Artistic swimming, previously known as Synchronised Swimming, is the glamorous water sport that combines the rhythm of dance and the pointed toes of ballet with swimming. Teams of approximately eight swimmers come together with the support of their coaches to put movement to music and create a routine that tells a story, in hope of impressing their judges at competitions. However, being a heavily female-dominated sport, is it always as glamorous as it seems? 

As an artistic swimmer myself, one of the questions that I don’t receive often, but I imagine most people have probably thought about, is how do the swimmers that have periods manage their training with their “time of the month”? 

I remember when I had my first period of training; I was twelve. At the time, swimming started at 11:30 am and finished at 2 pm - which meant two and a half hours of trying to avoid turning the pool into a bloodbath. I have a strong recollection of me attempting to contact my coach in any way possible. I tried calling the club phone, texting my coach and even emailed her, but had no response. Eventually, she messaged me back and said that I could speak to her poolside before training started, which didn’t exactly help because I needed to know what to do before I got there. I remember trying to be discreet in my message about what my predicament actually was, not because I was ashamed of my period, but because it felt quite a personal part of my life that I was about to share with this lady. In the end, I decided to bite the bullet and just tell her bluntly, “I’m on my period and I don’t know what to do about swimming”. She was very understanding of the situation and said that I could still attend and stay poolside for this session. 

I believe the typical response to the situation for most people would have been to “just use a tampon”, but at 12 years old the idea of sticking an expandable piece of plastic in the space between my legs was not particularly appealing to me; in other words, I was terrified. Of course, when I arrived all of the younger children were curious as to why I was not swimming, and rather than have to explain to them that my uterus was contracting and shedding its inner lining in preparation for me to one day be pregnant in about 15 years time, I lied and told them it was a secret. All of the other girls in my team knew exactly what was going on without even asking, because as my coach had told me, “those who have them know what it's like, and those who don’t have it all to look forward to”. 

So, after some frantic Googling and a chat with my teammates, I discovered period underwear. It is commonly believed among female swimmers that the blood flow during a period stops when you get in the shower or in the pool. According to Moreland OB-GYN, the pressure of the water is enough to reduce or sometimes completely stop your period while you are in the water. My fellow teammates and I all seem to use period underwear, while some double up with tampons too, to keep themselves protected. The underwear helps to absorb any leakage in the pool, and once we get out of the pool, until we can access our preferred period product. 

After reading an article by Teen Vogue, I have also learned that many professional swimmers and water sport athletes use birth control methods (such as the contraceptive pill) to prevent their periods from falling on competition dates. Meanwhile 79% of girls and 85% of women, would rather opt out and sit on the sidelines, as found in a Dove study in 2016. Other sources also recommend using menstrual cups, menstrual discs or tampons, but it is advised to avoid using pads in the pool as they will absorb the water in the pool, before the blood. 

If you take anything from this article, please be sure that you never feel embarrassed, ashamed or weakened by your period (not to sound like those annoying Always or Tampax adverts or anything). If you do take part in any kind of sport, not necessarily just water sports, don’t let your period stop you from taking part and force you to miss out on the things you love. Personally, nothing would ever get in the way of me swimming (unless of course, it was physically impossible for me to do so). However, be aware of how you are feeling as nobody knows your body as well as you do, so don’t push yourself too far.