SDA FEATURE NUTRITION FOR SWIMMING FROM THE JUNIOR MEDAL DAY-DREAMER TO THE ELITE ATHLETE A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO NUTRITION FOR SWIMMING DEVELOPMENT Sport Level Nutrition Focus Nutrition knowledge and skills Junior Basic Healthy • Education on the food groups for health Swimmer Eating Principles • Identify high carbohydrate and high protein food source • Recovery snack ideas focusing on information for parents on fuelling young swimmers • Water for hydration Adolescent Basic Sports • Life skills such as meal planning, cooking and food safety, grocery shopping Swimmer Nutrition and budgeting skills • Becoming less reliant on parents e.g. organisation of own recovery snacks in swimming bag • Main focus on water for hydration • Further information on nutrition for growth and development • Awareness of the difference between performance foods e.g. sports drinks or sports bars and health foods • Awareness of guidelines around supplements and sport Age Group Intermediate • Individualised training and competition nutrition plans Elite Targeted Sports Nutrition • Assessment of individual hydration and replacement fluid needs Swimmer • Some novel nutrition strategies e.g. carbohydrate mouth rinse or intake of sport drinks and sports bars or whey protein and basic periodisation depending on training type and volume • Detailed education on supplement awareness and responsibilities • Some body composition manipulation if required under supervision Elite Swimmer Advanced Sports • Periodised and individualised nutrition plan according to training cycle and Nutrition overarching performance goals • Performance supplements where appropriate. The effectiveness of any intervention should be evaluated. PRACTICAL TIPS FOR • Becoming organised and being • Keep a drink bottle at the end of SWIMMERS consistent with healthy eating in the the lane to sip on during breaks right amounts should be the main in training sessions. • Swimmers tend to have very busy focus in the younger athlete. • Cool water is likely suitable for lifestyles, often with sessions in the • Don’t rely on foods sold at the most swimmers especially those early morning and evening nestled swimming venue, which may be poor training indoors. around school and other commitments. quality convenience foods. • Implementing recovery snacks around Therefore, nutrition strategies should • Trial strategies in training before training and removing these snacks be well planned, simple and achievable. implementing strategies in competition. if there is no training is a method of • Ensure that nutrition suggestions do • If an athlete is getting out of the pool altering daily energy intake to better not cause laborious meal preparation to urinate, they are probably drinking match energy expenditure. and should facilitated and support too much fluid; if they are passing urine other recovery practices such as infrequently and the colour is more of mental rest and sleep. a dark apple juice, they are likely not drinking enough fluid. 28 VOLUME 36 • ISSUE 3 2018