In the dynamic world of sports, where every marginal benefit over the opposition is crucial, the significance of nutrition cannot be overstated. While elite athletes often have access to high-level nutritional guidance, at the grassroots level, many recreational sports enthusiasts often find themselves navigating the intricacies of nutrition without any guidance, with support teams often lacking knowledge about nutrition and understating its significance.

The potential of basic nutritional support at the grassroot level is relatively untapped, meaning even small changes can make meaningful differences. By supporting amateur athletes, we as professional nutritionists have the potential to make a profound impact not only on performance and recovery times, but on the mental and physical well being of many people already engaged with sports. 

Of course, elite and amateur athletes perform at completely different levels, and this means the general demands on the individuals who participate are worlds apart. For example, a recreational athlete may engage in structured training sessions 1 to 2 nights per weeks after work and take part in weekend competitions. In football, recreational players will often play a 90-minute match on both Saturday and Sunday, which is significantly less time for recovery and game preparation when compared to their elite counterparts. By providing practical nutrition support and basic knowledge, we could help the recreational athlete to better cope with the physical and demands placed upon them.

In the elite setting, the role and responsibilities of a performance nutritionist will typically include individual nutritional analysis and consultations, developing and delivering group education sessions, menu planning, body composition analysis, supplement provision, implementation and monitoring of nutritional interventions, supporting teams during competition and/or training camps, and liaising with external organisations. Clearly, the scope of nutrition support within grassroots sports is in stark contrast to what an elite athlete may have access to. But we know nutrition can have an impact at any level of sport, as ALL athletes need sufficient energy levels and fuel to support the demands made on their bodies.

Irrespective of an athlete’s performance level, the body’s ability to perform optimally is directly associated with the quantity and timing of carbohydrate intake, meaning this should be a top priority of any nutritional plan to tailor carbohydrate intake to the specific requirements of an individual to influence energy levels and enhance exercise capacity.

As nutrition experts, we strive to translate complex nutritional science into simple, easy-to-understand advice that directly impacts the individual. For example, it can be relatively simple to have an instant impact on performance, as recreational participants usually under-fuel with carbohydrates and often have no understanding of specific amounts of carbohydrates needed to fuel exercise of different durations and intensities and amount of carbohydrates in different foods. Therefore, we have a great opportunity offer advice that is likely to benefit performance.

At a grassroots level, we see a large range of ways to make improvements, compared to working with their elite counterparts. From varying body compositions to the potential diets high in alcohol, take-aways and processed foods, there’s a lot to consider. Therefore, nutritional support could start by providing a look at a more healthy, varied diet where the focus is on reducing foods that are detrimental to health and performance and increasing fruit and vegetable intake to allow participants to feel better in themselves, potentially improving body composition and mental well-being.

We should always have at the forefront of our minds that recreational athletes are performing for enjoyment, and whilst everyone wants to be as good as they can be at the sports they love, improving overall wellbeing should be a top priority in recreational athletes.

It is often tough for nutritional information to be provided for players within the grassroots setting given obvious resource constraints, and access to sports nutrition experts is not commonplace. However, if a package of simple sports nutrition knowledge resources were made available for grassroots volunteers, parents and coaches to support their players, it could be a game-changer. 

1. Improving overall wellbeing should be a top priority
2. After assessing overall needs, start with the basics, like the fundamentals and benefits of a healthy, varied diet
3. A focus on tailoring carbohydrate intake to the specific requirements of an individual to influence energy levels and enhance exercise capacity can reap large rewards
4. Basic nutritional support can provide an easy way not only to improve performance and fitness levels but contribute to the overall physical and mental well-being of the grassroots game.

Disclaimer:  This information is intended for Health and/or Nutrition Professionals working within the field of sport and performance nutrition, including sports nutritionists, dietitians, sports scientists, coaches, athletic trainers or other nutrition professionals who have appropriate training in nutrition and human physiology.