18 Feb 2020

Botswana senior women football national team captain, Bonang ‘Bebeto’ Otlhagile has urged other countries to emulate Chelsea Club by ‘tailoring training to menstrual cycles’.

This came after UK Telegraph reported that Chelsea Women has become the first football club in the world to tailor their training programme around players’ menstrual cycles in an attempt to enhance performance and cut down on injuries.

“Since August, Chelsea, who are second in the Women’s Super League, one point behind Manchester City, have designed players’ individual plans around the phases of their menstrual cycle. 

It is a ground-breaking initiative that – if adopted elsewhere – could revolutionise the way in which female athletes are managed,” says the report.

In that regard, Captain Otlhagile said if other countries and clubs could emulate Chelsea, women footballers could perform to their utmost best.

She said playing during menstruation can be a night mare, since they find it difficult  to fully concentrate in the game.

“Your focus will be on ‘what if I stain my kit during the game’, therefore your concentration level in the game becomes very low, and even during training it is very difficult to do some of the exercises,” she said.

International Working Group (IWG) on Women and Sport executive board member, Game Mothibi said this was a welcome development in sport.

“I see other football teams following this good example and eventually all other sporting codes. 

This is a great development in sport and for women and sport,” she said.

Mothibi said they had long called for women’s needs to be accommodated and in order for them to enjoy and consume sport the same way as men, it was when they were accepted as women and were not expected to play, or behave like men in sport.

She said while the move was based on improving performance of the team, it would also be good strategy to retain women and to help women have more interest in the game

“It’s a welcome development and it’s exciting that football in general is coming alive to addressing issues affecting women and girls in sport and they are effectively doing so,” she said.

 Football for women, she said, was growing and improving in the world in general, adding that  credit goes to FIFA and all other football structures who were  improving their ways to accommodate women in the sport.

“A call is therefore going out to our mother body in sport in Botswana that we are at an advantage that we hosted women and sport at international level, we integrated with other partners to assist us to address women and sport issues in Botswana and we are the custodian of a world legacy, The Botswana Big 5 Legacy,” she said. ENDS