I gaped in fear. I couldn't comprehend what was happening. I took a quick sweep through the stairs to the ground floor. It was the Easter Eve of 2021. I had gone over to my sister's place in preparation for our 6-hour journey to Kabale from Kampala. We intended to have Easter as a family. Thoughts rushed through my mind. I wasn't sure if this was something I should tell anybody about. The shame! But again, if shame has magnitude, the event's occurrence must have been more shameful than its narration. I was on the last day of my period. I had evening training at the Makerere Main grounds. Before heading to the court, I had changed into another pad to take me through the evening workout. Little did I realize that the flaps soon gave way to the physicality of the evening. A realization that I came to almost 3 weeks after its occurrence. This was after I opened up to a couple of friends about how I lost a pad while wearing it. A story that didn't make sense at all. Imagine the shock on your face when you arrive home to take a shower and only to realize that your inner garment is not there! I almost came to terms with the fact that witchcraft is real.
An evening at the Makerere Main Grounds
Menstruation is the monthly shedding of the uterine walls. It has diverse effects on one's psychological and physical being. These vary from one individual to another, such as loss of confidence, anxiety, emotion or mood swings … cramps, nausea, pimples, and loss of appetite. It's normal to have any of the above effects and the others that may be unique to one person.
However typical and natural menstruation is, it is one of the least discussed or freely engaged topics. Sometime back, I picked up the minds of some male colleagues in the basketball fraternity. Here is what they had to say.
"No! No! I can never allow a girl I am training to tell me about her periods."
"By the way, all the girls on my team usually have their periods towards the end of the month. So I think all women have their periods when the month is ending."
You read that right! We can't encourage sex education in our education system to be freely discussed but make menstruation a secret topic. As a male coach who may have their own reservations about discussing these issues, how open do you expect your players to be to you about such matters if there is an issue? There is nothing wrong with your player informing you that she can't play as she is heavily cramping. It's all about giving the conversation the right direction. Maybe a statement of affirmation to let her know that you understand what she is going through. Coach-athlete relationships are sealed by those small things that an athlete feels confident in telling you that would have instead remained unknown.
Secondly, not every girl gets their period towards the end of the month. It differs, and any day is a good day for one to be on their period.
Having more of these conversations in those spaces that were formerly green about menses will significantly eliminate the myths and misconceptions built around periods. It will actually create a better ground for coach-athlete understanding.
One of the questions I have focused on in the past two years of my research about menstruation is to understand how confident girls/women are while on their period. Like what happened to me, individuals have shared stories of staining while in the team Jersey, and most have expressed the fear of loose flaps leading to the dropping of the pad. The playing ground doesn't seem a safe space yet to acknowledge the naturalistic being of one having their period.
Consequently, sports centers need to provide safe, clean, and proper restrooms to enable women/girls to maintain clean and hygienic menstruation. A number of facilities still lack the element of offering appropriate and decent restrooms for the women or girls to change or clean up.
Nevertheless, several policies and establishments are coming into play that make the playing field safer for women's sports. Many International teams have taken up the use of technology such as period trackers to enable athletes and the coaches to understand their flow and plan accordingly. For example, women athletes are likely to get injured during the ovulation phase; hence the workload during this period can be planned accordingly. Spain recently passed a bill to have paid menstrual leave, joining other countries like Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Zambia, and Indonesia. The use of muscle tights in many sports also provides extra support to the women athletes who use pads and have a fear of loose flaps. These and many more policies make the playing field better for women/girls.
Finally, I have been running a drive dubbed BigFoot Pad Drive. This is in celebration of my twenty-second birthday, and it aims at donating pads to girls through the Score Beyond Organization. The drive comes to an end today but let's finish strong. I am highly indebted to you for those who have supported the drive, and the drive is still open till the end of today. Let's finish strong.
Happy International Menstrual Hygiene Day 2022. Stand proud!
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