Fuelling for performance doesn’t just happen, in fact it’s a skill that sports people should focus on as much as the technical skills of their sport. Elite players and athletes, such as England national team captain Harry Kane, receive specialist coaching on fuelling for performance.
“Nutrition has become a significant part of sport, particularly football. Considering the number of games we play, recovery is crucial, and food plays a big role in that – ensuring we get the right nutrients at the right time.
Harry Kane, striker for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and captain of the England national team (read full interview on “Harry Kane on How eating Healthily Helped Transform His Career here)
It’s something that’s helped me over the last six or seven years to become the player I am now and we’re fortunate we receive this help at the club and international level.”
Professional football players like Harry Kane, have the benefit of working with nutrition teams at club and international level to ensure they have the right nutritional balance to play at the peak of their game. Unfortunately this isn’t necessarily the case for young players seeking to emulate Harry Kane.
This is where Aliénor steps in, working directly with individual players and partnering with clubs to provide support at a team level.
Meet Dan
Dan, is a 13year old footballer; like many kids his age, Dan dreams of becoming a professional footballer.
Dan is constantly on the move:
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playing football with friends before school
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playing football during school breaks
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two hours of PE lessons a week
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playing football with friends after school
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1 hour of club training one evening a week
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martial arts one evening a week
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club match on Sunday
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occasional mid week club match
It seems like there’s hardly a moment when he’s not out on the field with a ball or doing something sport orientated. His passion for the sport is truly remarkable.
Spotted for his defensive skills, Dan received an invitation to join a team near the top of their league, two leagues higher than the team he was currently playing for. This was fantastic recognition for all the hard work he had put into honing his footballing abilities.
Naturally, Dan seized the opportunity to play for the higher-placed team, but he also wanted to continue playing for his old team in the lower league. With his old team having matches on Sundays, while the new team had matches on Saturdays Dan knew he would be able to play for both.
However, he hadn’t reckoned on the extra demands he was placing on his body.
Already leading an active lifestyle, Dan is now training and playing competitive matches for two clubs on top of all his other activity!
In stepping up to a higher league, Dan soon realised he wasn’t as quick or as physical as the opposition. He felt his energy levels rapidly dwindle during matches, becoming more sluggish and expressing to his parents that he was tired and had no energy, with the inevitable mood swings that came with it.
His parents turned to Aliénor for advice.
Low Energy Availability
It was clear that Dan was struggling with Low Energy Availability. Dan’s struggle with having sufficient energy serves to highlight the critical importance of prioritising health and wellbeing alongside pursuing the technical skills of your sport.
It became evident that Dan was not consuming enough to fuel his demanding lifestyle. In addition Dan wasn’t hydrating properly which was impacting his physical and mental performance; and didn’t have a fuelling strategy to support the additional demands of his sport.
Teenage athletes have unique energy demands due to their growth, development, and increased physical activity. They place significant demands on their bodies. Consequently, it’s imperative they fuel their bodies adequately to support all the demands of growth, recovery, and performance.
The Challenge of Consistency Between Two Homes
As Dan has found, having parents who are separated or divorced means navigating the complex reality of having two homes. Balancing the consistency of support between the two households can pose a significant challenge.
The reality for Dan is that his nutrition differs between houses. To raise awareness in both households we worked with Dan and both his parents. With Dan’s agreement, we set up a WhatsApp group for the four of us. On the group we shared coaching notes and action commitments with both households so that Dan could receive consistent support from both parents.
Embracing the Challenge and Crafting a Plan
At Aliénor we are athlete led, and also work with the parents to ensure that the athlete has the essential support at home. We are aligned with the principles of the England Footballs “Greater Game Programme“, with particular focus on the pillars of Health & Wellbeing, Eating Well and Sleeping Well.
To develop positive habits it’s important the teen is in control of their journey, not their parents or a coach. We encourage all our clients to take ownership of their journey with our guidance to help inform their decision making. For young teens this may be the first time in their lives they’re being empowered in this way, supporting them to make this step is essential.
As an evidenced based practice we secure buy-in and enable decision making by exploring available evidence, education and open discussion. We don’t direct courses of action, the athlete has to want and own the action they are committing to.
Fuelling for Performance: Crafting the Plan
We illustrated to Dan (and his parents) how his lifestyle choices were impacting his performance and wellbeing. Particularly, the significant gap between what Dan was eating/drinking and the demands he was placing on his body.
As Dan developed his understanding of the challenge and the importance of nutrition we started crafting a plan. Over a matter of weeks, the plan would help Dan develop behaviours that made incremental changes to his lifestyle.
Planning is a collaborative process. Through discussion with Dan we agreed an outline plan of the areas he felt he wanted to focus on first. With our guidance he considered the various actions he could take. We encourage small incremental change rather than an all-or-nothing approach. This made it less intimidating for Dan to adopt and stick to.
“I really like the way you bring attention to a potential area for improvement, then set a small action which is very achievable. Rather than being a total lifestyle change, which would be too overwhelming, it’s almost a micro-adjustment, but it’s enough to make big changes in a relatively short period of time.“
Steve
Dan’s Father
Recognising Success
Success isn’t solely measured by victories on the pitch; it’s about the profound changes experienced within.
Before we started working with Dan, he would regularly skip breakfast and lunch. His priority being to meet his mates for a kick around. After school he’d spend large on sweets before going for another kick around before heading home for dinner.
It wasn’t long before Dan realised that the actions he was taking were causing him to feel less sluggish. He was starting to feel the benefit of fuelling for performance!
This coincided with Dan’s parents noticing an improvement in Dan’s attitude to food and nutrition in general.
“I like the way Daniel’s already starting to feel better about himself and the progress he’s making“
Steve
Dan’s Father
Success on the Pitch
For Dan the real measure of success was having enough energy to go the full match and for his performance not to tail off due to fatigue.
It wasn’t long before Dan had the energy to play full matches on Saturday and Sunday without feeling completely drained and lethargic.
With a tournament coming up, the question was did Dan have enough energy to play multiple back to back matches. To support this we also helped Dan adopt a basic fuelling strategy.
By the end of the tournament Dan had enjoyed great games without his performance falling away. At the end of the tournament he noticed he was significantly fresher than the other lads around him. Sports Nutrition Coaching gave Dan the edge that maintained the team’s defence until the last whistle.
Embracing Growth
Dan has only recently started his journey but already he has taken ownership of his wellbeing. With new knowledge he is seeking to unlock his peak performance through personalised Sports Nutrition Coaching. We will continue to develop Dan’s knowledge enabling him to make better choices in fuelling for performance
We are extremely proud to support Dan as he pursues his dreams to become a professional footballer.