Para Sports Nutrition

Julia Battams is the head para equestrian coach for Australia, and the founder of the Equine Pathways Australia charity which supports the development of para equestrian riders across Australia. Julia tells us all about the sport of para equestrian, the nutrition challenges athletes face, and the pathways available to coaches to get involved in the sport.

Elliot Stewart won a silver medal in the 2020 Paralympic games for Judo, and has since begun a role as the National Para Lead for Judo Australia. Elliot tells us what Para Judo is, the demands of the sport, and his experience in progressing from being an able-bodied Judoka and coach into Para Judo with a newly acquired vision impairment. He has great advice for Judo coaches, athletes and support personnel.

Vera Weijer is a Dutch researcher who, together with Kristen Jonvik from Norway, undertook a research project regarding the energy expenditure and intake of Paralympic athletes. What is unique about this research is the number (70) and breadth of athletes studied (Norwegian and Dutch from a range of sports and impairment types), mostly at the elite level, and the range of techniques they've used in the study, including doubly labelled water. The details of their results can be found in these links: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38763462/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38694186/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38194704/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39587809/    

Hoda Elshorbagy is an Egyptian wheelchair racer with polio. Hoda talks to us about her journey from a small Egyptian town with no pavement where there are no other wheelchair racers to training with the University of Illinois wheelchair racing group under the coaching of Adam Bleakney. She also discusses how she manages her nutrition priorities during Ramadan.

Dr Steve Reid is a sport and exercise physician and Chief Medical Officer of Paralympics Australia. Steve talks to us about how he got into working in sports medicine, and focuses on the medical issues that he sees most commonly in Para athletes and how nutrition inter-relates with them.

Erin Popovich is a 3 time Paralympic swimmer with achondroplasia who won 14 gold medals and 5 silver medals, 2 ESPYs and numerous other accolades. Erin is currently the Director of Para Swimming for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and has held positions as the Classification Coordinator and program manager of other sports within the USOPC. Erin talks to us about her journey as a para swimmer, her transition into classification coordinator and what classification is about, and provides her insights into the current status and future of Para sports and athletes.

Sean Pollard is an Australian para snowboarder who competed at the PyeongChang Paralympic games and, after taking a break, is back competing again. Sean is a bilateral arm amputee as a result of a shark attack when surfing. Sean talks to us about his journey into para snowboard, his training and how he's becoming more serious about his nutrition.

Joshua Brunais and Jake Kaplan are CP Soccer players for Team USA. Josh and Jake talk to us about their impairments (aquired brain injury and cerebral palsy, respectively), how they got into playing CP soccer, their training and how they manage their nutrition and hydration to support their training.

Kate Davis is the sports dietitian who has been working with the U.S. Mens' and Womens' Goalball programs since 2017. Kate talks to us about goalball, all the things she's learned by working with athletes with a visual impairment.

Trinity Lowthian is a Canadian wheelchair fencer who is striving to qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympic games. Trinity is also 'fed' and hydrated solely via intravenous nutrition. She talks to us about her impairment, why she cannot digest foods, and how she's worked towards finding a solution to enable her to train and compete at the best of her ability.

Raquel Teixeira is a sports nutritionist at FC Porto in Portugal who works with a number of athletes with impairments. Raquel talks to us about the work she does with athletes with an intellectual impairment, the challenges she faces in teaching them about nutrition, and the lessons she's learned in how best to get the key messages across. 

Stuart Sharp is the senior director, Extended National Teams at USA Soccer and works alongside Daniel Wartner who is the physiologist and strength & conditioning coach.  Stuart and Daniel tell us all about CP soccer (or football 7-a-side), how they interact with the players and adjust loads according to the degree the cerebral palsy or brain injury effects each player, and how they manage the individual nutrition needs during competition.

Dr Greg Cox is a sports dietitian and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at Bond University. Greg talks to us about his particular area of research interest, the carbohydrate needs of athletes, what influences this, and how important consuming sufficient carbohydrate is for optimising training, health, and ultimately performance.

David Wagner is a wheelchair (quad division) tennis player and 5 time Paralympian. David talks to us about his journey as a quad tennis player, his impairment, his training and how he has built his nutrition strategies around the short times at home and long periods of travel. 

Oliver Lam-Watson is a wheelchair fencer who competed in Tokyo at his first Paralympic games, winning 2 medals. Oliver talks to us about his impairment, how he got into wheelchair fencing, what the sport of wheelchair fencing looks like, his training, the nutrition journey he's been on and what he's learnt, as well as how he monitors himself to ensure he optimises his training and adaptations / recovery.

Keely Shaw is a Paralympic Cyclist who medalled on the track in Tokyo 2020, and is also finishing a PhD in the area of nutrition. Keely talks to us about her impairment, how she got into para cycling, her training, and how she uses her nutrition to make her a better athlete. She also tells us about her masters and PhD work in the areas of nutrition and performance and how she balances training with being a full time grad student.

Brian Siemann is a 3 time Paralympian wheelchair racer. Brian talks to us about how he got into wheelchair racing, how he has worked on his nutrition over this time to support his training and manage his body composition, and how he monitors his training to ensure he optimises his health and performance capacity. 

Dr Ricardo Costa is a sports dietitian and the Associate Professor of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food at Monash University. Ricardo talks to us about his research into the impact of exercise on gut function and gut-related symptoms, with a focus on how to assess this and what can be done to improve symptoms for athletes.   Some references include: Martinez et al. 2023, The Effect of Gut Training and Feeding Challenge on Markers of Gastrointestinal Status in Response to Endurance Exercise: A Systematic Literature Review. Sports Medicine. Gaskell et al. Gastrointestinal Assessment and Management Procedures for Exercise-Associated Gastrointestinal Symptoms. Aspetar Sports Medicine Journal. Costa et al. 2022. Assessment of Exercise-Associated Gastrointestinal Perturbations in Research and Practical Settings: Methodological Concerns and Recommendations for Best Practice. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.

Dr Adam Tenforde is a sports medicine physician and Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Harvard Medical School. Adam specialises in bone stress injuries, and talks to us about bone health, how to assess bone density and bone stress injuries, and what factors athletes and coaches should focus on to ensure bone health is protected and optimised. 

Dr Chris McGlory is an assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queens University in Canada. Chris talks to us about omega 3 fatty acids (aka fish oils), their role in health and in muscle for athletes.

Mitch Valize is an H5 handcyclist who won both the time trial and road race on debut at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games. Mitch talks to us about how he got into hand cycling, his training, how he manages his nutrition and eating enough energy to support his training and racing, and how he monitors his body to ensure he's adapting effectively to his training.

Jessica Heims is a 2 time paralympic discus thrower and previous world record holder. Jess talks to us about her impairment, her training, how her nutrition has changed to help improve her strength as a thrower and the challenges and benefits she's experienced when increasing her energy intake for this.

Dr Jamie Stanley is the senior sport physiologist working with the Australian para cycling team. Jamie talks to us about the work he does in conjunction with athletes and coaches to optimise performance through monitoring how the body adapts to training and recovery practices in order to produce the best performances within any individual.

Dr Sommer Christie is a mental performance consultant with the Canadian wheelchair rugby team. Sommer explains to us how a mental performance consultant (or sport psychologist) can help athletes improve their mental approach to training and performance, and how they interact with coaches and other performance support personnel to create the most productive environments for athletes to thrive. 

Dr Miriam van Reijin is a sports nutritionist working with the Dutch wheelchair tennis and ski / snowboard programs. Miriam talks to us about her approach to working out the nutritional needs of her athletes and improving their intakes to better support training and competition.

Dr Gary Slater is an associate professor in Nutrition & Dietetics at the University of the Sunshine Coast and the National Nutrition lead for the Australian Institute of Sport. Gary talks to us about physique (or body composition) assessment of athletes - why it might be undertaken, what methods are best to use and for what purpose, when it might be appropriate to undertake and some precautions practitioners, athletes and coaches may want to consider.

Dr Jill Parnell is a Canadian researcher who has investigated dietary supplement use and nutrition knowledge of paralympic athletes. Jill explains what we mean by dietary supplements, tells us why we would study dietary supplement use, what para athletes and coaches need to consider before deciding to take a supplement, and sources of useful information about dietary supplements.

Rob van der Werf is a sports dietitian who works with the Dutch para cycling and swimming programs. Rob talks to us about some of his experiences in working with para athletes, how that's different to working with able-bodied athletes, some of the research they've done on energy requirements of para cyclists, and the opportunities for young sports dietitians / nutritionists coming into para sports.

Josh Pauls is a 4 time Paralympic gold medallist with the Team USA Para Ice Hockey program. Josh talks to us about how he got into playing ice hockey, his impairment, his training and the work he's done on improving his nutrition to support his performance.

Diede de Groot is the world number 1 in wheelchair tennis singles and doubles who won the Gold medal in both events at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games, as well as winning the Golden Slam in 2021. Diede talks to us about her impairment, how she got into playing wheelchair tennis, her training and how she manages her nutrition through all the travel she does each year to compete.

Jeongmin Lee was a South Korean para rower and nordic skier who competed in the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic games. Having completed his PhD, Jeongmin now works as a researcher for the Korean Paralympic Committee. We talk to Jeongmin about his journey through paralympic sport.

Kevin Mather is a Paralympic Archer and gold medalist from Tokyo. Kevin talks to us about his background in multiple sports (ironman triathlon, alpine skiing), his impairment, how he got into para archery and the discipline he brings into being a professional athlete.

Greg Smith, OAM, is a 5 time Paralympian and multiple medalist across two sports (wheelchair racing and wheelchair rugby), who is currently the strength and conditioning coach for the Australian wheelchair rugby team. Greg tells us about how he got into coaching, his journey as an athlete, and how para sport has changed over the past 30 years.

Andrew Kurka is a 3 time paralympic alpine sit skier who won gold in the Downhill and silver in the Super G at the PyeongChang paralympic games. Andrew talks to us about his spinal cord injury, how he got into sit skiing, how a sit ski operates, the things he focuses on with his diet and how he modifies his diet when he's recovering from injuries.

David Hoff is the National Para Ice hockey coach for Team USA, who have won gold at the last 4 Paralympic Winter games. David tells us about the sport of para ice hockey, monitoring athletes' ability to manage training loads, and the primary nutritional concerns.

Nathan Doyle is a para swim coach who has coached numerous Australians to medal at the Paralympic and Commonwealth Games. Nathan describes para swimming to us and provides some insights into how he manages his training programs to cater for a wide range of impairment types.

Melissa (Milly) Tapper is a 3 time Paralympic and 2 time Olympic table tennis player, and sliver medallist from the Tokyo Paralympic games. Milly talks to us about her impairment, how she got into playing table tennis, her training and nutrition, and how she monitors her response to training and recovery.

Melissa Lacroix is the lead physiologist for the Canadian Sports Institute Ontario and the lead physiologist with the Canadian Wheelchair Rugby team. Melissa talks to us about the work she does with para sports and provides advice on some simple monitoring tools that athletes and coaches can use to assess the effectiveness of training and recovery.

Chris Wilkins is a young British para cyclist with a vision impairment. Chris talks to us about his vision impairment, how he transitioned into para cycling, his training and nutrition, and the adaptations he's making to enable him to compete at a higher level.

Carolyn Murray is the Head Para Triathlon coach for team Canada. Carolyn talks to us about how she got into coaching para triathlon, what para triathlon is, some of the training and nutrition challenges, and what she's learnt along the way.

Chris Bond, OAM, is a 3 time Paralympic wheelchair rugby player and quadruple amputee. Chris talks to us about his impairment, his training and nutrition for wheelchair rugby, and provides great advice on keeping your sports nutrition simple but effective.

Katie Holloway Bridge is a 4 time Paralympic sit volleyball medallist and leg amputee. Katie talks to us about her journey from collegiate basketball player to elite sit volleyball player, how she manages her training and nutrition together with full time work, and her first time pregnancy.

Lindsey Zurbrugg is a wheelchair basketball player who was part of the bronze medal winning team at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Lindsey talks to us about her impairment which she acquired at age 13, her journey as a basketball player and university student, and her proactive approach to her sports nutrition.

Steve Emt is a 2 time winter Paralympian in the sport of wheelchair curling. Steve talks to us about his background, his impairment, how he got into wheelchair curling, his training and nutrition, and the purpose behind his book "You Decide".

Dr Chris Irwin is an accredited dietitian, lecturer and researcher at Griffith University on the Gold Coast of Australia. Chris talks to us about alcohol, what it does and how it may impact athletes, providing some sound advice about the appropriate consumption of alcohol.

Chris Murphy is a 2 time Paralympic cyclist (C5 category) with Erb's Palsy. Chris talks to us about his transition from being a professional musician to Para cyclist and the process he's going through to specialise in the 1km time trial on the velodrome.

Jim Murdock has been the athletic trainer and medical coordinator for Team USA wheelchair rugby for nearly 20 years. Jim talks to us about the sport of wheelchair rugby, the work that he does as athletic trainer and medical coordinator, and what he's learn about working with para athletes.

Ryan Pinney is a hand cyclist and medalist in the handcycle relay at the Tokyo Paralympics. Ryan talks to us about his spinal cord injury, how he got into para cycling, his training and nutrition, and his recent shoulder injury and how he managed his recovery.

Rusty (Russell) Schieber is the national wheelchair curling coach for Team USA. Rusty tells us all about wheelchair curling and the things he's learnt as a coach over the past 14 years.

Matt Levy, OAM, is a recently retired 5 time Paralympic swimmer, medalist and author with both cerebral palsy and a vision impairment. Matt talks to us about his swimming, training, nutrition and how he balanced this with schooling, university and work over his 20 year career.

Bobbi Kelly was the guide for Mel Perrine (para alpine skier, E51) for 4 years leading in to the Beijing Winter Paralympics. Bobbi explains her background, the role of a guide, and the work she did with Mel to create a strong partnership.