Key Wellness Tips for Women Athletes Returning to Play

Returning to play is about more than logging hours on the field, it's strength, recovery, fueling, footwear, and mindset all working together. We asked four IDA experts – a sports physical therapist, a foot and ankle surgeon, a pediatric dietitian, and a soccer and mental performance coach – to share key wellness tips for women athletes. Here's what they had to say, on the field, in the gym, and everywhere in between.

Strength Training — Dr. Rena Eleázar

Dr. Rena Eleázar, DPT, SCS, CSCS, is a NYC-based sports physical therapist. She first connected with IDA through the brand's partnership with NY Gridlock, a premier ultimate frisbee club, where she started as an emergency on-field support responder before moving into performance, physical therapy, and strength and conditioning work with the team. In her practice, Dr. Rena focuses on injury recovery for women and non-binary athletes who want to get stronger, more powerful, and excel in their sport. She's especially passionate about strength training and heavy lifting, helping more women and younger girls get comfortable in the gym around heavy weights, and about fueling properly for both performance and prevention. Here are Dr. Rena's three tips on strength training for athletes returning to play: 

1. Choose challenging weights for your lifts! You should feel like you can do 3-4 more reps at the end of a set, and you should feel the need to rest before going again.
2. REST on your rest days. Your body needs the downtime to recover and be ready for the next day.
3. Being a little sore is okay. If you have difficulty walking around because you're sore, you did a little too much. Doing some easy, low-impact cardio for ~20min when you're sore can help decrease the pain.

Footwear & Foot Health — Dr. Karli Richards

Dr. Karli Richards, DPM, MHA, FACFAS, CWSP, is a foot and ankle surgeon with Lexington Health Podiatry & Sports Medicine where she is also the principal investigator of Protect Our Players (POP), an independent research initiative focused on lower extremity injury risk factors in female soccer players. She also serves as a Medical Advisor and Medical Content provider for The Power Lab, an educational initiative founded in collaboration with USWNT defender Tierna Davidson and the Soccer Forward Foundation, where her work centers on injury prevention education for female athletes – educating coaches, parents, and players on female anatomy and providing expert guidance on proper equipment selection to support health equity and long-term athlete safety. Dr. Karli has worked with IDA for several years, contributing research, wear and gear testing, and expert advice, and she's back with more tips for athletes returning to play:

1. The Right Shoe for the Right Foot (Female-Specific Fit)
   Female feet are not just smaller men's feet—they have distinct anatomical structures.
   
   The Science: Women typically present with a narrower heel-to-forefoot ratio, a higher instep, and a wider relative Q-angle (hip-to-knee alignment). Standard "unisex" boots are modeled on male lasts, which may lead to heel slippage, foot cramping, and internal foot movement that alters cutting mechanics and increases injury risk.
   
   Takeaway: Consider boots made for female anatomy! Choose female-specific athletic footwear engineered for a narrower heel, broader forefoot volume, and female lower-limb mechanics.
   
   
2. The Right Stud Profile for the Surface
   Excessive shoe-surface friction locks the foot in place, transferring dangerous torque up the kinetic chain.
   
   The Science: Playing with studs that are too long or using aggressive bladed firm-ground (FG) plates on artificial turf (AG) creates excessive traction. When executing quick pivots or cuts, the stud must release smoothly from the turf. If it catches, the foot remains fixed while the leg rotates, dramatically elevating lower-extremity torque on the ankle and knee.
   
   Takeaway: Check your studs before you play! Match stud length and geometry to pitch conditions: shorter, conical studs on artificial fields allow smooth rotational release and protect joints.
   
   
3. Respect the Load Spike (Manage the Transition)
   Rapid jumps in training volume cause the majority of early-season micro-trauma and overuse injuries.
   
   The Science: Transitioning straight from off-season conditioning into high-volume fall practices creates an acute-to-chronic workload spike. Tendons, ligaments, the plantar fascia, and foot bones need time to adapt to frequent deceleration, plant-and-cut forces, and sudden acceleration.
   
   Takeaway: Gradually work into your training routine! Avoid sudden volume spikes—gradually ramp up high-impact drills and cutting over 3–4 weeks prior to full-intensity pre-season training.

Fueling & Nutrition — Dr. Taylor Arnold

Dr. Taylor Arnold is a pediatric registered dietitian, a nutrition PhD, and the creator of Growing Intuitive Eaters. She's passionate about supporting parents in preventing and reversing picky eating, building intuitive eating practices in their kids and teens, and instilling body positivity – grounded in science and evidence-based medicine, with a belief that all bodies can be healthy regardless of size. Dr. Taylor is also deeply involved in youth sports herself, coaching her children's soccer teams and spending significant time on the field each week. She started wearing IDA Sports cleats at the beginning of 2026 and has loved the experience ever since – to the point that she says she won't be going back. Whether she's helping parents navigate mealtime or showing up for her kids on the field, her recommendations are practical, experience-based, and highly relatable. Read through Dr. Taylor's three tips for women and girls returning to sports in the fall:

1. Eat enough. Your body needs adequate fuel to perform in sport. Emphasize simple and easily digestible carbohydrates before games and practices, and choose foods rich in both protein and carbohydrates for post-performance recovery. If you are not getting your period, talk to your doctor AND evaluate your diet (or work with your doctor to do so) to make sure you are getting adequate calories to fuel your training schedule.
2. Focus on hydration, which can come from water AND hydrating foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. If you struggle with water, try flavoring it with a splash of fruit juice, coconut water, or electrolyte powder. Avoid constant use of electrolyte powder as these are designed for pre, intra, and post event hydration - not for use during daily activities. Parents should keep in mind that electrolyte powders are designed for adults, and are not meant for young kids.
3. Don't forget the fiber. Adequate dietary fiber helps regulate blood sugar, keeps you full for longer, helps you maintain a regular poop schedule, and supports a healthy gut microbiome. Don't maximize fiber immediately before and during events - because that can cause GI upset. But DO emphasize fiber in your other meal and snack times when possible. As an added bonus, foods that tend to be higher in fiber (fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and whole grains) also provide a variety of important vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.

Mental Performance — Coach Jasmine Henderson

Coach Jasmine Henderson is a soccer coach and empowerment speaker based in Fort Worth, Texas, and a three-time world record holder, former professional player, and mom, who tackles mental and emotional fitness alongside the game itself. She's the founder of She Will Rise Soccer, where she combines soccer with emotional and mental fitness to help young girls thrive on the field and off it. A longstanding IDA expert, Jasmine first connected with the brand when she hiked to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro alongside IDA co-founder Laura Youngson to play the highest-elevation soccer match ever played. Read through Coach Jasmine's three tips on mental performance to take with you this season:

1. Take the judgement out of your game and out of your life. Simply saying you played "good" or "bad" isn't actually helping you get better. The reality is that every event in your life is neutral. You make up the meaning of it. So, make it work for you instead of against you. Stop judging and start becoming a person who gathers information. Ask yourself these 2 questions: what worked, and what didn't work? This will help give you the details you need to build on what is effective and fix and change what isn't. Every drill, practice and game (and really, every event in your life) is an opportunity for information. Gather all you can.
2. Discipline and exercise your focus. "Don't mess up. Don't mess up." "I can't do this." "I'm never good at this." "I don't want to let them down." What you focus on grows. Negative thinking spirals you down. Positive, affirmative thinking builds you up. The good news is that you're totally in control of this. You wouldn't fuel your body with junk food and expect to perform well. The same applies here. Don't feed yourself junk! Your mind is so powerful and will work out ways to be right. Give it amazing thoughts to be right about.
3. No matter what play just happened, whether it worked or didn't, you're going to say, "Next one!" The game, and your life, is in constant motion. You can't afford to get stuck celebrating or wallowing. If you're a recovering perfectionist like me, this one phrase will help you to let go and move forward instead of becoming paralyzed or playing on eggshells. You will mess up. Everyone does. You will do something brilliant and magical. That's why you play. Keep yourself emotionally and mentally stable. Keep yourself moving forward!