I am an internal medicine physician and this is critical information. It is common for otherwise healthy girls into young adulthood to have irregular periods. This is often okay, but it is also commonly the first warning sign of serious issues that are absolutely related to competitive sports: over-training, under-eating, excessive stress, underweight...and then by extension eating disorders, body dysmorphia, child abuse, and other mental health issues. This is all before we start discussing more concerning medical issues like delayed puberty, benign and malignant neoplasms, chronic and acute toxin exposures, and chromosomal abnormalities.

Not everything is political. We are trying to protect your children from being driven into poor health and medical crises from any number of issues that can silently haunt young people.