HPSNZ was one of four sports organisations to sign the Global Alliance for Female Athletes (GAFA) which will see leading health practitioners and sports scientists from the four nations join forces to help female athletes overcome prevalent health issues to reach their full sporting potential.
In a statement announcing the partnership, HPSNZ Athlete Performance Support Lead Dr Helen Fulcher said the prioritisation of women’s health in sport is long overdue.
“We know female athlete research, knowledge and education lags that of male athletes globally, so bringing together international expertise will help change this inequality,” said Helen.
A broad range of benefits for female athletes and their coaches will result from the partnership. “They will be able to access and utilise the most up-to-date information that is not always available in a digestible or translatable form.
“Every nation will go on to implement the knowledge in specific ways – those are some of the national secrets to achieving success – however, having a baseline of collective public information grows the world stage for all,” she said.
Athletes, coaches and support staff will be able to access world leading-evidence, performance insights and best-practice information all in one place – for free.
Five-time Olympian Luuka Jones said in an interview with LockerRoom’s Suzanne McFadden that the initiative is a gamechanger for women’s sport. “As a young woman coming into my sport, I knew nothing about my body.
“But having access to this information will hopefully create better experiences for females in sport, so they can learn more about their bodies, and how to stay healthy when you’re pushing yourself to the limits to train and perform.”
HPSNZ joins the Australian Institute of Sport, the UK Sports Institute and United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee in the Global Alliance for Female Athletes.
To read Suzanne McFadden’s LockerRoom story click here.
