LET launches Performance Institute and Hormone Health Partnership with Jessica Ennis-Hill; The Olympic Champion app aims to improve performance and prevent injury by enabling female athletes to understand their menstrual cycles
Last updated: 09/11/23 at 4:48 pm
Charlie Hall (left) and Céline Potier (right), are two of hundreds of female athletes who can benefit from the LET partnership with Jessica Ennis-Hill
The Women’s European Tour and Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill have joined forces to prioritize players’ hormonal health by launching the LET Performance Institute (LETPI).
A collaboration with Ennis-Hill’s cycle mapping app Jennis gives players access to leading research and technology on how to improve their performance during each phase of the menstrual cycle.
“[Jennis] I’ve started to focus more on pregnancy and postpartum, as this is my last journey outside of sports. Olympic champion Ennis Hill said: “I learned a lot about my physiology as a woman and the hormonal changes I go through.”
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill won heptathlon gold at the 2012 London Olympics
“It evolved over the year or so from launch and this became a focus on how we can support female athletes to learn more about their bodies.
“It’s also understanding those four phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle and how you can maximize your performance through known patterns, and tap into how you personally change as a woman on a daily and monthly basis.
“The app gives you personalized education and information about your body and tailors workouts to your phases.”
India’s Diksha Dagar is a rising star in the LET, having won the Czech Open in June
The new LETPI will provide opportunities for LET athletes to work with providers in sports medicine, sports nutrition, strength and conditioning, health screening, and research and development, with the goal of being a driving force in health and performance within elite women’s sports.
“I am very much looking forward to working on the women’s golf tour,” said Ennis-Hill. “Because there is a lot of time to think [in golf]”You can be in your head, talking yourself out of takes, or thinking about the last thing that happened and not focusing on the next thing.”
In addition to striving for optimal performance, women’s hormonal health has also become a key factor in injury prevention.
Beth Mead, England and Arsenal striker, suffered a tear in her anterior cruciate ligament last November
Anterior cruciate ligament injuries plagued women’s football last season, forcing the likes of Leah Williamson and Beth Mead among others to miss the Women’s World Cup.
Preliminary studies have shown that anatomical and hormonal differences mean women are up to ten times more likely to suffer an ACL tear, with research from Texas Tech University finding that women are most at risk during the first two days of ovulation.
“When I was in the middle of my career, there was a very big focus on nutrition, psychology, biomechanics, all those different elements,” Ennis-Hill said. “There was awareness around menstrual health, but there was never a real focus.” .
Kristina Napoliova had a promising career in youth football, but was forced to stop playing after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament – the Czech is now a professional in the Turkish Super League.
“I think if you talk to a lot of female athletes from different sports, they all know that they feel very different during different stages of their cycle and different times in their lives.
“This additional education around what that means for training, how to push, how to pull back, how that impacts injuries, as well as how to create strategies around competitions and performance, is something that has really started to become a focus of my interest. I’d say in the last few years.”
Dina Asher-Smith, Eilish McColgan and Heather Watson recently spoke out about the impact of menstruation on their performance, helping to break down the stigma surrounding issues that affect all women.
After suffering muscle cramps at the 2022 European Championships, Dina Asher-Smith has called for more research into the impact of menstruation on female athletes.
“A lot of times I trained and had testing weeks where things didn’t go as I planned, and I didn’t have that full context as to why I was performing to that standard, where I expected more from myself.” Ennis Hill said.
“If I had the patterns and the data and the research behind that, it would not only give you a physical benefit, but it would also give you the psychological tolerance of not being a million miles away from where you want to be.
“There is a lack of funding and there is a huge gender data gap that needs to be addressed, because it is a huge area that can have a huge impact on performance.”
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