Updated Pregnancy guidance from UK Sport
UK Sport Pregnancy Guidance
UK Sport has developed pregnancy guidance to ensure support is provided for athletes who wish to have a child whilst a member of a high-performance funded programme.
We recognise that raising a family and being an elite athlete should not be mutually exclusive. Having a child dramatically changes your life, and for many parents can give a new meaning too.
Therefore we have a responsibility as a distributor of public funding to ensure that SGBs - a term used to describe both National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and Home Country Governing Bodies (HCGBs) - owe athletes a duty of care and it is important that their wellbeing and performance are managed effectively during pregnancy and post-childbirth. To support this we have created two separate guidance documents, for both SGBs and athletes.
The aim of this guidance is to advise how to best support an athlete’s pregnancy fairly and appropriately, providing recommendations to support an athlete during their pregnancy, and for when they return to training and competition post-childbirth. Pregnancy and post-childbirth can be physically and mentally challenging for a mother and it’s essential that resources and guidance are available to the SGB and the athlete to best support them and their partner.
Our pregnancy guidance has been developed in consultation with both athletes and sports, alongside research undertaken by Loughborough University into athletes’ experiences of pregnancy. We will continue to review and update our guidance, so should you have any feedback contact pregnancyguidance@uksport.gov.uk.
View the guidance here:
