Take a look at most Olympic sports and, even at a local club level, you’ll find a passion for fitness that feeds an infatuation with nutrition.
Eating right - or fuelling in athlete-speak - doesn’t carry the same weight in clay shooting. Let’s be honest, most shots know their way around an all-day-breakfast better than the basics of a sustainable nutrition plan.
Does that really matter? Yes. At the top end of our sport the margin between winning and losing is so wafer thin that shots need to gain competitive advantage wherever they can.
As Performance Operations Manager at British Shooting, Alex Ballard’s job is to ensure our athletes perform at their best.
“Nutrition is a key factor underpinning training and performance,” says Alex. “Concentration and focus are essential and a sound nutritional routine promotes both. Competition days are long, so managing energy levels is important. Our athletes compete across the world in a number of different environments - hot, cold, different humidity levels and so on. All require a good understanding of nutrition and hydration principles.”
So, for those top athletes, a detailed, scientific approach to nutrition can ensure that they are energised when they need to be, whatever the conditions.
The rest of us just want to shoot better than we did last week and enjoy ourselves in the process. Fortunately, eating healthily can help with these humbler goals too.
Let’s identify two shooting characters in order to discover how the right nutrition can benefit them both.
Peaches and Ginger