Swimming Northern Territory is proud to launch our Women’s Health initiative in conjunction with Territory Sports Medicine containing information from the Australian Institute of Sport and Swimming Australia. This program is open to all female swimmers that are members of Swimming Northern Territory, aged 11yrs and over, along with a female support person (e.g mother, guardian, coach etc.).

 

This ground-breaking grass-roots level program is intended to address many of the specific challenges, including physiological and hormonal differences that female athletes face while managing their individual health and wellbeing needs. Promoting women’s health, demystifying the secrecy around these topics and incorporating specific needs is vital in providing correct, useful information to females in the sporting arena that will increase knowledge, improve understanding and provide swimmers with the tools to deal with female specific situations, recognise symptoms and provide a level of comfort in their training and competition programs. The aim of this initiative is to allow discussion around these topics to encourage happier, stronger and empowered females that will lead to greater female retention in sports, all-round healthier lifestyles and the ability to reach their full potential in sport and life.

 

Given the breadth of information covered during this program, the Women’s Health Initiative is going to run over a 6-month timeframe, with information delivered monthly on specific topics to all female SNT members aged 11yrs and over In addition to this there will be the opportunity for you to attend a monthly seminar with a nominated support person, where the incredible women’s health experts from Territory Sports Medicine will provide further information on the select topics and foster discussion to promote increased knowledge and awareness. The topics that we are addressing throughout this program include:

 

• Pelvic Health

• Breast Health

• Body Image in Female Athletes

• Bone Health

• Low Energy Availability

• Nutrition for Female Athletes

• Puberty Development

• Normal Menstrual Cycles

• Menstrual Abnormalities 1

• Menstrual Abnormalities 2

• Endometriosis

• Contraception for female athletes

 

For our first month, we will be addressing the topics of pelvic and breast health. Below is a link to two 15-minute subject matter education modules from the AIS. In addition, we have included some fact-sheets covering the first 2 topics.

 

Pelvic Health for Female Athlete Module Link

 

Breast Health for Female Athlete Module Link

​

Factsheets

​

To support these 2 important topics, SNT and Territory Sports Medicine are conducting a Women’s Health Seminar on Friday 29th September 2023 at Parap Pool from 5.30pm until 6.30pm to discuss and provide further information. This session will be run by Women Health expert and Physiotherapist, Bridie Duggan. Entry to the seminar is free, however, so we can gauge numbers, could I please ask you submit the following registration by clicking on the link below.

 

Women’s Health Initiative Seminar 1 – Pelvic & Breast Health – Registration

 

We look forward to welcoming you and beginning on this fantastic journey of knowledge.