Manchester City Launches Her City for Female Athlete Health

Manchester City has launched ‘Her City’, a dedicated online platform designed to provide female athletes with education and support on key areas of health and wellbeing.

The website is aimed at the club’s Women’s First Team players, coaches, support staff, academy players and parents. It provides accessible information on areas of female athlete health that has historically received limited attention.

The platform is the result of a two-year project led by Director of Performance Services Emma Deakin, Physical Performance Scientist Rosie Anderson, and PhD student and First Team Nutritionist Sarah Malone. The project draws on research into menstrual, pelvic and breast health, as well as nutrition.

The team developed the online platform to turn findings from the research into a practical resource that can be used by athletes and those supporting them. Her City is designed to offer information based on individual needs, questions and health concerns.

Key Highlights:

• Manchester City has launched Her City to support female athlete health education
• The platform provides expert resources on menstrual, pelvic and breast health and nutrition
• Her City offers tailored resources for players, academy athletes, coaches and parents

The website addresses all four of these in succinct sub-sections, with peer reviewed information, critically analysed by the leading experts, which will be continually reviewed and updated with the discovery of new information.

It is designed to offer a place to enhance knowledge, develop critical analysis abilities and also to enhance interaction not only in the sport but additionally in the home.

Each area is accompanied by resources ranging from posters, visual explanations, audio resources, downloadable resources and resources specific to each area for each different target group from players to parents.

Another important aspect of Her City is ‘myth busting' – to enable the website users to challenge any misinformation they may encounter on social media or elsewhere.

City has a contact form on its website that enables people to have private conversations with City experts and be safe to discuss concerns or queries.

Most importantly, Her City is also available to parents of academy players where they can help to support their children in an important developmental stage of their lives and careers.

The innovative work that Emma, Rosie and Sarah are doing in the WSL has already been accomplished, but ultimately the goal is to make the website accessible for all women in City Football Group's work.