KILKENNY HURLING ALLSTAR Michael Fennelly has called for nutrition to be made a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools to help tackle Ireland’s obesity issues.
Fennelly, a nutrition and coaching lecturer at Setanta College, picked up his third Allstar award last Friday night, adding to the six All-Ireland medals he has collected during a glittering career.
The midfield powerhouse is now preparing to speak at a forthcoming conference where a host of international sports coaches will issue a plea for nutrition to become a key component of Physical Education in schools.
LIT/Setanta College is hosting the conference titled ‘Developing & Maximising Youth Potential’ at the Sportslab, LIT Thurles this on Saturday and Sunday, 21 and 22 November.
“Nutrition is so important and to a point that it is almost difficult to believe that it is not a compulsory subject in schools,” Fennelly said.
“In my view it should be a compulsory part of the PE programme at schools and every student, in turn, should be taking PE, without exception.
“There was a report last year that suggested that just 10% of secondary school pupils had PE classes for at least two hours per week and this is not enough.
“We will have some of the best known coaches in the world attend the Thurles conference the weekend after next to discuss how to maximise youth potential.
“Nutrition is at the heart of this discussion, as much as strength and conditioning, sports psychology, programme planning, player monitoring etc. are. It should equally be at the heart of physical education in schools.
“Nutrition plays a vital part in sport but it also plays a major role in life.
“Kids who don’t practise healthy nutrition at a young age may end up fighting an uphill battle in terms of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high-blood pressure and other related health issues.
“This may end up being not only a physical issue but also a mental one, like having poor self-image, which can cause confidence concerns.
“We have all seen the reports about Ireland becoming the most obese country in Europe so diet is a huge issue for the nation and it needs to be tackled. One of the best ways of doing this is to put nutrition on the curriculum.
“Children need to be taught what’s good to eat and what’s not because our diet will determine what kind of a life we fulfil – a healthy one or a one of prolonged health problems.
“We are going to pay dearly in terms of health issues in the years ahead if we don’t tackle it properly and education is a key way of doing that.”
The ‘Developing & Maximising Youth Potential’ conference brings together a host of leading international coaches who have worked with some of the biggest names in sport across the planet.
The conference is drawn together by Killaloe based Dr. Liam Hennessy, one of the world’s leading Strength & Conditioning experts and founder of Setanta College.
Among the speakers are Dave Alred, who is recognised as one of the world’s top experts on performance-psychology.
He worked with the 2003 England Rugby World Cup winning side and was also private performance coach to the likes of Ireland rugby star Jonny Sexton, England’s World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson and golfers Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington.
Other speakers include:
-Des Ryan, Head of Sports Medicine and Athletic Development at Arsenal FC Academy
-Loren Landow, trainer of 100 professional athletes, the Denver Broncos NFL Championship winning side of 2011, numerous NFL All-Pros, Olympic medalists and UFC fighters
-Mike Martino, coach to a number of Olympic champions and a former world class swimmer himself
-Paudie Roche, Youth Academy Strength & Conditioning Coach at Arsenal
-Gary Schofield, Atlanta Hawks basketball coach.
-Damien Young, specialist in child and youth movement development
-Dr Ian Jeffreys, expert speed and agility coach
More information regarding the conference is available here.
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