Obstacle Mud Runner - issue 10

obstaclemudrunner.co.uk 28 ForEliteAtheletes toFunRunners Nutrition for youth It is becoming more and more common for young athletes to have the opportunity to pursue higher level sports from a young age, but are they getting the full support and education they need to succeed and make it to the level they really want to? Specifically, nutrition is a very misunderstood topic for young athletes and seemingly being ignored in the national curriculum of schools, so what does your child/teenage really need to be eating to make sure they are: 1 fuelled for training and performance, 2 concentrating in school, 3 recovering and growing well? Eating the right foods at the right time can help you train at your best, compete at your best and more importantly improve your health and future well-being and growth. The chaos of training, school and general schedules can lead to a very erratic eating pattern and is easy to lose track of what you have and have not eaten. GOLDEN RULE 1 – Get prepared & organised, sit down every Sunday together and make a plan of food around that week’s schedule, work out what needs to pre- made, transported or quick to snack on throughout the week. If your child is training and competing multiple times a week it is very likely they are not over eating. The challenge is often fuelling enough by eating enough to HEALTH : NUTRITION getting it right from the start Educate and dominate We all encourage the juniors to get involved don’t we? How proud we are of our little or even our big ones toeing the start line of a race and seeing them beam with pride when they cross that line and get rewarded with their medal. We, as parents can help our children get the best out of themselves by fuelling them correctly. How many will allow their children to eat what makes them happy just because it’s quick, it’s easy, it’s convenient and quite frankly it keeps them quiet? With teams like The OCR Girls, The OCR Boys, The OCR Juniors, PRIDE of RAW, Junior Nuts to name a few, now has never been a better time to instill into our children how important nutrition is, not just for a longer and healthier lifestyle but especially where sports are involved. This article from Elly Rees, (Bsc, MSc, SENr) Performance Nutritionist @ The Better Body Group keeps it simple. I believe the children are the future, teach them well and let them lead the way, show them all the beauty they possess inside... Now I’ve got your attention and you’re all singing…. a b c n t h