U.S. NATIONAL TEAM TRAINING CENTER (Fayetteville, Ga.)<\/strong> \u2013 The epiphany came to Emma Hayes about a decade ago.<\/p>\n She was well into her coaching tenure at Chelsea and her team had just lost to rival Arsenal, 1-0, in the 2016 FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n When Hayes talks about this moment, she explains the Gunners deserved to win that game. What she couldn\u2019t see at the time \u2013 but very clearly understands now \u2013 is why her players were so off that day. Their reaction times were slower than normal and their coordination was like “watching a group of people that looked separated from their bodies,” Hayes recently told a small group of reporters at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center near Atlanta.<\/p>\n “I remember in the middle of the game thinking, \u2018What\u2019s wrong with them?\u2019” Hayes continued. “\u2018Is it their nerves?\u2019”<\/p>\n Emma Hayes and the U.S. women’s national team. (Photo by Georgia Soares\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Hayes later learned her players were at different points in their menstrual cycles and that, in some cases, those hormonal fluctuations were affecting their performance. She was at a loss. “Why don\u2019t I know these things?” she asked herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brain fog, fluid retention, inflammation, cramping, pelvic floor issues \u2013 these are things women know all too well. This caused Hayes to think about her own body \u2013 she\u2019s been open about her endometriosis diagnosis \u2013 and how little she really knew. In her players\u2019 case, they were navigating this while trying to compete at the highest level.<\/p>\n “We\u2019re asking players to perform in a culture that says, \u2018Oh, you\u2019ve got a period? Sit out,\u2019” Hayes said. “I was like, \u2018It\u2019s not good enough. We don\u2019t want to sit out.”<\/p>\n Since then, Hayes has made it her life\u2019s work to normalize conversations around women\u2019s health and transform what was once treated as a taboo topic into a superpower.\u00a0<\/p>\n Through her own research, she discovered there is no degree devoted solely on female physiology. If she wanted to truly understand women\u2019s bodies, she would have to build that education herself \u2013 seeking out scientists, former players, coaches and other like-minded people who were asking the same questions.<\/p>\n So she did.\u00a0<\/p>\n The result is an entire ecosystem \u2013 first at Chelsea and now as the U.S. women\u2019s national team manager \u2013 created around putting the female lens “at the heart of everything we do.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Part of the end goal is that this contributes to developing a team to win. The Americans are preparing for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil and then the Olympics on home soil in 2028. The squad is currently in the middle of an international window \u2013 they fell to Spain 2-0 in a friendly on Saturday and will face the defending World Cup champions again on Tuesday \u2013 before turning focus to qualifying for next summer\u2019s tournament in November.<\/p>\n Emma Hayes led the USA to Olympic gold in 2024. (Photo by Brad Smith\/ISI\/Getty Images).<\/span> <\/p>\n A fundamental part of Hayes\u2019 methodology is the recognition that women and men have distinct needs, from nutrition, sleep and recovery to uniforms and even the placement of scales outside the locker room. Her staff has examined data revealing differences in how male and female players cross the ball into the box and how much space goalkeepers take up within it. What works for men doesn\u2019t necessarily work for women, and building a better blueprint starts with understanding those differences.<\/p>\n “I think so much of the women’s game has just been dominated by what we know to be true of male players instead of, hang on a second, these are completely different athletes,” said Coffey, who was part of the squad that won Olympic gold two years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n “And that\u2019s not a weakness or a disadvantage. It\u2019s just, how do we best serve us instead of how do you get the best out of men. Because we\u2019re not men.”<\/p>\n The U.S. women’s national team ahead of a match against Spain. (Photo by Georgia Soares\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n “She\u2019s always looking for little 1% ways to approach things from a female point of view, down to the temperature of our meeting room,” Coffey said, noting that it should be 68 degrees because that\u2019s the temperature that women process information most efficiently.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I\u2019ll be filling my plate for dinner and she\u2019s like, \u2018I would get extra anti-inflammatory foods if I were you!\u2019 And I’m like, \u2018All I want is chocolate, but OK!\u2019” Coffey said, laughing. “All these little things add up over time and cumulatively make such an impact on how we feel and how we perform.<\/p>\n “They\u2019re detailed down to the T. It\u2019s not just taking an ibuprofen and calling it a day. And I’ve noticed a difference.”<\/p>\n As for how this entire mindset is spreading across the sport, Coffey said she brings back habits from national team camp to Man City \u2013 like the “yogurt pot” parfait recipe that Bruinvels has introduced her to.<\/p>\n “In my club and country environments, I do 100% feel like nothing is a hand-me-down,” Coffey said. “It feels tailored to being a female and we\u2019re only going deeper in our understanding of that, which is super cool.”<\/p>\n While Hayes\u2019 strategy may end up giving the Americans a competitive edge \u2013 because not every team or federation will have these same resources \u2013 all of this information is not something they plan to gatekeep.<\/p>\n “I want every little girl and woman, no matter what your practice is in our sport, to feel like this is more than just playing the game,” Hayes said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I think we can impact society in a profound way.”<\/p>\n FOX SPORTS NEWSLETTER<\/p>\n Follow your favorite leagues, teams and players for a personalized daily newsletter.<\/p>\n Create or log in to your FOX Sports account.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY U.S. NATIONAL TEAM TRAINING CENTER (Fayetteville, Ga.) \u2013 The epiphany came to Emma Hayes about a decade ago. She was well into her coaching tenure at Chelsea and her team had just lost to rival Arsenal, 1-0, in the 2016 FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. When Hayes talks about this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}