Welsh Boxing athletes chef up with Sport Wales Let’s Get Cooking Project
Over recent months, Welsh Boxing athletes have been taking time to step out of the ring and work with Sport Wales in the kitchen.
The nutrition team at Sport Wales have been rolling out the Let’s Get Cooking Project in recent times, an initiative aimed at developing self-sufficient athletes who enjoy high-quality meals specific to their health, performance and training needs.
Research conducted prior to the project’s launch identified common barriers across sports in following nutritional guidance – barriers which our boxers have been supported in overcoming courtesy of this Sport Wales initiative.
These barriers included cooking skills and the opportunity to develop cooking skills, food provision at home and food provision away from home (school, training camps and competitions, for example), and athletes’ knowledge around nutrition requirements.
Working with our boxers, Sport Wales will also look to educate around unsafe weight-making practices and how to avoid them.
We recently chatted with Nancy Lunnon, a Performance Nutritionist at Sport Wales who has been leading sessions with Welsh Boxing athletes.
“A big part of what we’ve been doing in the kitchen is building up that skillset and knowledge on nutrition fundamentals to be able to move into boxing-specific guidance,” she told us.
There have so far been four sessions, with up to eight boxers attending each.
“We’ve cooked different meals each time,” Nancy explained, “and we’ve done snacks and smoothies to build a roster of meals and snacks that athletes would be able to cook at home.
“It’s been about developing those skills, but also about developing confidence; from what I’ve chatted to them about, they have a vague understanding of what they should or could be eating, but it’s about the confidence to actually go and do it.
“We’ve also tied each session in with a key education aim,” she continued, “whether that be nutrition fundamentals, pre-training specifics or post-training guidance and examples.
“The next step now will be to move into those boxing-specific safe weight-making aims.”
What has worked so well in these sessions has been the atmosphere. As an informal setting, the kitchen has been an ideal space for boxers to break the ice, feel at ease, learn, and build relationships while enjoying themselves.
As a result, the Let’s Get Cooking Project has been conducive to important learnings for Welsh Boxing athletes in these sessions – not just for their careers, but for wider life.
“We want to develop self-sufficient athletes that have a positive relationship with food,” Nancy stated. “It’s really important that they learn independence and are able to cook themselves good, healthy, nutritious food outside of their sport for their health.
“And that positive relationship with food is vital. I think, with athletes, there are so many examples of negative relationships with food because it’s seen as something so fundamental to performance. So, that’s another reason why this project is such a good idea, as it breaks down some of those myths or perceptions in a positive environment.”
The next Masterchef may not have been identified in the Sport Wales kitchen, but it’s clear that the boxers enjoyed the environment and have so far benefitted greatly from the Let’s Get Cooking Project.
“It’s been really good fun,” confirmed Nancy. “They bring a lot of energy and they’re really up for trying new things and being creative.
“They’ve had the space to very much cook their own food, and it’s really cool seeing them become more confident and exploring different tastes, flavours, textures, and so on.”