Last week, Surrey FA held their 5th HerHealth workshop, focused around Diabetes awareness in female players. Lucy Wieland and Louise McCay from The Diabetes Football Community and Diabetes UK lead the session.

They expressed their aim to change the narrative of what it means for footballers to have diabetes, and they highlighted the key coping mechanisms that players, coaches and officials should know to support those with the disease.

Below you can catch up on the session as well as read some of the key takeaways.

If you would like to learn more about female health in football, join us for our next HerHealth workshop to access important resources and look back at some of the knowledge gained from previous sessions.

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During the session, those with the condition spoke about their struggles with diabetes, as well as how opening up has helped them:

‘When I found out my diagnosis, my first thought was ‘Will I be able to play football again?’ 

‘When I was younger, I was just basically told if you run, your blood Sugar's going to go down but during a game when you've got different things going on and you're sprinting one minute and jogging the next, your blood sugar is just sort of all over the place’. 

‘I didn't really speak about it much with people on my team or my coaches and I think looking back, probably my coaches didn't understand it.’

‘Having the coaches and managers know, makes it so much more comfortable as someone with diabetes’. 

‘It's just all communication and being open best about it and making it more comfortable for that person.’

Tips on how to manage/support those with diabetes:

‘My physio always just has sugar in the Med kit. Everyone else does eat it, but it's always like there is always like Haribo’s or anything like just available.’ 

‘If you’re a coach, make sure you know the needs of those in your team. If you’re an official, be mindful to those with different needs on the pitch and be adaptable and understanding to ensuring everyone feels safe on a game day.’

STATS

90% of diagnosed people have type 2
8% have type 1 
2% have rarer types

This workshop forms part of our HerHealth educational series, created to help women thrive on and offer the pitch, whilst supporting clubs to become more inclusive and supportive across grassroots football.