ATU Galway science student wins top award at national Sure conference for her presentation on the impact of menstrual cycle on athletic performance

ATU 2022 Science graduate Colette Collins has won a prestigious national award, the “2022 SURE Network Award for Best Oral Presentation”, at this year’s Science Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Network Conference for her research presentation entitled, “Exploring the relationship between the menstrual cycle and markers of physical performance in intercounty Ladies Gaelic Football player”.

The event was jointly hosted by Technological University Dublin (TUD) and South-East Technological University (SETU), Carlow, in October (2022).

For the study, 20 inter-county players were recruited during the pre-season training phase.

All players completed a detailed online survey. Two distinct phases of the menstrual cycle were subsequently identified, the early follicular phase (day 1-5) and the mid-luteal phase (20-25). Over the next month, the participants were tested during these two phases, via a 20m sprint test and a maximal jump height test.  Overall, the participants had a significantly slower sprint time in the early follicular phase in comparison to the mid-luteal phase with no difference in jump height observed. 

“Qualitatively, all players reported experiencing menstrual cycle symptoms and 50% believed that these symptoms affected their playing performance,” says Colette. “In addition, the qualitative survey analysis highlighted the lack of player awareness or understanding of the potential impact of the menstrual cycle on sport. Furthermore, despite the prevalence of symptoms, only 15% of players had previously discussed this issue with their coach. Players also declined to highlight recurrent concerns regarding sufficient changing and sanitary facilities at matches.” says Colette. “The findings of this study indicated that women’s health should be considered during formal reviews of athlete performance and strategies should be implemented to encourage more open communication between coaches and their athletes. Lastly, it is clear that both coaches and players would benefit from educational training on the potential physiological impact of the menstrual cycle phases on athlete performance.”

Colette, from Carrowmore Lacken, Co Mayo, completed her final year B.Sc. (Hons) in Sport and Exercise Science in June 2022 and graduated last month (November 2022). She was one of 61 students from six different Higher Education institutes around Ireland to present their research projects to a national audience of over 400 final year undergraduate students. 

“Completing this research was an eye opener from start to finish”, she says. “The taboo surrounding the menstrual cycle is still evidently present in today’s society at all levels in sport. It has spiked a major passion within me for menstrual cycle specific research in sport and I hope to continue to progress the literature in this area going forward. A huge thank you to my supervisor Dr Siobhan Leahy for her help and guidance throughout this process”.

Dr Siobhan Leahy, ATU Galway-Mayo Department of Sport, Exercise & Nutrition, who supervised Colette’s research said: “Colette’s achievement in winning this award is just reward for a huge amount of work that went into the planning and conduct of her project. This is a hugely important area of the research with the potential to inform planning of training programs and phases for female athletes competing at all levels”.

Dr Therese Montgomery, ATU Galway-Mayo lecturer and chair of the National SURE Network says: “I wish to congratulate Collette and her supervisor Dr Leahy on their excellent and timely research. I wish Collette well as she prepares to present this research at the World Conference of Undergraduate Research (WorldCUR) taking place in the UK, April 2022, as kindly sponsored by the Department of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition in ATU Galway-Mayo in further recognition of Collette’s significant achievement at the SURE Conference.

“It was wonderful to see the high level of student engagement from ATU Galway students at the conference this year. In fact, eight of the 61 national research presentations were by ATU Galway students, thus highlighting the breadth and diversity of research excellence supported by our academic staff taking place at undergraduate level here on our Galway campus. The annual research conference is only one of the great research initiatives taking place within the SURE Network and further information on each of our different projects may be found on the SURE Network website here”

Dr Lisa Ryan, Head of the Department of Sport, Exercise & Nutrition at ATU Galway-Mayo recently organised a “Women in Sport’ event as part of Galway Science and Technology Festival and said that ‘we are proud of Colette’s achievement not only in winning this prestigious award but also for shining a light on some of the unique needs of females in sport.”

About the SURE conference

This was the Fifth annual SURE Network undergraduate research conference and the first to return to a in person format following two national virtual conferences in 2020 and 2021. The SURE Network was formed in 2016 by academics from 11 different Institutes of Higher Education (HEI’s) around Ireland interested in the promotion of research awareness and practice at third level in STEM.  



ENDS

Issued by Regina Daly, Atlantic TU Communications

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