My perspective is athletes health not about invasion of privacy… which I do understand is a risk if this becomes a law for high school aged students. Perhaps this discussion is better served in the political forum.
There is a thread there for those who wish to discuss the political implications
3 Likes
Unless the student’s health presents a health risk to other students, a student’s health is an issue for the student, her family, and their medical professionals. Not the school, the school board, or the state. If a coach/trainer needs to know whether a student is fit enough to play, then the doctor can provide that information without violating the student’s privacy.
10 Likes
Lack of menstruation alone does not diagnose poor nutrition or eating disorders or any other health problem. One can be perfectly healthy and not menstruating. Athletes who have severe eating disorders will display other symptoms, which in concert, may give reason for concern and a referral to a physician before allowing the athlete to resume the sport.
Coaches and trainers do not need to know the minutiae of a student’s menstral cycles or lack thereof. If the athlete is performing normally, is followed by a doctor, and has been cleared for sports, that is all anyone at the school needs to know.
10 Likes
Removing politics from this … society has a history of accepting things simply because they have always been that way. I worked in auto manufacturing in the late 70’s to mid 80’s. I accepted that I needed to allow certain things to happen in order to work in a very male dominated place: pictures of spread eagled naked women, wolf whistles and sexual comments as I walked through the plant, overt misogyny. The women who were a few years younger called out the behavior and made changes for the better. At first, I remember thinking that they needed to play the game in order to work there … then I realized that they were right … women didn’t need to put up with that. My point is, it’s not a bad thing to rethink the reason things are done. Do high school coaches and athletic directors really need private information such as this? Does the algebra teacher who coaches the gymnastics team need such information? This is high school athletics, not an elite sports training facility. And even if a high school has an elite program, do the coaches really need details rather than just the examining doctor’s opinion?
I will say it one more time, then bow out of the conversation because I am just repeating myself. Just because we do it doesn’t necessarily mean we need to or should do it that way.
23 Likes
I agree with this and the rest of your post, but it may be worth emphasizing that this isn’t necessarily the way it is done in other states. Here is an excerpt from @fiftyfifty1 post, above, explaining how it is done in their state. I believe this is the way it is usually done when this sort of information is requested . . .
5 Likes
What is the ostensible reason for the school needing this info? I can see the doctor needing it perhaps, to decide if a student is healthy enough to play. I see no reason for the school to have access to info of this type.
I am not a doctor, but I really don’t think menses should be the proxy for health and nutrition. There could be kids eating crappy McDonalds for every meal and still having regular periods. Does not mean they are healthy.
My D was, at one point, severely underweight but still got regular, heavy periods.
I thought a lot of people wanted less government involvement in things? 
6 Likes
I just looked at our county sports physical forms to confirm. Menstrual history is not asked at all. They do ask about concern over eating disorders in a general way.
2 Likes
I looked at the Ohio High School Athletic Association physical form and it has menstrual questions that are answered “Athlete first had a menstrual cycle when she was X and has had Y in the past 12 months, most recently Z weeks ago”.
1 Like
California athletic/physical high school forms also ask information on menstruation, assigned sex at birth, drug and mental health questions. So looks like many states are already asking these questions of athletes.
3 Likes
It looks like the source of these questions is the Preparticipation Physical Evaluation Monograph(5th Edition) by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
3 Likes
Do you have a source for that requirement in California? Our CA High School athletic clearance forms did/do NOT have any such fields, optional or not.
Both D’s played HS sports at our local public HS in California.
I just reviewed the parent’s and doctor’s forms, which are posted online at the HS’s website. Not a single question about menstrual history. Although, the form(s) do/does ask about the male genitalia (abnormalities).
2 Likes
Here is an example California high school:
Sports eligibility requirements: Sports Eligibility Requirements – Athletics – Culver City High School
Form to be filled in: https://4.files.edl.io/3a8b/10/27/20/145724-fe3a85de-b583-4c91-b743-a8b98161e520.pdf
No mention of menstrual history, assigned sex at birth, or drug and mental health problems there.
Although, in the interests of student privacy, it may be desirable only to reveal abnormal findings relevant to the sport(s) desired to be played or which may become relevant on the field (e.g. during emergency medical treatment).
I wonder what a coach is supposed to do with this information? Not let the student play the sport? Refer to a specialist? I bet they just ignore the info, since I’m sure they have no idea what to do with it. But who else sees the information? I’d worry in states like Florida.
2 Likes
It looks like a fair amount of states use this same form. This is the one from Kentucky.
The questions appear on the medical history questionnaire in many states, but these are to be filled out before the Drs. appointment, and provide information for the doctors to be able to better evaluate the patient. In some states form that goes to the schools is the form signed by the doctors, not the medical history form filled out by the patients. In at least a dozen states, the requirement is that the medical history form not be turned over to the state . . .
The national form used by more than a dozen other states requires that information not be turned over to the schools.
2 Likes
Agreed. It was developed as a form to guide healthcare providers about questions they should consider during a sports physical.
In Wisconsin, it is very clear that ONLY the Medical Participation Form which solely indicates whether student is or is not cleared medically for sports signed by their healthcare provider should be turned into the school.
4 Likes
Forms can be found on California Interscholastic Federation organization. Perhaps they only govern certain school districts in Ca?
This?
The medical history question page (with the questions about menstrual history) is clearly marked at the top “HISTORY FORM (TO BE RETAINED BY PHYSICIAN)”. The exam report on the following page says “PHYSICAL EXAMINATION FORM (TO BE RETAINED BY PHYSICIAN)”.
Only the first page, which indicates clearance or non-clearance for all or some sports with or without restrictions is to be turned in; it is marked “CLEARANCE FORM (TO BE SIGNED BY PHYSICIAN AND RETURNED TO ATHLETIC DIRECTOR)”.
5 Likes