President’s mid-year report 2019

Welcome to all members of PINES! It’s fantastic to see the growth in our membership over the past 6 months resulting in an average of 22 new members per month. Our global reach has expanded to include members from 40 different countries which demonstrates the international interest in sports nutrition.

The PINES board has been extremely busy since the start of the year with our successful 10 question session at the ACSM annual meeting (Orlando, USA), the continuing development of our feature articles and e-news, and our annual board meeting. We recognise that not all members get the opportunity to travel to ACSM, so PINES is committed to writing up a summary of the presentations which helps our membership stay up to date on the latest in sports nutrition research and practice. A feature of the PINES session was the successful social event which was supported by Unit Nutrition. I wish to thank Unit Nutrition for their ongoing commitment to PINES and we look forward to further collaboration in 2020.

Our annual board meeting was held virtually for the first time in 2019, which presents challenges when there are so many time zones to negotiate! As we have refocused our direction in 2019, the board decided to introduce new positions to support the communications portfolio (lead by Helen O’Connor) and develop membership. I’d like to welcome Kathryn Beck (New Zealand) and Shelly Meltzer (South Africa) into these roles. Unfortunately, Asker Jeukendrup was unable to continue in the role of Vice President, but we are fortunate that Hattie Wright (Australia) has stepped up into this role for the remainder of the 2 year term. I am looking forward to working with Hattie, Kathryn and Shelly in their respective positions.

On this point, the board term is ending at the end of 2019 and we will be calling for both continuing and new nominees for all roles. So please watch out for the Expression of Interest in the next few months if you believe this is something you would be interested in. We are also always interested in recruiting new global representatives who are able to promote PINES in their local region.

In terms of future strategic direction, PINES is interested in global growth; in particular to expand into countries that currently have less education and networks in sports nutrition. We recognize that to continue to improve our services for members we must seek partnerships that support our work. This will be a focus moving forward into 2020. We have plans to promote PINES at relevant international conferences, while strengthening the existing partnerships with ACSM through the nutrition group. In addition, PINES has once again been invited to review the on-paper menu for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. This demonstrates the value of our expertise to the broader sports community. Further information will be available to our members as this unfolds over the next 12 months.

I hope that all members take the opportunity to read our e-news and affiliated feature articles written by world leaders in sports nutrition. In addition, our bank of global fact sheets on food and nutrition continues to expand. We have commenced advertising job opportunities for our members and there are plans to add a membership directory to our website. This will help to promote a professional community of experts who are leaders in nutrition for sport and exercise.

Thank you to everyone for their continuing support of PINES and I look forward to further growth and development.

Fiona Pelly

President – PINES