In trying to fill the void of training workshops needed for junior road tennis players and other aspiring athletes, Dietitian Krista Maloney successfully pulled off her first training workshop.
Maloney said during the workshop held recently that she wanted to answer the call and rise to the occasion to give athletes the opportunity to train in order to perform at their best.
The workshop, titled as the Supplements, Nutrition and Ergogenic Aids Workshop (SNEA) was inspired by a class Maloney took as part of her Nutrition and Dietetics Undergraduate Degree at The University of Southern Caribbean.
While speaking to Barbados TODAY, she said, “As co-ordinator and host of the event, I am happy with how everything turned out to be. The reason why I wanted to put together the SNEA workshop is because I’m a nutrition and dietetics student attending the University of Southern Caribbean.”
Maloney said that she was encouraged while taking a class called Community Nutrition One.
Co-host of the workshop, Samuel Rouse said he was happy to be counted as part of the SNEA organising committee.
“The workshop was well organised and I am happy Krista gave me the opportunity to assist as the co-host. I really enjoyed the activities because they all contained knowledge, linking back to the purpose of the workshop, supplements, nutrition and ergogenic aids. Krista was very open-minded during the planning process of the workshop, listened to others opinions and views and was easy to work with as a colleague.
“Unfortunately, on the day of the workshop we did not have our desired target population as expected, but we still managed to work through the patches. Going forward we
would choose smaller target populations and build our confidence and experience from there,” he said.
Guest speaker Joseph Parris said that he found the participants took in the knowledge easily and feels encouraged to continue partnering with SNEA.
“It was a great workshop, we covered a lot of things in relation to ergogenic aids and I found that everybody took time to understand what we were saying in relation to ergogenic aids and how it impacts nutrition,” Parris explained.
Youth advocate and business consultant, Taahir Bulbilia called for more workshops like SNEA.
“The session was extremely engaging and insightful. It is important that programmes like these are taken all over Barbados.”
Meanwhile, former track athlete Malik Waithe described the workshop as well-executed.
“I think that the workshop Krista put on was very well done. A lot of thought and effort was put into the preparation and execution of the workshop and it was very educational and insightful. It was a job well done,” he said.
Junior basketball athlete Joshua Gibbs also enjoyed the session saying, “It was an informative session, very interactive. I believe the content provided was audience appropriate. I had a good time,” he said.
Junior footballer from the Alleyne School Emmanuel Barker said he learnt many valuable lessons during SNEA.
“I thought the workshop was nice because as a young athlete growing up I didn’t know most of these things. This workshop should be something done yearly and get some young athletes to come out because you can learn things like ergogenic aids. There was a sports nutritionist who spoke on valuable things that a sportsman should know,” he told Barbados TODAY.
One of the sponsors, Ryson Perryman, who is the owner of the Razor Edge Lawn Maintenance, called for more workshops similar to SNEA.
“The SNEA Workshop was very informative as well as interactive… I believe everyone learnt something new after attending the event. The activities were educational and fun, encouraging persons of all ages to participate… it would be a great idea to have more SNEA workshop programmes held in the near future.”
Maloney promised that more workshops will be made available in the future.
“I think that I can carry this to the future even in my future career and make it something consistent,” she said. (MR)
