I just became the coach of my first swim team, and I, being a male, am having a hard time with the whole period thing. My girls are middle school level, and a little shy about the subject, as am I. Now, I know that you can swim on your period by using a tampon, but they cringed at the idea. However, on a 20 girl team, I've got as many as 6-7 girls sitting out daily because of it. I know that's far FAR too high. I'm about this close to going out and buying a box of tampons to shove in their face if they don't dress.
So my questions are:
How necessary is it that you wear a tampon? Is it an every day thing? are there times when it's worse than others?
And, how can I easily make the lives of the swimmers who don't swim (and keep in mind it has to be for a group of 6-7 people) a living hell. I need a dry land work out that can be done on the pool deck that takes little effort to watch (so I can coach the other girls) and something they can't really slack off - I keep giving them push ups and they barely go down.
I really can't think of anything outside of making the actual swim session fun, so if you guys have ideas on how to do that too it might work, too. It need to work on something important though.
Also, the conventional wisdom about a "period" lasting a week is bunk. Most teens bleed significantly for a day or two or maybe three, and then the flow tapers off quite substantially. Even if I could believe a kid needed to skip practice one or two days because of heavy menstrual flow, or cramps, a week is ridiculous. If the kid is really bleeding significantly for a week she needs to see a doctor.
Periods do last a week long and can be extremely heavy, cause stomach cramps and can therefore be difficult to manage - also make one feel weak. I just had to deal with it when I was young. I also know a few friends who were even worse than myself. The contraceptive pill eventually changed all of this for me - it literally cut down the flow to 2-3 days instead of 5-6. It has since been very easy to manage and really not an issue anymore.
If a group of girls are all off at the same time, then they are just skipping for the sake of it surely, - no two women will react the same or cope the same way with their period. And not all of them will be off for a full week! - so it would seem these girls are making excuses.
I do have immense sympathy for those that do suffer heavy prolonged periods, but I also have no sympathy whatsoever for those that use it as an excuse to skip sports activities/work/etc! Time to sort it out like you are doing.
Also, the conventional wisdom about a "period" lasting a week is bunk. Most teens bleed significantly for a day or two or maybe three, and then the flow tapers off quite substantially. Even if I could believe a kid needed to skip practice one or two days because of heavy menstrual flow, or cramps, a week is ridiculous. If the kid is really bleeding significantly for a week she needs to see a doctor.
Periods do last a week long and can be extremely heavy, cause stomach cramps and can therefore be difficult to manage - also make one feel weak. I just had to deal with it when I was young. I also know a few friends who were even worse than myself. The contraceptive pill eventually changed all of this for me - it literally cut down the flow to 2-3 days instead of 5-6. It has since been very easy to manage and really not an issue anymore.
If a group of girls are all off at the same time, then they are just skipping for the sake of it surely, - no two women will react the same or cope the same way with their period. And not all of them will be off for a full week! - so it would seem these girls are making excuses.
I do have immense sympathy for those that do suffer heavy prolonged periods, but I also have no sympathy whatsoever for those that use it as an excuse to skip sports activities/work/etc! Time to sort it out like you are doing.
