Talking about periods should be normalised ...it will help keep girls stay in sport
Anna aims to break taboo in RTE documentary
ANNA Geary is calling for the normalisation of talking about periods in sports - saying women shouldn’t have to just
“put up with it” because people are too uncomfortable to talk about it.
Whether it’s menstruation or menopause, talking about it has often been a taboo subject – and it is no different in the world of sport.
For Anna, a four-time Allireland winning Cork Camogie star, the time for change is now – as she has made it her mission to make sports accessible and inclusive for everyone, with hopes to buck the trend of girls dropping out in their teens.
The 33-year-old has played since she was in junior infants and highlighted how something as simple as having to wear white shorts can be “nerve wracking” for so many women.
She told the Irish Daily Mirror: “To me it is about reforming the environment for younger girls to stay interested.
“Everything down to, we all know for teenage girls, you know periods and menstruation can be an uncomfortable thing and can be nerve wracking.
“It could be something as small as you know, a lot of shorts are white.
“Change the colour of the shorts to darker colours. Why do we have to manage as women and as girls? why is it a case of just put up with it and get on with it?
“Make it easy for them to stay playing.
“If young kids are more comfortable wearing leggings than shorts, let them wear leggings. What’s the big deal?
“Would we rather lose them from playing just because they have to wear a certain attire?”
The former Rose of Tralee contestant also detailed how tailored training around the time of the month due to hormonal changes, and broader conversations could have a positive impact on girls’ experience in sport.
She said: “To me it is about normalising the conversation.
“Periods and menstruation affect 50% of the population in this country, and it is one of the most natural things, and yet we won’t talk about it and in the world of sport it does need to be normalised.”
The former Dancing with the Stars contestant and Ireland’s Fittest Family coach has taken on her biggest challenge
yet in her new RTE documentary, Why Girls Quit Sport, as she endeavours to get to the root of the problems with young girls’ relationship with sport.
The show sees the sports star create a Ladies Gaelic football team from students of a school on the outskirts of Dublin city, and unveils some startling statistics about the impacts of inactivity on teenager’s mental and physical health.
Anna said: “We all have a responsibility to change the attitudes in sport, to make it more inclusive and to make it a place where everyone feels valued whether they are the most important player on the team, or the most skilful, or they are someone who just started.”
Anna Geary: Why Girls Quit Sport airs tonight on RTE Two at 9.30pm
Why do we have to manage as women and girls? ANNA GEARY YESTERDAY