Sam Moore is an applied sport scientist who recently joined University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Exercise and Sport Science graduate school as a research fellow in the Applied Physiology Lab under the direction of Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan. Prior to UNC, Sam was with the NC State Wolfpack from 2019-2021 as the Director of Sport Science and Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach.
Mfter two season-ending knee surgeries during her dual-sport collegiate athletic career, Moore was drawn to the starkly different experience entering the “real world” as a former female athlete compared to that of male athletes. This was the inception of what would later establish her as the topic expert in the field of female athlete physiology in the pursuit of gender equity in collegiate women’s sports.
As the first woman to serve as a Director of Sport Science in the NCAA, Sam implemented a revolutionary and evidence-informed framework of women’s specific training design based on the hormonal landscape of the Wolfpack female athletes. Sam has presented at major conferences on topics ranging from metabolic and performance effects of female sex hormones to bigger-picture issues of social and gender justice for collegiate athletes.
Nate Huffstutter: Working as a sport scientist and performance coach at North Carolina State, one of your roles was to implement menstrual cycle-based periodization and athlete management strategies. What were some of the most effective strategies that you were able to provide through that process and what performance outcomes did that effort help bring about? In addition, what type of feedback did you receive from the athletes while applying this model?
Sam Moore: I would consider the most impactful outcome to be the empowerment that arose from the education provided to my athletes. So few women are taught about their own physiology, whether that be about menstrual cycles, oral birth control, implants, etc., and how these hormonal changes affect their lives and their training.
At NCSU, empowerment looked like women taking the initiative on behavioral interventions to lessen the severity of symptoms at different points in their cycle, having conversations with their healthcare professionals about their options and what is best for them at that point in their lives, and using the information to improve their lives. That’s the best possible outcome for any coach.