Para Sports Nutrition

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.