Optimising Female Athletic Performance

Optimising Female Athletic Performance presents a comprehensive overview of the wide range of factors that underpin female athletic performance based on the most up to date research. This book draws from the disciplines of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and sociology to develop an integrated approach and illustrates how female athletes can be safely prepared for training and performance in a way that benefits their health and optimises their performance. The book covers the specific challenges active females encounter as they move through their lives from childhood, puberty, adolescence, adulthood, potentially motherhood, and on to the menopausal stage.

As well as presenting the key knowledge and research around female athletic performance, each chapter includes real world examples in the form of case studies and athletes? experiences. Each chapter concludes with a summary offering key points and take away messages for coaches and practicing athletes, as well as end of chapter quizzes to allow students to assess their own learning and knowledge.

Optimising Female Athletic Performance is key reading for undergraduate students studying sports science and sports coaching degrees who aspire to a career working with female athletes in a range of contexts and environments. Content has been presented in a way that is easily accessible to students and to facilitate the practical application of knowledge by practitioners in a range of sport and exercise settings. It is also useful to active females to understand their own performance and enhance their experience of sport and fitness.

1. Introduction to Optimising Female Athletic Performance

2. The Research Gender Gap and Its Impact on Female Health and Athletic Performance

3. The Menstrual Cycle and Female Athletic Performance

4. Hormonal Contraception and Athletic Performance

5. RED-S Spells Danger: The Impact of Low Energy Availability on Female Athletes

6. Breast Health and Effective Breast Support

7. Pelvic Floor Dysfunction and the Female Athlete

8. Injuries and the Female Athlete

9. The Adolescent Female: Supporting the Transition from Girl to Woman

10. Exercise Considerations for the Female Athlete in Pregnancy

11. Navigating Motherhood and Athletic Performance

12. The Role of The Family in Supporting Female Athletic Performance

13. The Effect of Perimenopause and Menopause on the Athletic Female

14. The Psychology of Coaching Female Athletes

Jessica Pinchbeck, PhD is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Fitness at The Open University, UK and has over 18 years of teaching experience in both further and higher education, she is deeply committed to promoting and empowering women and girls to engage in positive sports experiences.

Candice Lingam-Willgoss, PhD has worked for 22 years in higher education across a range of sport science disciplines, her research interests focus closely on improving our understanding of females experiences in sport specifically how females navigate their journey through sport.

Simon Rea is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Fitness at The Open University, UK and has spent over 20 years teaching in higher education and has worked in several sports science -related roles and written extensively about many disciplines in sports science. He is committed to producing resources to help male coaches and personal trainers understand the female experience of sport and fitness.