Monitoring Considerations for the Female Athlete

ABSTRACT Athlete monitoring typically incorporates assessing the objective and subjective workload and measurements of wellness or recovery of the athlete. These methods are effective regardless of the sex of the athlete but oftentimes do not include assessment of the female athlete's menstrual cycle (MC). Evidence from teams and individuals indicates that naturally cycling athletes and hormone contraceptive (HC) users may experience some variation in their performance and wellbeing. Female athletes are more likely to have worse subjective stress compared with their male counterparts, and sleep quality and overall wellness can serve as predictors of their daily external load. This paper aims to discuss the considerations to begin and advance the monitoring of female athletes. Coaches will be provided with tools for collecting information about an athlete's training and game performance, wellness, MC, menstrual-related symptoms, HC use, and assessing the potential interplay of all these variables. Discussion of building the team of interested stakeholders and experts for assessing the data will also be provided. Information provided will be useful for teams early in their stages of athlete monitoring, as well as provide concepts for progressing how coaches and teams can advance their monitoring.