At SIA we know the importance of nutrition in sports performance, which is why our project has focused on the nutritional education of our players in order to provide them with the necessary tools to encourage the voluntary adoption of healthy eating behaviours that contribute to their sporting career. Likewise, we work to attend to our players in a personalised way, which allows us to offer an approach adapted to the needs of our players.
The following is the process used for the nutritional evaluation and monitoring of SIA Academy players:
INITIAL NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT
Our starting point is to get to know our players as a whole. To do this, we have a multidisciplinary health team (doctor, nutritionist, psychologist, physical trainer and physiotherapist) that carries out a complete medical-nutritional evaluation that allows us to establish the objectives and strategies to work on during the season, taking into account both their initial nutritional state and their eating and cultural habits and preferences.
The main nutritional objective is to cover the nutrient requirements that allow our players to effectively generate the body adaptations demanded by the training stimulus. These body adaptations include the acquisition of strength, power, speed and endurance..
Nutritional intake should also ensure adequate growth and development in the case of younger athletes, promote general health and prevent injuries..
NUTRITIONAL MONITORING
At SIA academy we are concerned with nutritional monitoring to define progress. The components of nutritional monitoring are presented below:
Parameters Objectives
The analysis of body composition is a fundamental part in the assessment of nutritional status in athletes, as it allows us to establish quantitatively how body weight is distributed in its different components (fat mass, muscle mass, bone mass, residual mass, etc.).
The study of body composition will be essential to understand the effects that diet, physical exercise and physical growth, injuries and other environmental factors have on our players’ bodies..
Because of the importance of the above, SIA uses two techniques for this analysis:
- DEXA SCAN: is a technique for studying body composition based on X-ray photon absorptiometry. Due to its high precision, it is the best indicator for estimating body composition. This study is carried out on all our players when they enter the academy and we use it as a reference for monitoring.
- BODY MEASUREMENTS: carried out using the kinanthropometry technique (weight, height, skinfold measurements, body perimeters and diameters) and in compliance with the ISAK (International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry) protocol. These measurements allow us to estimate the athlete’s body composition and detect variations in a practical way.
Subjective Parameters
Weekly interview with our sports nutritionist in order to:
- To know and guide the nutritional expectations of our athletes.
- Determine the level of satisfaction of our players with the menu offered, while encouraging them to try new preparations.
Likewise, through our dining room service, we strive to create a pleasant atmosphere at mealtimes that invites relaxation, sharing and the enjoyment of food.
NUTRITION REPORTS
We generate a quarterly summary of the nutritional evolution of our athletes during their stay in our programme. The purpose of this report is to carry out a multidisciplinary review of the impact of the strategies established in order to determine, based on the results obtained, whether the objectives are maintained or modified. This tool is also provided to our players’ families in order to keep them informed of nutritional progress and its influence in other sporting areas.
SIA ACADEMY EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
As part of our education project, we strive to maintain constant communication with our players in order to impart practical and spontaneous knowledge in the area of nutrition.
We also carry out special activities:
- Cooking workshops (SIA CHEFF): they seek to promote teamwork, responsibility for tasks and a greater knowledge of the properties of food so that they have the tools to contribute to their food autonomy.
- Nutrition workshops: theoretical and practical approach to topics related to nutrition and its influence on energy availability, strength, performance and recovery in football.
The educational strategies aim to create their own criteria on the nutritional information they receive in order to encourage them to make informed and conscious food choices.
ADVANTAGES OF OUR NUTRITION SERVICE
- Personalised attention. We take care of the nutrition of our players taking into consideration the individual objectives to be achieved in order to maintain health, growth and promote improvements in body composition that guarantee an adequate sporting performance.
- We offer special menus to those players who require it due to:
- Dietary preferences (vegetarian, vegan diet, among others),
- Medical conditions (food intolerances or allergies, among others).
- Religious or cultural reasons.
- We work together with other specialties (physical trainer, psychologist, among others) which allows us to provide a comprehensive and efficient approach.
- Continuous education on sports nutrition, which allows us to raise awareness and create healthy eating habits.
- We treat our players closely, always ready to guide them through each stage of the process with kindness and communication.
