For those of you who are familiar with the world of Podcasts, I was recently introduced to this one - Sports Parenthood. Hosted by husband and wife team, John and Tiffany Bonasera who are navigating the pathways of parenting sporty kids. Amongst the episodes they cover topics that include how to help kids deal with setbacks, talent identification, when to push buttons and when not to. The episode that caught my attention was to do with nutrition, an area I personally have an interest in and as a coach and parent my ears certainly pricked up.

During this episode, Peta Cariage a certified Sports Dietician covered topics of overall nutrition, tips on how to manage food on competition days and the part that caught my attention, snacks before training. Even though your child’s training load might not be as heavy as it was pre-covid I wanted to share a few little tips that resonated with me.

We recognise with Covid restrictions our training timetable isn’t quite ideal but after listening to the podcast I did stop to think about the fact Secondary lunch is at 1:00pm and our afternoon sessions start at 3:45pm. If the afternoon session is in the pool first it may be a little tricky but if your child has Strength and Conditioning first the coaches will allow a bit of extra time for a small snack before the session. Our younger swimmers do have a later recess & bit more time between dismissal and swimming so packing an extra snack for our Year 4’s and 5’s to have after school would be great.

Some suggestions of a suitable snack from a Sport’s Dietician’s perspective

  • Trail Mix (AIS No nuts - Seeds & Dried Fruit)

  • Squeezie Yoghurt (even better if it has added oats)

  • Cheese and Crackers

  • Sushi

  • A piece of fruit - actually the best snack before training

  • Vegemite & Cheese sandwich.

The snack should be easily digestible, contain carbohydrates (excellent fuel) & be able to last the day in the school bag. Most importantly something your child wants to eat. A little something to eat before morning training sessions would also be advisable, similar to the suggestions above, a piece of toast or if you have someone in your house (like mine) who may have trouble eating that early try a crumpet. Very easy to digest and very easy on the stomach.

There’s a heap more information in the Podcast so if you want to check it out, here is a link .