Emma Ross: Talking more openly about women’s bodies in sport

S10 Ep 6

Today’s guest is transforming the way women talk about their bodies.

Dr Emma Ross is the former Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport where she led the smartHER progamme, educating coaches and athletes about the female body in high performance sport.

Since then, Emma’s worked with everyone from elite athletes and top coaches through to head teachers and schoolgirls - passionate about making sport a better environment for all women.

In 2020 Emma co-founded The Well HQ, an organisation that educates and empowers women to understand their bodies and use that knowledge to thrive in sport, health and life.

In recognition of all she is doing for the wellbeing of women and girls, in 2021 Emma received the Sunday Times Sports Women of the Year Changemaker Award.

In this important episode we explore the lack of female focused sports science research and why that matters for women of all ages.

Emma shares her journey from education to applied sports science at the English Institute of Sport to all she is doing today with the Well HQ.

We talk about the challenges facing male coaches working with young female athletes, how some sports are finally having conversations about women’s bodies that have been deemed taboo for decades but also recognise that one football club talking openly about tracking players’ periods doesn’t mean we’ve solved the problem across sport.

It’s such a powerful conversation and Emma’s passion to ensure sport is something that all women can enjoy throughout life is infectious.

Find out more about Emma and her work at https://www.thewell-hq.com/

Executive Producer: Sam Walker

Sound Production: Rory Auskerry

A Fearless Women production

A big thank you to our partners, Sport England who support The Game Changers podcast through the National Lottery.