Female athletes: Balancing performance with healthy growth

Every female athlete, regardless of age, needs to understand the benefits and risks of professional sports training. This is extremely important to balance achievements while ensuring health.
Currently, there are millions of young women around the world participating in sports such as: Football, track and field, volleyball, hockey, volleyball and racquet. At the highest levels in these sports, young female athletes have brought home Olympic medals, set world records, won championships and dominated the field.
In the United States, the number of girls playing sports in high school has increased tenfold since 1971, when less than 300,000 girls participated in sports. This increase was in part due to the passage of federal law in 1972 that was introduced to protect women from discrimination in federally funded educational activities, including sports.
For young female athletes and their mentors: Parents, coaches must understand both the benefits and risks of coaching for performance. When girls put their bodies to the limits of exercise, it can seriously affect healthy physical development, especially during the critical years of adolescence.

Sport is really a form of exercise with many health benefits, especially for girls and adult women. Some of the benefits that sports bring such as: improved fitness, increased muscle mass, better eating habits....
Besides, female athletes also increase their athletic ability. Social and emotional aspects such as:
Interaction with teammates and coaches can sharpen social skills. Discipline in each sport helps promote feelings of control, competence and self-esteem. Studies have also shown that young female athletes often avoid behaviors that do not bring good benefits such as smoking, drinking alcohol and having sex often or early. Female athletes were also less likely to attempt to lose weight. In addition, participating in sports can also have a positive impact on academic performance. Athletes often score well and have higher graduation rates than women who don't participate in sports.
MORE: Importance of nutrition for female athletes

Besides the benefits that sport brings, it also comes with some potential risks. Especially for girls and young women who regularly compete at higher levels. In particular, elite athletes can train for several hours a day. As the body's demands increase, there is a risk of both immediate and long-term health problems.
One of the causes of health problems can be inadequate nutrition. With intense exercise, the amount of calories (energy) burned can exceed the calories consumed through eating. Constantly changing the body's energy balance leads to changes in hormone production, which has serious health consequences such as irregular periods and weak bones.
Chronic caloric deficiency tends to appear most commonly in girls or young women who compete in slimming sports such as marathon running, dancing, gymnastics and figure skating. According to sports medicine parlance, female athletes are at risk for one of the following three diseases, even a combination of all three conditions: lack of calories, irregular menstruation, and weak bones. Accordingly, intense physical training can also set the stage for other problems. Any competitive sport carries a higher risk of injury such as stress fractures, knee problems, and foot and ankle injuries. Not getting enough calories for the body also contributes to weak bones and fractures.
Intense and long-term exercise is a cause of temporary weakening of the immune system. This means that athletes who participate in intense sporting activities are more susceptible to colds, flu, or certain other infections.
MORE: Menstrual problems in young female athletes

Both male and female athletes have unique nutritional and training needs depending on the type of sport you choose. However, not all female athletes receive the right information to help them understand how to stay healthy while staying fit during the game.
Most teenagers and adults have misconceptions about nutritional needs for exercise and activity. Research has shown that teenage female athletes in particular are not aware of the risks associated with overtraining. For example, an often overlooked warning sign of an underlying health condition such as irregular periods, amenorrhea...
To ensure girls who play sports develop a healthy and normal way, Parents and coaches need to keep their kids informed about balancing achievement and healthy growth.

Reference source: mayoclinic.org