UK Sport announced on Friday, 28 November that Great Britain Softball Female Athlete Lead Katy Gould and the BaseballSoftballUK Medical & Science Commission’s Female Health Programme have been shortlisted for the 2025 UK Sport PLx Innovation Award.

See the nomination video here.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by UK Sport (@uk_sport)

 

The UK Sport PLx Conference is an annual event for leaders from the Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community, offering those working within sport the opportunity to connect, collaborate and learn. The PLx Innovation Award is presented to the programme or initiative that has made a significant improvement or had an impact on the high-performance community in the UK.

Katy has been part of the Great Britain Softball programme since 2024, first joining for the U22 European Championship, and has since become a fixture within the programme. Working with athletes from the U18 level up to the Senior National Team, Katy’s focus on female health at every stage of high-performance has been vital in assessing and developing athletes from the younger age group teams. Utilising the latest technology and scientific data, and supplementing with her own research and experience, Katy has built a strong bond with the athletes and coaching staff, giving her the trust of the players as the programme evolves.

With so much new information in Female Health, Katy has spent significant time educating the athletes to ensure they understand how the information from the programme can be utilised to make them better on and off the field of play. From meal timings to travel and from treatment to recovery, Katy’s focus on female athletes shaped the team’s schedule, training, and game preparations this year, the first of the Olympic cycle, and helped the team perform up to medal standard – with Great Britain Softball winning their third consecutive medal in European competition.

The Female Health Programme was initiated by the BaseballSoftballUK Medical & Science Commission, chaired by Dave Inman, which oversees the health and wellness of all the Great Britain Baseball & Softball athletes that BaseballSoftballUK is responsible for. The Commission consists of Dave Inman, Katy Gould, Performance Director Gary Anderson, Performance Programme Manager Alan Dean and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dean Chatterjee.

In addition to her work with softball, Gould also works with the Great Britain Baseball Women’s National Team, using knowledge gained from the Female Health Programme to extend the benefits across both Great Britain Baseball and Softball. As part of the programme, Katy was interviewed earlier this year by GB Softball’s Emily Robinson-Hardy about the Female Health Programme. Watch the full interview here or below.

“Katy is an integral and highly valued member of our GBR Softball Olympic performance team. Her leadership on the Female Health Project has been outstanding. This initiative is pivotal in advancing our

understanding of the unique physiological, hormonal, and psychological factors influencing female athlete health and performance,” said Performance Director Gary Anderson. “Katy’s evidence-based approach has allowed us to monitor and interpret data related to menstrual cycle phases,

energy availability, recovery, and injury risk – areas that are often underrepresented in traditional sports science models. Her ability to integrate clinical insight with performance strategy ensures that every decision we make is grounded in both medical best practice and a deep understanding of high-performance demands.”

BaseballSoftballUK Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dean Chatterjee added, “This work is fundamental to our work with female athletes. It is key to supporting female athletes to understand their unique needs. This large body of research on nutrition, training, mental health, appropriate clothing and the need to make females carry on their winning ways are all vital. Katy Gould has been a bright beacon in leading this project. She represents BSUK to the highest standard and holds this project close to her heart.”

This is the second PLx Nomination in the last three years for Great Britain Softball, who, alongside Great Britain Baseball, were shortlisted for the Teamwork and Collaboration Award at the 2023 Award Ceremony. The PLx Awards Dinner will take place on 2 December as part of the UK Sport PLx Conference in Leeds. More information can be found at the link here. 

On behalf of Great Britain Softball and BaseballSoftballUK, we would like to congratulate Katy and the Medical & Science Commission and wish them the best of luck at the Award Ceremony on Tuesday!