Sports nutrition in Zimbabwe
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Blessing TF Mushonga, registered nutritionist
Zimbabwe has produced world-class athletes over the years. To name a few sporting codes, Zimbabwe has excelled in:
- the Zimbabwe ladies hockey team (Golden girls) who won gold in 1980 Summer Olympics,
- Kirsty Coventry who won various accolades in swimming at the Olympics and World Championships, and
- the Cricket team that ranked top ten in the world
Performance and winning probability could be higher with more local high performance centers that embrace the eight pillars of high performance: Psychology, Planning, Rituals, Training, Nutrition, Recovery, Stress and Sleep.
An athlete needs good sports nutrition to perform at an optimum level and athletes benefit from an individualized nutritional plan that compliments their body composition. All this is being slowly incorporated into Zimbabwean sports and many athletes have benefited.
Sports nutritionists from outside of Africa need to understand that athletes in Zimbabwe come from different economic and social backgrounds. This impacts the types of foods they can recommend. Some sports associations sponsor an athlete’s food list. A number of times we have to plan with naturally available foods in season as they are the less costly options. Supplements like whey, creatine, etc. are readily available but are quite pricey because they are not produced locally.
In Zimbabwe, there is a great need to educate athletes from a very young age about the fundamentals of sports nutrition in order for them to grow to their maximum potential and develop good performance nutrition practices. Nutrition education should also go to coaching and technical staff. Other sports professionals offering high performance are yet to appreciate sports nutrition as an important pillar to ascertain a comprehensive high performance service in Zimbabwe. The future is bright in Zimbabwe for the sports nutrition profession to grow and help take Zimbabwean sport to the next level and help Zimbabwe’s athletes compete with the world’s best athletes at all international games.
Author
Blessing TF Mushonga is a Registered Nutritionist with an Honours degree in Nutritional Sciences. He is currently studying a Post-Graduate diploma in Sports Nutrition. Blessing consults as a sports nutritionist to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee: Medical Commission (all sporting codes). This includes Zimbabwe Women’s Rugby, Zimbabwe Men’s Hockey, Zimbabwe U21 Ladies Hockey, and St John’s College (Zimbabwe). Blessing also has a private practice called Nutrition-Ward that provides nutrition services in sport, clinical, corporate, research and writing. He is in the national hockey men’s squad and has won five varsity hockey trophies with the University of Zimbabwe.
