Sports Nutrition Course

Sports Dietetic Up Skills Course

See below for application form

Closing date extended to 7th November

Introduction

This is the 1st x 2-day Sports Dietetic course being run in Ireland specifically for qualified dietitians. If you complete the course successfully this should up skill dietitians to confidently work with sports athletes. In addition this course has been tailored to help dietitians attain some of the competencies needed to reach SENR or Irish Institute of Sport registration.

Venue: Bon Secours Hospital Glasnevin Dublin 9.

Admission Requirements: INDI member and SNIG member & Qualified Dietitian with 1 year’s dietetic experience.

Registration: Full fee of €700 due with application form.

Allocation of Places: Course will be limited to 35 Places on a first come first served basis fulfilling the above admission criteria..

Closing date for applications is November 2nd 2007.

Application forms will be posted with the October INDI Matters Magazine

Preparation for the course:
Applicants will need to have read Jane Griffin’s book Food for Sport as a basic text and will be advised of additional online learning once accepted on the course.. Your knowledge of this text and E learning will be tested through a pre course multiple choice exam, which will be posted to participants before course date. All participants must pass this before being deemed eligible to participate on the course. It is your own responsibility to make sure that you have read and understood the recommended book & E Learning if you wish to pass the multiple choice questionnaire.

Course Detail:
The course is for qualified dietitians with 1 year’s postgraduate experience. The course will cover Physiology & Biochemistry of Exercise, Eating Strategies for training and for Specific Sport Categories, Supplements, Recovery and Dietetic Aspects of Sport. All applicants will be expected to attend an evening meal on the middle evening where it will be possible to gain additional information from meeting sports Dietitians actively working in the area socially. There will also be 4 workshops on Evening 1 and participants will be able to attend 2 of the 4 workshops.

The attendance at the full course, i.e.- all lectures / workshops / evening meal / practical session and passing the multiple choice & final exams are essential to be awarded the Basic Accreditation level

Post Course Exam
The Post Course Exam will consist of 8 questions. The answers should be no more than 750 words for each question. There will be 4 weeks in which to complete the assignment. You will be given these questions during the final session.

Aims & Objectives:

On completion of this course you should be able to:

1. Provide structured dietetic support to a club athlete or a junior / development squad carded athletes and teams.
2. Demonstrate greater sports dietetic knowledge.
3. Demonstrate a willingness to learn from other sports professionals & sports support staff
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the role of sports science support for athletes.
5. Communicate confidently with team coaches / players / athletes at the level you are accredited to work at.
6. Have developed the ability to have an open-minded approach to all situations, which does not involve compromising your Code of professional conduct.
7. Work cooperatively with team coaches, sports people to provide structured an ongoing dietetic support.
8. Be able to problem solve dietetic issues for various sports groups
9. Demonstrate ability to find current & reliable information relating to sports dietetics.

Parking
Parking in the Bons is pay & display with a day rate of €10. Alternatively there is plenty of on street parking free of charge around the Hospital site.

BUS

No’s 13, 19 & 83 all pass the Hospital.

Directions:
The hospital is located 300m from the National Botanic gardens.

Programme of Lectures:
Basic Exercise Physiology & Biochemistry of sport
How the body adapts to training Measurement of fitness
Fatigue Recovery Strategies & glycogen replenishment
Strength training
4 x Workshops Carbohydrate & it’s role in sport
Protein & muscle Pre exercise food routines
Fluid & hydration Ergogenic aids
How to make weight Pulling it all together
Team monitoring The Irish Sports scene
PACE athletes & how to see them

Speakers

Steve Martin CEO of Olympic council of Ireland, Dr Donal ‘Gorman DCU, DR Giles Warrington DCU, Declan Gamble Sports Institute Northern Ireland, Ruth Wood-Martin Dietitian to IRFU, Richelle Flanagan Consultant nutritionist, Noreen Roche, dietitian to Kilkenny hurling team, Dr Sharon Madigan Dietitian to Irish Boxing Team, Dara Morgan Nutritionist, Deborah griffin accredited sports dietitian.

Summary

This course will be quite demanding. There is pre course work post course work and 2 days of intensive lectures. On completion of the course you will be suitably equipped to work with 95% of Irish athletes.

Course Coordinators
Jill Sommerville, Noreen Roche, Sharon Madigan

Additional Information
Irish Sport is in a transition phase. The Irish institute of sport will be the governing body controlling how sports Science providers such as dietitians / doctors & physiotherapist work with elite athletes. Currently this is monitored by the NCTC in Limerick. The handover to the IIS is due to be completed by January 2009.

- People who pass the up skills SNIG Sports Dietetic course will have 9 months to work with carded athletes, after which, a new IIS scheme will be in place that will require more stringent standards for Sports Dietitians and other service providers to meet before they can see carded sportspeople.

- Therefore from January 2009, the Irish Institute of Sport will have more stringent rules in place to see elite athletes. There will be two levels at which a Sports professional will be allowed to work with carded sportspeople:

a) Service Team Member – the minimum accepted standard for individuals who wish to work with Irish high performance athletes, coaches and programmes. It is the minimum standard that the IIS believes is necessary for independent, autonomous practice as an applied practitioner within high performance and requires applicants to have technical knowledge to Master level or equivalent.

The application process to become a Service Team Member will require
- An administration fee of 100 euros
- Photocopied proof of membership of the INDI
- Photocopied proof of all relevant qualifications
- Three copies of an athlete case study, following the set guidelines and word length (maximum total number of words = 3,000)
- Three referees, one who must be a coach, one an athlete, plus one other who can make reference to your work within high performance (these individuals will be contacted to request confidential feedback using a standard ISS proforma)
- Name and short supporting statement from the applicant’s mentor

b) Service Team Fellow – recognises those practitioners who are world class; who are acknowledged leaders in their field and who are involved in innovative practice, thinking and the dissemination of such.

- An application fee of 100 euros
- Photocopied proof of membership of the INDI
- Photocopied proof of all relevant qualifications gained since membership of the IIS was first awarded
- Three copies of the case study, clearly demonstrating innovation of service delivery to a client within the high performance environment, following the set guidelines and word length (maximum total number of words = 3,000).
- The names, email addresses and contact details of three references, who must be coaches or NGB high performance managers, from 1- 2 different sports (these individuals will be contacted to request confidential feedback using a standard ISS proforma)
- Name and short supporting statement from the applicant’s mentor
- Evidence of on-going professional development, including the evidence of peer assessment via appropriate presentations and publications

As can be seen from the above, the standard required for the IIS/NCTC will be extremely high and is for those Sports Dietitians who wish to work with elite athletes. We would encourage that those people who have a keen interest in seeing elite athletes to pursue it as outlined above.

However, as stated before these elite athletes are the top tier of sportspeople and the minority. We should also be focusing on promoting good health and appropriate nutrition for the majority of all other sportspeople. In order to do this we as a group should continue our professional development in the area of Sports Nutrition to ensure good practice. This will not only help our profile but also improve our expertise in the area.

Only a very small percentage of sports people fall into the carding scheme. By completing the Sports dietetic up skills course you should have enough confidence and knowledge to deal with 95% of sports question from Irish sports people.
The SENR Register is the UK’s equivalent of the IIS’s register so it would appear that it would not be necessary to be on both registers. Each individual can chose based on the criteria outlined by both organisations, which register they wish to apply for or indeed many SNIG members may not wish to be on either register.