Nat Panagarry urges women to 'know their normal'

Nat Panagarry wants you to 'know your normal'.

The Loughborough Lightning captain is determined to continue building greater awareness around women’s health, having realised how little she knew about her own body following her wife Katie’s cancer diagnosis three years ago.

Panagarry has hit new heights on the court, leading Lightning to back-to-back Netball Super League titles, and one of the league’s most recognisable faces wants to use her platform to help improve knowledge and education within the sport and beyond.

“I just want to keep being as open and honest as I can,” she said. “Going through Katie’s journey has made me more self-aware about what is going on with my body.

“We are so in tune with her body and what her normal is, it made me thing ‘Do I know what my normal is?’

“It has made me more in tune with that, and that is something I want to keep putting out there especially to young girls and young women; how important it is to know your normal.

“Sometimes we think it’s just happening, and everyone is going through it, but that is not always the case.

“I have grown up over the years where it was whatever was going on, you just had to get on with it. 

"Periods and menstrual cycles are such a natural process, but I was taught to just manage it, go on the pill, and if you are going through certain symptoms it is really normal, when that’s not the case.

“Over the last few years, you are seeing players step up and talk about the situations they are going through. 

"Not just female health, but things like grief, and how they are balancing it all. The more open and honest we are as players; I think fans really connect to that.”

Support for female-specific health issues has improved dramatically over the course of Panagarry’s career, with Lightning now able to provide support around the impact of players’ menstrual cycles alongside greater awareness of other issues such as pelvic floor health.

England Netball also launched NETBALLHer to provide greater information and support around issues such as sports bras, menopause, menstrual cycles and pelvic health.

But the 34-year-old believes there is still more that can be done to support players at both the elite level, and those coming through pathways.

“Through England and through Lightning we fill something out daily called PDMS, which is how tired you are, how sore you are and also tracking your period,” she added. 

“For staff and coaches, that helps them offer support.

“The next step for me is tailoring training, if there is a high chance of injury. It is being able to have that support financially to offer that. We are in a great space in netball, but there are still steps we can take such as training programmes being more personalised.

“Knowing what your cycle looks like is really important, I wish I had tracked it when I was younger. I don’t think I ever knew what was truly happening to my body each week. I could have spoken to my coaches and been more honest with them and they could have helped me.”

On the court, Panagarry’s focus is on reaching another Grand Final as Lightning chase an unprecedented hat-trick of Netball Super League titles.

With this year’s Grand Final hosted at London’s O2 Arena, Panagarry is ready to chase history in a number of ways having already sealed a top four spot.

“We have had quite a few arena games that have been amazing, it is really building,” she said.

“As a player, to be in the O2, in an arena we have never played at before and how iconic it is, it is really motivating to be on that court.

“The O2 this season has been on everyone’s minds, to say you have done it and been there for the first time. It is definitely a motivator for me.

“We would love to be there; we will give everything we can. We don’t get carried away with ourselves, but we did celebrate getting that top four spot and getting it early. Those are the little wins.”