Experiences and perceptions of the menstrual cycle within women’s professional soccer: A qualitative case study

Anderson, R, Rollo, I, Jackman, PC, Martin, D, Randell, RK, Twist, C ORCID: 0000-0001-6168-0378 and Moss, S ORCID: 0000-0002-0231-2708 Experiences and perceptions of the menstrual cycle within women’s professional soccer: A qualitative case study. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal. ISSN 1063-6161 (Accepted)

Text Experiences and perceptions of the menstrual cycle within women’s professional soccer- A qualitative case study.pdf - Accepted Version Access Restricted Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (431kB)

Abstract

The menstrual cycle (MC) is a biopsychosocial process, yet few studies have examined these different dimensions simultaneously, particularly amongst coaches and youth athletes. This study explored experiences and perceptions of the MC among professional and development soccer players and coaches within one professional women’s club.
Using a qualitative case study design, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight professional female players (Mage = 26 ± 4 years), eight development female players (Mage = 18 ± 1 years), and eight coaches (5 males, 3 females; Mage = 35 ± 6 years).
Through qualitative content analysis, we interpreted that players experienced a range of MC-related symptoms, with some differences between professional and development players, including type and severity. Players and coaches discussed a variety of strategies they felt could alleviate symptoms and manage the perceived performance-related impacts. Strategies included managing the perceived increased injury risk during menses, for which differences were reported between each groups. In addition to symptomology and perceived injury risk, unpleasant psychological responses were also associated with wearing white shorts, with requests to change kit colours. All three groups highlighted that despite a normalisation of conversation pertaining to the MC, a sex bias does remain, with players expressing a preference for communicating with females.
Our findings extend understanding of the beliefs and attitudes concerning the MC within the ecosystem of a professional soccer club. The novel insights produced can be used to inform the development of age-appropriate educational programmes and promotion of sport-wide policy changes to better support female soccer players.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1699 Other Studies in Human Society; 4207 Sports science and exercise; 4405 Gender studies
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Human Kinetics
Date of acceptance:	3 July 2026
Date Deposited:	02 Oct 2026 16:01
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2026 16:01
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29514

View Item