The support we provide
We provide a wide variety of Personal Development, Lifestyle and Welfare support and related services to high performance athletes, parents, coaches, students and support staff. In addition to standard personal development consultations and workshops, we also provide workshops on the Female Athlete Triad and Altitude Training.
The emphasis is on Athlete welfare, health and long-term development. We believe that happy, healthy athletes perform better in life and in sport. We have no hidden agenda, and the athlete always comes first. We want athletes to have the same positive experiences in sport that we had, and for them to be able to live those experiences in their everyday lives.
The emphasis is on Athlete welfare, health and long-term development. We believe that happy, healthy athletes perform better in life and in sport. We have no hidden agenda, and the athlete always comes first. We want athletes to have the same positive experiences in sport that we had, and for them to be able to live those experiences in their everyday lives.
Groups that we work with |
Our staff can provide 1-to-1 and group workshops to Development, Performance and Elite athletes of all ages and are happy to work with clubs, teams, schools, universities, governing bodies and individual athletes. In some instances, where appropriate, we also work with recreational groups and individuals. We provide support for athletes, but also for coaches and parents. A number of our sessions can be adapted for Sports Science Students who wish to gain a more practical insight into working with real-life athletes.
We currently or have previously delivered support to groups of high performance athletes at University of East London, University of Hertfordshire, University of Brighton, University of Derby, University of Birmingham, Shropshire Country Swimming programme, Wexford Athletics Development Squad, Carlow Rowing Club, St Josephs Athletics Club, Nutrition Support Our staff provide support to the athlete in all areas of nutrition and hydration, whether it’s adapting your daily diet to help support your training regime, help with weight loss or maintenance or making the tiny changes in timing and intake to help your performance when it matters. Why waste all the time and effort you put into training by not supporting it with the correct fuel at the right timing, simple changes and just being prepared with the right snacks could make all the difference to the way you train and therefore lead to a better performance. Optimum Nutrition & Focused Training = Optimum Performance Recovery techniques Preparing for your next training session or next race starts as soon as you finished the last especially if you have less than 8hrs in between to recover. By employing the right nutrition and right techniques as soon as you have finished can ensure that you are able to train or race to your best potential for the next session. ALD can help provide advice on small changes which you can adapt to your current regime which will help you recover quicker and more effectively helping you to be at your best and lead to a more sustained athletic career. Career planning and Athlete Transitions Planning Includes planning for careers outside of athletic career development, including, educational choices, choosing a career to fit alongside sport, planning for a career after sport, dealing with transitions such as moving away from home, starting university, and preparing for retirement from sport. We utilise a holistic approach to career planning, and see the individual and their lives as a whole, rather than as a series of different people in different settings. Our focus is on enabling individuals to reach their own career and life decisions through a process of self-exploration, and thus give them valuable decision-making skills while helping them move through difficult career transitions. We provide help with career decision making, study skills, job applications and CVs, and planning for the future. The Travelling Athlete Advice workshops on travelling, including jet-lag, travelling to altitude, dealing with boredom, training and competing in heat and humidity, travel nutrition. Workshops can be tailored to suit your needs, for example if you have a particular trip or competition abroad coming up. Individual and group support is also provided for those wishing to travel to train at altitude. Workshops and advice sessions are available to suit individual needs. Planning for Success Workshops incorporating goal setting, time management and performance planning in an interactive and interesting format. We teach the athletes how to use a range of time management and goal setting tools, and encourage them to utilise the tools which best fit their personality. Female Athlete Triad Education Group sessions providing education relating to the interrelated conditions of Menstrual Disorders, Poor Bone Health and Eating Disorders in female athletes, are available for coaches, athletes and parents. These sessions are particularly useful for Endurance Runners where there is a very high incidence of these conditions. Athlete Experience Workshops We also run workshops, with the assistance of real-life athletes on a range of topics including Dealing with Setbacks, The Life of the Elite Athlete, Preparing for a Major Championship: The Athlete's Perspective, Dealing with the Media and Coping with Injury. All these sessions provide developing athletes with the opportunity to put questions to athletes who have already tasted success and who wish to share their experiences. The sessions are facilitated by our staff to ensure maximum benefit for the audience. Individual Athlete Mentoring Athletes, particularly in the modern era of professionalism, have so much to think about. Eating healthily on a tight budget, keeping their finances in order, balancing a social life with an intense training programme, dealing with the media, keeping sponsors happy, handling the pressures of expectations of others, coping with long periods of time 'on-the-road', building functional relationships with coaches and teammates, keeping accurate anti-doping where-abouts information up-to-date, and dealing with injury and other setbacks, are just some of the additional challenges faced by athletes. Add to that the everyday demands of human life, work and educational commitments, personal relationships and financial concerns, and the busy life of the athlete, become the hectic life of the person. Our personal mentoring programmes help athletes to balance the many demands that they face, and also to provide a neutral ear to listen to their concerns and problems. Our emphasis is on providing the athletes with the skills to deal with their day-to-day problems, rather than giving them answers. Personal mentoring can include advice and help with some or all of the above areas of support. Mentor and Coach CPD We are also happy to provide or facilitate training for coaches and mentors of athletes. In the past we have facilitated sessions about Mentoring High Performing Student-Athletes, Incorporating Preparation for Success Techniques into your Coach-Athlete Interactions, Disability Awareness in Sport, Communicating with Athletes, and Eating Disorder Awareness, though our expertise is not limited to these areas. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any training needs that you feel we could help with. Other Help we Can Offer Rachael now provides sports massage. While we are able to cover a broad range of support services, we don't profess to know everything. We have a considerable support network, and are able to refer athletes to other experts should this be required. |
Where we operate |
Support is available throughout the UK and Ireland. Rachael is based in Shropshire, UK while Elizabeth moves between Wexford and Dublin in Ireland and Birmingham and East London in the UK. Both are willing to travel. Our associate practitioners are spread across Ireland and the UK
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