Reggae Girl consults Fraser-Pryce on childbirth recovery

Reggae Girl Cheyna Matthews was a second-half substitute against Paraguay on Sunday, playing her first match in more than two years, as she becomes the latest among women athletes who continue their sporting career after childbirth.

Matthews has given birth on three occasions and has returned to the field of play successfully each time and the 29-year-old Racing Louisville player is taking inspiration from World Championships 100 metres winner, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Fraser-Pryce, who was also last year's Tokyo Olympic Games 100 metres silver medallist, returned stronger after childbirth in 2017 and Matthews is hoping that research continues on the topic to ensure that more women resume their sporting careers after pregnancy.

"The more people see that it is possible, the more research goes into it because the more you know the more you can do," Matthews said after Sunday's game which Jamaica lost 2-1.

"From my first time back to now, this is my smoothest because I knew and had more information. It shows you can be a mom and come back and have a career. It has always been my goal when I was expecting. I never for a second thought of ending my career.

"Shelly-Ann Fraser(Pryce), I talked to her a lot about this process and she has been very inspiring to me," she continued.

Matthews insists that despite the tremendous studies that the medical profession has made in the field, more needs to be done.

"There is still a lot of work when it comes to support knowledge and just getting players back, especially here in Jamaica. I am in the United States and the resources I have to get back are different from Konya's (Plummer) and where Konya is miraculous with the resources that she has here. So there is a lot of work to be done," she added.

Former Reggae Girlz captain, Plummer, who gave birth in the summer, was also part of the training squad for the two-match series but did not play.

Coach Lorne Donaldson said although it was not his intention to play Matthews, they thought she had progressed enough to participate.

"This is Cheyna's third kid and we didn't bring her here to play, but when we saw her we were like we have to get her in a game, and she was OK with that. So after a few practices, we decided to throw her in there and she was brilliant," he said.