There is a very sound arrangement for the high-class nutrition supply to the elite level athletes in the country, professionally skilled dietitians and an optimized diet with respect to personal requirements and events for each discipline of sports which these elite players compete at globally.
Nutrition For Elite Athletes
From high-tech recovery meals to the latest supplements, top Indian athletes are well-stocked with the finest resources. Ensuring that the advanced sports science facilities and the expert guidance made available to them ensure that these athletes remain top of their games to come even closer to bagging medals and breaking records is not a daunting task.
Nutrition Gaps At Grassroots Level
The story goes drastically different with grassroots athletes of India. Although interest in sports is increasing throughout the country, most young athletes, who are at the very initial stages of their career, lack proper nutritional support. According to Abhinav M. who is the Head Of Performance at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy and a veteran sports nutrition expert during The Sportz Planet SportSci Summit Season 2, grassroots athletes generally do not have proper diet plans, professional nutritionists or even basic nutritional education.
Nutrition Education And Access For Grassroots Athletes
Most of the time, young athletes who remain in rural or underprivileged regions have to take home-cooked meals that are not good enough to fulfill the specific energy and nutrient requirements that they need to achieve in the process of developing as an athlete. Even among those residing in cities and gaining easy access to such facilities, lack of proper counseling on optimal fueling during training and recovery remains a factor that prevents them from reaching their full growth and performance potential as well as optimal well-being.
Nutritional Coaching And Support
Grassroot athletes lack any structures and qualified coaches that would sensitize them to nutrition as a determinant of better performance. Without clear nutritional plans, skilled athletes are disadvantaged in the position to compete against their counterparts in national or international levels.
Crossing Over The Nutrition Divide
As pointed out by Abhinav M, this will be of crucial importance to unlocking all the potential that the country holds in its sporting variety. Nutrition education needs urgent investment and access to better trained nutritionists and affordable and sustainable nutrition programs at all levels of athletes. Only then can India look forward to a more competing and successful sporting future when grassroot-level athletes receive as much nutritional attention as their elites.
The Sportz Planet Desk,
Atharva Shetye
