St Mary’s University, Twickenham (SMU) has hosted the first Adolescent Athlete Networking Event on campus earlier in March.
Over 70 delegates, from all areas of sport science and medicine, attended the event to identify current challenges in supporting adolescent athletes, as well as discuss research and practical areas for action.
Sport Wales delivered a keynote session on how they have shifted their approach with adolescent athletes to create a system that priorities ‘winning well’, a concept that refers to winning without compromising health and wellbeing in young athletes. They described how this holistic approach has improved outcomes, reduced under-fuelling and injury, and led to better athlete retention in their development programmes.
An expert panel, featuring leading researchers, practitioners, and athletes, led a highly engaged and energetic audience in a discussion of the key challenges and opportunities in working with adolescent athletes. Delegates then enjoyed a lively speed networking session before sitting down to a lunch prepared by Performance Chef, Bryony Johnson.
Event organiser and Senior Lecturer in Nutrition at St Mary’s University Dr James Fleming said, “I was delighted to host such a well attended and energetic event. It was so good to see people from across the space networking and engaging on how we can improve the landscape for adolescent athletes. I'm looking forward to now bringing together the Adolescent Athlete Research Community and further developing my main area of research interest.”
Nutritionist Grace Rawlings shared after attending the event, “The Adolescent Athlete Networking Event at St Mary’s University was just fantastic. Having the opportunity to meet experts in this field and discuss adolescent athlete performance and nutrition is particularly important for my role in schools. Thank you to James Fleming for organising the event and to all the speakers who shared their experience and insight into such an important topic.”
Following on from the successful event, St Mary’s is launching the Adolescent Athlete Research Community. It will identify new opportunities for practical projects and research aiming to improve the landscape and produce new resources, support and guidance for adolescent athletes and the stakeholders who work with them.
If you are interested in taking part, you can sign up by emailing AARC@stmarys.ac.uk or using this link.
