Orreco are delighted to announce that ten-time Olympic swimming medallist Allison Schmitt who competed for Team USA across four Olympic Games, has joined the Female Athlete team at Orreco and added her voice to FitrWoman’s educational campaign running across July and August.
As part of this summer’s campaign to encourage more people to learn and talk about their menstrual cycles, Allison will be one of the amazing athletes and fast growing FitrWoman community who will be sharing their experiences and top tips about their cycles and why knowledge is power.
Through working with Orreco’s sport science and female athlete team in the build-up to theTokyo Olympics, Allison is specifically keen to share the messages and education she received over the past three years.
Allison said: “I think it’s amazingly empowering no matter what level of athlete you are to learn about your body. It’s crazy to think that I was 30 years old and I didn’t know very much about how my body worked or my menstrual cycle, even as an elite athlete.
“With the help of Orreco’s female athlete team and their resources, I was able to come off hormonal contraception, manage my menstrual cycle without medicine and optimise my performance.
“It made me realise that as women we have the ability to use our hormones to be faster and stronger rather than feeling embarrassed and suppressing or hiding from your hormones.
“Females have a huge superpower and can use their hormones to their advantage. For me it was exciting to learn about the different phases of the cycle and what your body goes through each month. It felt great to embrace it and that’s what I want to communicate to other women and girls out there.”
With a history of working with elite female swimmers and USASwimming, Allison will also work with Orreco to establish educational pathways and relationships across the US swimming collegiate system and establish FitrWoman’s athlete community.
This community group will see elite athletes from various sports, ages and backgrounds advocate for better education around the menstrual cycle and support Orreco’s quest to normalise the conversation around this topic, as well as other areas of female athlete health.
At FitrWoman we believe education is a fundamental pillar to understanding and taking advantage of your cycle whether it’s reducing your symptoms in everyday life or improving sporting performance. And what better time to do it with so many fantastic female athletes on our screens this summer from the UEFA’s Women’s Euros, to Wimbledon, various World Championships and the Commonwealth Games?
Throughout the months of July and August, FitrWoman will be publishing educational content backed by research on www.fitrwoman.com and the FitrWoman social channels with podcasts, videos and infographics rooted around the hashtags #KnowYourCycle, #HaveTheConversation and #KnowledgeIsPower.
We encourage you to get involved and let us know which topics around female health you’d like to learn about. Get in touch via social media using #KnowYourCycle, #HaveTheConversation and #KnowledgeIsPower. Alternatively, you can email us at fitrwoman@orreco.com.
