Anon Girl talk

[Anonymous (bc51)]

If you're a female gymnast/parent of one, how do you/your gymnast work with periods and meets?

 

[Coach Kate]

Former gymnast and coach here:

As a gymnast, I used a tampon and changed it frequently. I was paranoid.

As a coach, now that the rules have changed, we absolutely allow our athletes to wear solid black shorts if they need to in order to feel comfortable.

 

[Anonymous (2cc5)]

As a gymnast I can tell you it’s rough when it comes to meets but you just do the best you can. I personally cannot wear tampons w/o fainting so for meets I just change the pad between each event, and wear a Leo liner to double up on pads to prevent leaks. It’s annoying but you sort of learn how to feel comfortable and forget about it with practice. Unfortunately my gym doesn’t allow shorts for comp, but if you can black shorts fix every worry lol.

 

[Anonymous (bc51)]

(OP here)
Yeah, I'm terrified of tampons. I don't mind the uncomfortable-ness, rather I'm scared of either pad showing or leak on the sides. I wish my gym allowed shorts (USAG ALLOWED THEM, WHY CAN'T MY GYM DO THAT TOO) - it would really help with both periods and help me perform better because I get self conscious in a leo. UGH

 

[Anonymous (6c53)]

I bought my daughter black period underwear that wouldn't show under her leo initially. She wasn't a fan. She found she prefers tampons, so that's what she uses.

 

[Anonymous (be68)]

For me, no shorts would feel like a potential deal breaker in a gym. It feels like it disrespects the athlete's needs and autonomy.
For leaking, you could consider using night pads, they will surely hold for 2 hours. I'd say maybe ask your coach if you could either wear shorts on your period or wear skin coloured tights under your leo?
(personally I'd be tempted to be very blunt with the coach, like: "hey, I was wondering if I could wear shorts, because if I bleed through on the beam that may be a deduction or something". But that'd just be me being passive agressive, like "if you wanna make things difficult, you're gonna have to face the reality of what I'm dealing with here".)

 

[Anonymous (bc51)]

Guys, I had my meet. And guess what, just discovered that my gym allows shorts in some situations. So yeah, I wore a pad and shorts. Meet didn't go too well, but oh well.