Closing the gap in research between males and females around athletic performance has been at the forefront of the Indigenous Women's Academy camp at the Australian Institute of Sport.
"A lot of research we’ve done in sport is from males and then directly used for females so we’re really interested to understand the differences and what makes females unique," ACU researcher Alannah McKay told NRL.com. Some females players have gone through the camp on their menstrual cycle naturally while others may be on contraceptives - either way it's allowed researchers to study both to see if any further trends develop with performance."By the time they get to camp I’ve identified some interesting phases which we want to look at and study from a research perspective."
The ground-breaking study has gone on for five weeks and involves numerous performance-based testing."The best things about having this group in is they are so thirsty for knowledge and are asking so many questions," McKay said."There will be a lot of analysis to do so we’re still months away from some direct outcomes but we’re really hoping to inform the way female athletes train in their specific environments.
Skinner was the main organiser behind the program and is passionate about moving forward Indigenous females in the rugby league space. They are given the weekend’s off to explore the sights of Canberra or in some cases for local players, head home for a couple of days. Mrs Hurley sang a custom-made song to the players in relation to their program while the squad also delivered a heart-felt rendition of Indigenous song Inanay in return.