Menstrual cycle and training: what coaches rarely accommodate but should.

Your 14-year-old came home from football on Tuesday night and went straight to her room. Day one of her period. The coach had run fitness with sprint repeats, she had done all of them, she had said nothing. She is now in bed with a hot water bottle and the door closed. You are standing in the kitchen with your hand on the kettle, angry at a system that asks your child to perform on the worst day of her month and pretend nothing is happening.