… “No one likes to go through a season like we had last year,” she recalled. “I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. It’s just hard to keep having fun and enjoy what you’re doing. Being able to go to Australia and kind of find that love for the game again and have fun again was really big for me.”
It took McCaskill some time to process the experience of going from the pinnacle of the game in college and on the international level to a rough year in her rookie professional season.
“[Eventually], I was actually able to take it all in and realize what had happened over the past year,” she said. “It was definitely a roller coaster—a lot of highs and a lot of lows, but definitely a learning experience.”
Hayley Carruthers is one of the biggest revelations in British elite distance running in years. Progressing from a complete novice of the sport less than 18 months ago to becoming one of the UK’s strongest endurance athletes gunning for a GB vest, her rise to the top has been meteoric.
Inspired by her siblings, senior Melissa Lord developed a love for the game of tennis and found a home at Stanford. In her final season, she’s seeking a third championship ring after clinching the Cardinal’s 2018 NCAA crown. [video, 3:55]
Coach & Athletic Director, Kim Ledford and Chris Hobbs from
… Ask any athletic administrator about the goals for their department, and it’s likely that the weight room is on the list. Whether it’s a new space, equipment or hiring a certified strength coach, athletic administrators are keenly aware that strength training is a key component of maximizing a student-athlete’s performance. Wise leaders take special measures to make sure that female student-athletes are just as engaged in the pursuit of athletic excellence in the weight room as male student-athletes. Athletic administrators and strength coaches can utilize these four ‘Cs’ to level the playing field for females in the weight room.
The most prominent effects after unaccustomed eccentric exercise are muscle damage, muscle soreness, strength loss, and higher concentrations of muscle proteins in the plasma. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate sex-related differences in these acute effects. A systematic literature search in MEDLINE following the PRISMA guidelines was performed. Inclusion criteria were the difference in absolute outcomes between sexes in eccentric muscle strength, strength loss after eccentric exercise, blood concentrations of creatine kinase (CK), and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Results for maximal eccentric torque and CK data were pooled using a random-effect meta-analysis. A meta-regression was conducted to explain heterogeneity. Based on the 23 included trials, men showed significantly higher absolute eccentric strength. No sex-related differences were detected when normalizing strength for body mass, cross-sectional area of the muscle, or fat-free mass. Women displayed a tendency toward greater relative strength loss immediately after exercise. The absolute CK concentrations of men were significantly higher after exercise-induced muscle damage. No significant difference was found between sexes in DOMS. Untrained men and women display similar responses in all measures of relative muscle strength and DOMS. Apart from the enzymatic activity after exercise and the levels of absolute eccentric torque, there is no evidence for sex-related differences immediately after eccentric exercise. Therefore, eccentric training might have the same impact on men and women. One potential sex difference with practical relevance would be the possible difference in fatigue pattern immediately after eccentric exercise.
Internal and external rotational knee stability is essential for sports performance and excessive rotation can lead to injury but is rarely assessed in injury risk analysis. The objectives of this study were to determine the between-session reliability, discriminant validity and potential sex differences of a dynamic postural stability (DPS) assessment that challenges transverse plane knee stability. Thirty-six individuals (21.7 ± 2.6 years) including 19 females (20.8 ± 1.3 years) and 17 males (22.6 ± 3.4 years) participated. We measured DPS during rotational jump tasks (RJT) over 2 test sessions utilising a force plate. Kinematic (motion analysis) and electromyographic measures were compared to a traditional anterior-posterior jump task (APJT) to assess the discriminant validity and comparisons were performed between sexes. The intraclass correlation coefficients were between 0.67 and 0.86. Significant differences in transverse rotation angle at initial contact transverse rotational velocity of the knee were observed between the 2 different RJT and between the RJT and the traditional APJT. No sex differences were observed. The new assessment had good between-session reliability and offers a different challenge than a traditional jump task. This RJT may offer a novel assessment of knee joint rotational stability in conjunction with traditional measures.
… we asked you, Strava’s female athletes, how your training and exercise is impacted by your periods. Over 14,000 of you, from around the globe, responded. And you told us some pretty incredible things.*
It turns out that, as young women, we’re not often taught how to navigate the world of exercise and periods. Over 70% of you told us that you’d never received any education about your menstrual cycle and exercise. In fact, we often think of periods and exercise as enemies, fighting against one another, rather than working together. But amazingly, 78% of you said that exercise actually reduces the symptoms related to your menstrual cycle. Pretty cool!
There are 85 Category 1 to 3 Academies in England, employing hundreds of full-time coaches.
Of these, just six are women: Newcastle’s Natalie Henderson, Swansea’s Nia Davies, Sarah Lowden and Shelley Strange at Reading, Manisha Tailor at QPR and Claire Lynne Smith at Stoke City.
As far as TGG is aware, there are no female coaches working full-time in men’s first-team football. Despite being part of a very rare species – a female coach in the male game – Stoke’s Smith says the Under-11 boys she coaches barely notice her gender.
Women's Sports Foundation, The She Network, Susan Shapcott from
s a social scientist who works in sports, I know the power of perceptions and beliefs. For example, how we perceive athletic ability – regardless of how we define it – predicts motivation, resilience and well-being. This is not unique to athletes; coaches’ perception of ability correlates with their interactions with athletes.
In my research, I study how changing golf coaches’ perception of ability can make them more effective at recruiting and retaining players in the sport. I’m particularly interested in how effective coaching can increase the number of female adult recreational players through game-development programs.
… A new Michigan State University study, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, now has proof that women drivers, even with 10 years less experience, react and respond just as well as their male counterparts on the race track.
The research also puts to rest another controversial aspect of the discussion involving the menstrual cycle. Yup…the dreaded period.
“Heat strain is the primary stressor in racing. Women naturally have an elevated core temperature during a certain phase of their menstrual cycle. The misperception was that they would potentially fatigue faster and become a safety risk to other drivers,” said David Ferguson, an assistant professor who has spent 15 years studying the physiology of race car drivers. “Based on our results, I’m here to say that’s just not true.”
Research on sex and gender differences — research that spans basic studies on cells to large, clinical trials involving thousands of patients — aims to understand health differences between males and females at all levels. The knowledge will improve health for both women and men. Get the facts here about how sex and gender influences health and disease.
Female patients undergoing surgery for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) often experience inferior clinical outcomes and higher failure rates when compared with male patients. The influence of athletic status on hip arthroscopic outcomes in female patients, however, is unclear. Purpose:
To compare patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of athletic and nonathletic female patients undergoing hip arthroscopic surgery for FAIS, and to determine the return-to-sports rate in the athlete group. Study Design:
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods:
Two-year PROs were assessed in female patients who had undergone hip arthroscopic surgery for FAIS by a single surgeon. Patients who self-identified as athletes were compared with nonathletes. Preoperative and postoperative PRO scores including the Hip Outcome Score–Activities of Daily Living (HOS-ADL), Hip Outcome Score–Sport-Specific (HOS-SS), modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), and visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and satisfaction were analyzed and compared between athletes and nonathletes. Subanalysis was performed based on patient age and body mass index (BMI). Results:
A total of 330 female patients undergoing hip arthroscopic surgery for FAIS were identified. Of these, 221 patients identified as athletes (mean age, 29.1 ± 11.1 years; mean BMI, 23.0 ± 3.5 kg/m2) and 109 as nonathletes (mean age, 39.3 ± 11.4 years; mean BMI, 27.8 ± 5.8 kg/m2). Both groups demonstrated improvements in HOS-ADL, HOS-SS, mHHS, VAS for pain, and VAS for satisfaction scores (P < .001 for all). Athletes had significantly higher postoperative PRO scores compared with nonathletes (P < .001 for all). A 1:1 matched-pair subanalysis of 97 athletes and 97 nonathletes controlling for age and BMI indicated that these relationships held independently of potential demographic confounders (P < .001 for all). The number of patients meeting the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and patient acceptable symptomatic state (PASS) for the HOS-ADL, HOS-SS, and mHHS was significantly higher in athletes aged ≤25 years versus those aged >25 years and for athletes versus nonathletes (P < .05 for all). Further, 189 of 194 athletes returned to sports at a mean of 6.0 ± 3.9 months postoperatively, with 93.7% reporting returning to the same or higher level of competition.
Conclusion:
Among female patients undergoing hip arthroscopic surgery for FAIS, patients considered athletes achieved superior clinical outcomes compared with patients considered nonathletes. In addition, younger female athletes had higher rates of achieving the MCID and PASS for all PRO measures.
Bianca Andreescu is really good, right now. Still a few months away from her 19th birthday, she has collected her first Premier Mandatory title, beaten a few top-ten players (including Angelique Kerber twice), and climbed to 7th in the Elo ratings. She is the only teenager in the WTA top 30 and one of only five in the top 100.
The burning question about Andreescu isn’t how good she is, it’s how good she could become. It’s easy to look at the best 18-year-old in the game and imagine her becoming the best 19-year-old, best 20-year-old, and so on, until she’s at her peak age and she’s the best player in the world, period. As the sport in general has gotten older, teenage champions have become rarer, so she seems all the more destined for success. But it isn’t that simple: Prospects get injured, opponents learn how to beat them, they peak early and fizzle out. Tennis history is littered with teen starlets who failed to reach their potential.
The women’s hockey landscape just massively changed as the CWHL will cease operations on May 1. So here’s what we know — mostly what we don’t know — about the future.
What does this mean for the players, coaches, and staff?
The CWHL had six teams with at least 25 players per roster, two or three coaches, a general manager, and many more behind the scenes. That’s more than 150 players, 12 coaches, six general managers, and hundreds more without a team.
With numerous other leagues around the world — including the NWHL in the United States — players will hopefully find new teams. However, the current financial landscape of women’s hockey really complicates that.
Stanford Graduate School of Business, Áine Doris from
… New research from Stanford researchers Shelley J. Correll, Sarah A. Soule, and Elise Tak suggests that gender stereotyping significantly impacts the way we evaluate products. And in traditionally male-oriented markets — beers, power tools, or automobile parts, for instance — goods made by women can stack up pretty negatively.
“Our research suggests that customers don’t value and are less inclined to buy traditionally male products if they think they’ve been manufactured by women,” says Soule. “There’s an assumption that your woman-made craft beer, screwdriver, or roof rack just won’t be as good.”
Phoenix Business Journal, Cronkite News, Joshua Shure from
NFL owners, executives and coaches gathered in Phoenix recently for the annual league meeting to discuss league business and potential rule changes on and off the field.
One of the discussions pertained to diversity in football operations and front office jobs by improving and enforcing current National Football League policies. More specifically, is the league fulfilling its commitment to look at female candidates?
… As team owners weigh the pros and cons of various locations, one complicated factor is the role of gender: Are optimal stadium locations different for men’s and women’s sports? The U.S. has two professional team sports with both men’s and women’s leagues: basketball and soccer. Comparing the locations of the nation’s respective professional basketball and soccer leagues, NBA, WNBA, MLS, and WPS teams within the same metropolitan areas shows that stadium locations do indeed vary by gender—which carries both financial and symbolic consequences.
Can you shoot from downtown if you play in the ‘burbs?
In metropolitan areas with both men’s and women’s teams, men’s arenas are generally located closer to city centers, while women’s teams often play in more distant suburbs. All NBA teams in the sample metro areas play within a few miles of the city center (Figure 1). In only four of these metro areas, the WNBA team shares the NBA team’s stadium. But in most cases, the WNBA arena is located farther from the city center. Both MLS and WPS arenas are more decentralized than NBA arenas, with women’s soccer teams having the highest average distance to city centers.
Although the American players negotiated gains in salary and travel and medical benefits two years ago, the “groundbreaking support” for girls and women’s hockey promised by U.S.A. Hockey in the contract has been slow to develop. The Women’s High Performance Advisory Group created in the deal has been largely invisible. Minimal promotion for the team and a lack of organizational diversity in U.S.A. Hockey also raise concerns from players and female alumni that little has changed.
“People are drooling for women’s hockey,” forward Kendall Coyne Schofield said in an interview late last year. “But the product we deliver isn’t being shown. There’s been a lot of lost opportunities, a lot of opportunities that haven’t been capitalized on.”
