Reflecting on the recent fuelling workshop I conducted for the Junior A Athenry Football team, I gained valuable insights into both the challenges and successes involved in delivering sports nutrition education to athletes. This was my first experience giving a workshop to a sports team, designed to impart essential knowledge about proper fuelling techniques for peak performance.

I prepared a PowerPoint presentation for the workshop, projected on a screen in the players’ changing room. The small space, driven by available resources, was not ideally suited for a projector and screen setup, making it difficult to create an environment conducive to learning. Despite these limitations, I managed to adjust the setup to best fit the cramped surroundings. Initially, the response from the players was less enthusiastic than anticipated. The overwhelming presence of the screen and the formal presentation format appeared to disengage them, suggesting a sense of boredom or disconnection with the material presented. Recognizing this early on, I shifted my approach by incorporating interactive elements into the session. I began asking the players questions to gauge their understanding and practices regarding fuelling. This shift not only sparked more interest but also allowed for a more dynamic exchange of ideas about sports nutrition and its practical application in their training and competition routines. The workshop started with only six participants, but as the session progressed, the rest of the team gradually joined. This staggered attendance indicated a varying level of commitment and interest in the topic, which was challenging yet also reflective of the novelty of the situation for many players—this being their first experience with a sports nutritionist-led workshop. The session extended over 45 minutes, which I found was too long for maintaining the players’ attention. As the workshop progressed, it became apparent that the length of the session was causing the players to become restless and bored, with many looking forward to moving on to their training session. To reinforce the information presented during the workshop and ensure the players had continued access to helpful nutritional tips, I created an information flyer on nutrition tips for food and drink before and after the game. I shared this flyer in the team’s WhatsApp group, where it was well-received by both the coach and the team members. This follow-up material helped to consolidate the learning and provided the players with practical advice that they could easily refer to and apply. Organizing the workshop proved to be a significant challenge. Coordination with the team’s manager required several weeks, with multiple postponements that disrupted the planning process. Despite the initial hurdles, the feedback from the players who attended was overwhelmingly positive. Many expressed a keen interest in receiving support to improve their performance, especially given the lack of sports nutrition support provided by the club. The players also requested more workshops on recovery and hydration, showing their eagerness to engage more deeply with sports nutrition. The role of the team manager/coach was notably less supportive than desired. I perceived a lack of interest in the workshop’s content and goals from the coach, which may have influenced the players’ initial disengagement. Reflecting on this experience, several areas for improvement emerge. For future workshops, finding a more suitable venue will be crucial to facilitate better engagement and comfort for the participants. Moreover, adapting the presentation style to be more interactive from the start could help in capturing and maintaining player interest more effectively. One aspect I overlooked was documenting the event through photos and videos, which are crucial for a practitioner to have as records of engagement and effectiveness. In future sessions, I plan to bring someone along specifically to handle photography and videography, ensuring that once I start presenting, the visual documentation is taken care of without distraction.

Overall, while the workshop faced several challenges, the ability to adapt and the positive reception from the players provided a strong foundation for future educational efforts. These sessions are not only about conveying information but also about inspiring athletes to integrate sports nutrition effectively into their everyday training, ultimately enhancing their performance and wellbeing.