What I Took Away from the Women in Sport Congress: A Sport Psychologist’s Perspective

Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending the Women in Sport Congress — two days of

presentations, panels, and conversations about the state of women in sport in Australia and beyond. It was great to connect with so many likeminded health professionals and people working in sporting spaces. I feel as if I was inducted into the world of rugby league, connecting with many of the allied health professionals working in that space!

I left feeling inspired, challenged, and, in some moments, quietly unsettled. There are so many incredibly impressive women doing incredibly impressive things in their every day lives - female fight jet pilots, Australia's only astronaut, elite athletes training through pregnancy. This blog is my attempt to share the key themes that stayed with me, and to offer a perspective shaped by my work in sport psychology.

The Research Gap Is Real — and It Matters

Multiple sessions called attention to the significant lack of high-quality research in women’s sport science. A gap mapping project from Edith Cowan University made this visible in a sobering way: there are major gaps in how we study, define, and intervene in the physical and psychological wellbeing of female athletes, particularly those from non-white, non-Western, or marginalised backgrounds.

The ratio of male to female participants in sport science research sits around 2.2:1 (Cowley et al., 2021). For elite female athletes, the figure is worse. What this means practically is that we are often applying frameworks, tools, and interventions built from male populations to female athletes — and hoping it translates. Sometimes it does. Often, it does not. This is not a minor methodological quibble. It shapes what we know, what we recommend, and who we leave behind.

Environment Is Everything for Young Female Athletes

If there was one message woven through almost every session, it was this: the environment shapes outcomes more than talent alone. Research presented from Griffith University and other institutions made it clear that young female athletes are not dropping out of sport because they lack dedication or ability. They are dropping out because the environments they are asked to compete in are not built for them.

Up to 50% of girls drop out of sport by the age of 15. The reasons are not mysterious. Puberty happens in uniform. Changing rooms and facilities were designed without women in mind. Coaching styles often prioritise compliance over buy-in. Social connection is undervalued compared to performance output. And the voices of athletes themselves — what they want, what they need, what would keep them engaged — are rarely centred in the design of programs.

Self-determination theory tells us that people thrive when their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Coaches who foster psychological safety, offer athletes genuine choice, and treat them as complex people first and performers second see better outcomes — not just wellbeing outcomes, but performance outcomes too. A skateboarding program presented by Dr. Karlee Quinn from the Queensland Academy of Sport offered a brilliant example: when young female skateboarders were given a voice in designing their training environment and when puberty was normalised rather than treated as inconvenient, the culture shifted. The athletes thrived.

The message to coaches, parents, and organisations is clear: getting the environment right is not a soft priority. It is the foundation.

Pregnancy and Postpartum — The Guidelines Are Finally Catching Up

One of the sessions I found most current and interesting covered pregnancy and postpartum protocols for female athletes — a space where the research has historically been sparse, largely guided by fear and conservative medical advice rather than evidence.

The evidence base is growing, and it is reassuring. Athletes can generally continue to exercise throughout pregnancy. Continuing to lift weights, including at relatively high intensity, is associated with reduced pregnancy complications, not increased risk. A significant reduction in training volume during the first and second trimesters significantly increases injury risk postpartum, meaning stopping exercise can actually do more harm than continuing it carefully. Pelvic floor health, long neglected in sport medicine, is now getting serious attention, with new screening tools in development.

Perhaps most importantly, the session highlighted a critical shift in thinking: return to exercise postpartum should be based on symptoms, not time. Medical clearance at six weeks does not mean physical readiness, and the gap between the two can be significant. A seven-step progression model, based on symptom response rather than a fixed timeline, is a far more appropriate framework for athletes returning from birth.

What struck me as a sport psychologist was the enormous psychological load involved in this transition — the identity shift, the guilt, the mental health challenges, and the complex emotions around returning to performance. This space desperately needs psychological support integrated into clinical care.

Confidence in Male-Dominated Spaces

A recurring thread from CEO panels to the fighter pilot presentation to athlete voices was the experience of finding and holding confidence as a woman in a space not built for you. CEOs from Rowing Australia, Australian Cycling, and Paddling Australia reflected openly on imposter syndrome, people-pleasing, and the psychological armour required to lead in male-dominated sporting systems. Ali France was also cited in conversation, with the panel noting how high the bar is set for women to prove their competence and how readily women internalise that pressure.

Difficulties and obstacles faced by female athletes have been expressed as reasons for burnout and quitting sports due to physical and psychological pressures, with differences between genders in sports participation and dropout rates consistently disadvantaging women. Again, what struck me in these discussions was not just the structural barriers, but the psychological ones — the internal negotiations women make every day in spaces that treat their presence as conditional.

Psychological Skills Were Everywhere — But No Psychologist Presented

This is an observation that I have discussed with peers when reflecting on the congress. Across two days of presentations, the language of sport psychology was everywhere. Speakers talked about resilience, self-efficacy, self-determination, psychological safety, confidence, identity, emotional regulation, and coping. Panels discussed imposter syndrome, the mental challenges of elite performance, the psychological load of transitions, and the wellbeing needs of young athletes.

And yet not one psychologist presented.

There is something worth naming in the gap between how much psychological language was used and how absent the psychology profession was from the stage. Psychological skills are not decoration. They are not soft additions to the ‘real’ work of sport science and medicine. They are core to athlete development, retention, and wellbeing plus they require a dedicated professional discipline to implement and evaluate properly. For female athletes especially, who face layered challenges around identity, body image, social pressure, and transitions, psychological support is imperative.

What Stays With Me

The Women in Sport Congress reminded me why this work matters. Female athletes are not a niche. They are half the sporting population, and they deserve environments, research, support structures, and professional communities built with their specific needs in mind. We are making progress but there is a long way still to go. As a sport psychologist, I am constantly thinking about how I can take knowledge or experiences and apply them to the contexts that I see. There was so much knowledge shared, I'm excited to keep learning and applying that knowledge in every day practice. I left with a renewed sense of purpose and a clear conviction that psychology needs to be at the table, not just referenced from it.

References

• Cowley, E. S., et al. (2021). Invisible sportswomen: The sex data gap in sport and exercise science research. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 29(2), 104–113. https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.2021-0028

• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The what and why of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behaviour. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01

• Mountjoy, M., et al. (2023). 2023 IOC consensus statement on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs). British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57, 1073–1097. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2023-106994

• Smith, A., Ntoumanis, N., & Duda, J. L. (2010). An investigation of coach behaviours, goal motives, and implementation intentions as predictors of well-being in sport. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 32(5), 675–695. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.32.5.675