Considered the first of its kind in Australia, NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) has unveiled a nutrition education program for emerging and developing athletes. 

“This online program is designed to develop foundation nutrition skills and broaden the knowledge of emerging athletes,” NSWIS Sports Dietitian Rebecca Haslam said. 

“The course teaches them how nutrition can be a vehicle to improve their performance.” 

The program delves into the basics of the five food groups, macronutrients such as carbohydrates and protein and micronutrients like iron and calcium. It then focuses on nutrition for pre and post training and nutrition for competition.  

“It’s very engaging with video, infographics, flip cards, downloadable work sheets, and animations, which are a fun way to get across concepts that might be a bit tricky to understand,” Rebecca said.  

Comprised of four modules, the program is aimed at 14 – 17-year-old athletes and encourages parents to participate in the learning journey.   

“If the parents are on the same page, it is a lot easier for the athletes to implement better nutrition practices.” 

The program also supports athletes as they start to travel for their competition.  

“It provides information on how to make better nutrition choices when travelling, how to sync nutrition with their competition timeline and how to eat on a budget.  

“The athletes can refresh and come back to the key parts when they need to and look for information such as – what I should be eating when I am competing?” 

The content is simple enough for younger athletes to grasp and older athletes could also benefit from the knowledge. 

“It’s self-paced and each module has a learning activity and reflection that reinforces learned knowledge and asks the athletes to demonstrate they know how to implement the skills and knowledge they have acquired.” 

The program facilitates self-directed learning and is available on demand. It is comprised of four modules, each taking approximately 30 minutes to complete. 

“Ultimately this course will prepare our emerging athletes with the knowledge and skills they require to enhance their sport performance.”  

Over the last 18 months NSWIS has embarked on a digital transformation journey with the goal of enhancing the transfer and impact of learning experiences for athletes.  A key priority is delivery of a curriculum that supports a balanced athlete lifestyle and improves sport performance. The foundations of nutrition for sport performance course is the first step in this process. 

“A lot of thought and care has gone into the learning design of this course to shape good nutrition habits and practices,” Mike Girven, NSWIS Senior Coordinator, People Development said.

NSWIS

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