England’s footballers start confidently in their home European Championship. After the game, the “Lionesses” address a problem and ask their outfitter to solve it. The professional athletes do not want to have to worry about anything during their period.
The English footballers are discussing an outfit change after the opening success at the home European Championship. You don’t want to play with white pants anymore in the future. The reason for this: menstruation. A topic that is rarely discussed publicly in professional sports, and which has now been raised publicly by female athletes at major events for the second time in just a few days. Tennis player Alicia Barnett had previously spoken openly about the stress during the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon. It is traditionally played all in white. Barnett had brought up a change to the strict dress code rules at the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament.
National soccer player Beth Mead, who scored the hugely acclaimed 1-0 for the “Lionesses” (the lionesses) in the opening game against Austria in front of 68,800 spectators in a sold-out Old Trafford, confessed: “It’s very nice to appear all in white. But at one stage of the month it’s impractical for us women.” Within the team, playing attire is a big issue and should be dealt with quickly. “We’re dealing with it the best we can. We’ve discussed it as teams and passed it on to Nike,” Mead said, “hopefully they can change that.” What color do you think is suitable? “I’m pretty relaxed about that,” Mead said. “When I play for my country I don’t care what I wear.”
At least Mead’s teammate Georgia Stanway doesn’t see the white shorts as a hindrance to performance and also not detrimental to the focus on the game: “Once the adrenaline kicks in, you could be naked and you don’t care anymore. When you’re on the pitch, you forget everything.” , said Stanway, who will play for FC Bayern in the Bundesliga in the future. “I think we have a good doctor who is happy to take care of us.” If and when the footballers can hope not to have to wear white pants anymore? Not clear. Incidentally, menstruation is playing an increasingly important role in competitive sports. As the “Bild” reports, clubs like FC Chelsea and FC Bayern are already aligning their training with the cycle of the players.
Tennis player Barnett had spoken out in favor of breaking up encrusted clothing specifications on the lawn classic. “Some traditions could be changed,” she told Britain’s PA news agency. She thinks the Wimbledon custom of wearing white is great, and the players dealt with it very well. But Barnett stressed: “Having your period during games is difficult enough, but then wearing white isn’t easy.”
The 28-year-old spoke openly about her experiences. “During qualifying I had my period and the first few days were really tough, I was pretty stressed out by it,” said Barnett. That definitely affected her game. “Your body feels looser, your tendons are loosening up, sometimes you feel a lot more tired, sometimes your coordination feels really bad, and I feel really down and I’m having a hard time motivating myself.” Try to play good tennis. “But it’s really difficult when you’re menstruating and you’re feeling bloated and tired.”
She thinks it’s great that this discussion is now happening, said the 107th in the double world rankings. “Why should we be afraid to talk about it? I know men aren’t afraid to talk about a lot of things,” Barnett said. She hopes the taboo will continue to be eased by players talking about it. This could also lead to funding for training methods that are more geared towards women, including in tennis.
