There was a full house at today’s IABA “Fueling Success” nutrition conference.
The event, hosted by IABA’s Women in Sport Lead Sophie Doolan and MC’d by Paris Olympian Grainne Walsh, included a panel discussion with Paris Olympians Jennifer Lehane and Daina Moorehouse.
They discussed their weight-making journeys from their earliest bouts and how these have changed as each boxer has progressed through her career, how they approach fuelling for training and fuelling for fighting; recovery foods, weight maintenance and taking time off from that. They also discussed how weight fluctuates at different stages of the menstrual cycle, and how they approach this – and how can parents/coaches best support younger athletes.
The panel was followed by a keynote presentation by Dr. Sharon Madigan. Sharon has worked with Boxing High Performance for 20 years – she is the Head of Performance Nutrition at the Institute of Sport, and was Team Ireland’s Head of Sport Science at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Sharon’s presentation included the effects of under-fuelling on performance and overall health on male and female athletes, the importance of carbohydrates to support training and competing, the impact of the menstrual cycle on female athlete nutrition, and also key nutrition markers for athletes aged 6-11, 11-14, 15-18 and 19 to 21, in line with physical development and maturity.
Boxers, coaches and parents were welcome at today’s event.
Attendees:
Clubs including Dealgan (Louth), Arbour Hill (Dublin), St. Monica’s (Newry), CBS (Wexford), Dublin City University Athletic Boxing Club, Four Kings (Wicklow), Lucan (Dublin), Santry (Dublin), Smithfield (Dublin), Monivea (Galway), Cherry Orchard (Dublin) and Crumlin (Dublin) attended today’s conference.
All images: Sean Ryan.