that kind of going on please come
Please talk to us we’re here um it’s so great to have been on this call with everybody but yeah it’s it’s great that period positivity is spreading we we want it to to remain exciting meaningful and valuable to everyone who gets involved so many amazing things
Happening um so I do can I just can I just add from our perspective as well wom in sport if that’s okay so I can’t hear you yeah I can hear you now sorry audio just cut out um so in terms of what we can offer from women
And Sport obviously we um a lot of our work is is very much driven by research and advocacy so we do a huge amount of insight into the lives of women and girls completely across the lifespan all the way from primary girls to women in menopause and later life so our website
Her is packed full of research reports and insight reports and solutions and recommendations to help drive more positive engagement for women and girls Across the Life stage and as I said as a result of our big sister uh initiative that we piloted last year with places Leisure which is now still ongoing
Across the places Leisure sector um we have a big sister website which is designed by girls for girls in order to help them navigate the challenges of puberty and particularly periods and all of the bodily and emotional things that are going on during that life stage for
Girls so I would signpost that in in terms of sending girls for support and and and resources and we also offer workshops as well so if you would like us to kind of come into any of your organizations and do workshops about how to better engage women and girls Across
The Life Stage understanding what’s happening for them what are some of the solutions uh we’d be really happy and open to have some of those conversations too so just wanted to check in our our little bit of of support that we Pride here amazing thank you Tanya um I want
To mention and then I know we’re going to overend just for a few minutes um accelerate sport have a special limited offer discount for their course promoted promoting period dignity and Sport which is for event guest only there might be a little video that’s going to play on
Here as well and the you’ll have a saving of 20% on the course and the discount code will be sent after this as well um meetings can also be booked with accelerate support to discuss range of courses that they offer from equality and diversity tackling racism and
Engaging gills in sport I’m not sure if Reese is going to play a little video menstruation is a natural biological process and it’s quite likely that it’s being experienced by people within your sports club or organization menstruation can have various effects on an Athletes Performance and well-being and members
Of your club might face specific challenges during their periods such as the need for more frequent bathroom breaks managing menal products and dealing with discomfort or pain the promoting period dignity in sport elen course will address menstrual Health in a world of sport and aim to
Support you in your role to ensure the people that you work with can perform with confidence and without worry when you enroll on the course you will work towards the following learning outcomes understanding the menstrual cycle and what period products are available understand the impact of stigma and period poverty identify the
Impact periods can have in a sporting context and discover what you can do to support people with periods in your Sport menstruation is so that was that and we have got three questions through so I will go through them quickly we’ve got Wendy at Scottish Athletics asks what have you found as the most impactful way to educate your athletes on openly speaking about all things periods is there anyone that would like
To answer it uh it’s really simple uh we use humor and joy uh if you have shame if you’ve done any reading around the work of Bren Brown who research a shame you know that when you talk about something shameful the more you talk about it the more
Everyone cringes up um so humor Joy Sport and art all really help uh just find a different focus and then talk around that other focus and suddenly you’re you’re winning brilliant um anybody else want to ask to ask all no I was just going to completely
Agree with ch I think it’s all about bringing more light and humor and joy to it and actually realizing that periods can be positive it’s it’s not about having a very negative uh kind of mindset towards that but being was being realistic you know and I think once we
Start talking about stuff we actually just want to keep talking about stuff so it’s once you break that barrier and you break that W and you’re able to get women and girls to kind of align on what what they’re thinking and you know share their experiences I find that actually
Once we get going we will just keep talking about it and and unpicking the world and putting it to rights so yeah I think just having that really positive slant on that and seeing and appreciating how amazing our bodies are I think that’s really important actually
In terms of the way that we frame those conversations yeah and that really helps when when when talking about periods as the positive act it helps people who are having really difficult times with their periods realize that it is maybe just them and they do need to see a doctor
That not everyone is necessarily suffering as badly as they are just because everyone thought it was all doom and gloom in public doesn’t mean it it really is as bad for everybody else so you know it gives people an agency to to get the help they need
100% agree and like you say on actually appreciating our bodies for everything they go through and what they can do um another question from Annie at British Taekwondo uh Taekwondo is a sport where women are expected to wear white trousers as part of their uniform what suggestions can we give our coaches to
Support their female participants when on their periods to make them feel more comfortable this is a really interesting question actually prier or anybody yeah absolutely I mean look that our our underwear is leak proof so I really do encourage them to try it I think a lot of this though um
Not just our own underwear is around just ensuring that the people in sport are aware of their own cycles and their flows and how heavy they are there’s probably a case of um one person having had a bad incident or a leak when that happens you embrace it to all the points
That Chell and and everyone else has said today it’s it it’s okay it happens right but it doesn’t need to be the end of the world there but thereafter it’s about making sure that the teams are aware of like what their flow is and what they need for that flow so perhaps
They need extra coverage perhaps they need to wear boxes so that like the boxer shorts that we offer that have built-in gussets we have up to super heavy flow which can hold up to the equivalent of 12 tampons and eight pads so you know you’re talking about the the
The space has evolves so much and we have done so much investigation and Innovation around what cap the capabilities of these products are now um and as Helen very kindly said you know they’re not big bulky things they are they’re super thin you know some of them are seamless vpl free we’ve really
Thought of everything this product and this brand that we’ve created is designed to overcome all those challenges that will these young girls and women have been telling us for so long so um I would say wear those white Taekwondo uni forms with pride and have no worry about leaking um because wuka
Are completely leak proof and we test them for that because we want people to wear the white trouses whether that and you know if you do leak style it out you know maybe just be like these are our sponsors right now actually ex stains TM I think there something that we do um
Which didn’t come up earlier though which might also um help with male staff supporting um we a lot of people who mate self-edit because they think the guys aren’t ready but when I I did um a show based on the research with the young people at the Edinburgh Fringe and
Every year people come up to me from the audience guys couples and they would say like what can I do to support my girlfriend or you know can I ask you this question because my girlfriend doesn’t talk about it even though I’m ready to talk about it and sometimes
Dads come up to me after workshops or public speaking events and say my daughter’s 12 she’ll talk about this with her mom but not with me but I know all this stuff can we you know like I read your book like what what can I do
And they don’t want to just leave the book around and walk away they want to engage so I think um being willing to participate in those conversations and not feeling you have to self-edit around like this SK because a lot of them are up for it they’ve learned they’re woke
They’re ready you know just give them the benefit of the doubt and and give it a go brilliant and a final question from Katherine at Yus rosdale it is important that we uh sorry it is important that as we work inclusively we recognize that we might have trans transgender men and
Non-binary individuals who menstruate how do you think we should approach ensuring that they receive the same support around menstruation so we I’m going to jump in real fast and say this is an amazing question and thank you for bringing this um it’s something that a lot of sports clubs are navigating very difficulty
Difficultly with with great difficulty at the highest level but it can be very simple um some people who you think menate do and some people who you don’t think menate don’t and vice versa um putting pads and the gents is always really welcome um there’s a lot of trans
Guys who use the boys toilet um but who still menstrate and so having products in every L is great having the bins in every L is great um and it’s it’s something as simple as that uh having boxers or or you know sort of active Weare as part of your product offering
If you design um reusable products is really is really great having trans guys in your promotional materials or advertising including non-binary people um in your in your sports brochures having a policy that it has inclusive language um all of these things are like cultural shols you know they’re they’re
An indication to trans and non B your young people that they are welcome in your space and that they’re welcome in the conversation even something as simple as changing a word can make someone feel safe and I think it it we often feel unsafe in sport regardless of
Our gender because sport is can be big and scary you know like my parents didn’t want me to keep playing when I was 12 maybe maybe you know they were worried about my physical safety but mental healthwise it would have been amazing to have carried on playing
Football for a couple more years I would have loved it um and so I think that like you know every young person deserves that opportunity and I’m I’m so glad that you you asked that question I think there are a lot of trans young people who are feeling very alienated by
The national dialogue about trans inclusion right now and we can do a great great service to trans young people and trans adults by by acknowledging and and uplifting that you know that they are included thanks chla for answering that one like you said a great question as well I’m
Just making sure that there’s no other questions I think we are good some lovely messages say shout out to the men and non- medist straters who have attended this webinar 100% And I think that is all with questions so thank you to all the members of the panel that was a great
Discussion really really enjoyed it and really informative and um for everybody that attended thank you for being here and I I really hope that everything we’ve discussed will give you something to go away with and put into practice hopefully and a lot of knowledge and experience to take home so thank you so
Much I hope you have a lovely rest of the day and that it’s not raining where you are they are thank you thank so much bye everybody thank you bye bye thank you