Faculty of Sport Sciences with LA Galaxy and Herbalife Nutrition’s Sport Seminar

Universitas Negeri Jakarta (UNJ) once again invited some special guests, and this time, they came all the way from the United States. The elite football team, Los Angeles Galaxy, paid a visit to UNJ to share knowledge about nutrition management for athletes. The event was held by Faculty of Sports Science (FIO) UNJ and Herbalife Nutrition at Aula Maftuchah Yusuf, Universitas Negeri Jakarta with “The Importance of Nutrition in Supporting Athlete’s Prime Performance” as its theme. The acting rector of UNJ, Prof. Intan Ahmad, his vices, and students of UNJ was also there to attend the seminar at Aula Maftuchah Yusuf.

The seminar was opened with a speech by Prof. Intan Ahmad. He stated that nutrition is important to boost an athlete’s performance. The type of food consumed by the athlete can determine the athlete’s performance during competition. “UNJ’s athletes had contributed in scoring 12 medals (1 bronze, 5 silver, 6 gold) at the ASIAN GAMES 2018. This seminar will tell us more about how to maintain nutrition in our body, especially for the athletes, so they can continue to perform well and make UNJ proud,” said Prof. Intan Ahmad in his speech. The speech then followed by giving a token of appreciation to both FIO UNJ and Herbalife Nutrition.

The next agenda was a presentation from Dr. Dana Ryan, Ph.D., M.A as the director of Sports Performance and Education of Herbalife Nutrition. In her presentation, Dr. Ryan explained that she never talked about protein, carbohydrate, and calories to the athletes. She thinks that nutrition control is better determined by the athletes. “We never talked about protein, carbohydrate, and calories, and other stuff without consulting the athlete and listen to their needs first. Do they want to improve their speed, their strength, or to lose some weight? After that, we can offer suggestions about the right nutrition for them. By doing so, the athletes will have a personal bond with their performance in competition,” said Dr. Ryan.

Brooke Ellison and Nicolette Leffler, two LA Galaxy nutritionists, were also there to explain more about carbohydrate control. “Carbohydrate is very important to football players’ performance. The lack of carbohydrates will lessen the quality of the player’s performance. On the other hand, if the carbohydrate intake was higher than necessary, that will cause a problem to the player’s weight. We are very concern about carbohydrate intake, especially in terms of choosing healthy snacks for the players,” stated Ellison.

The last session of the seminar was the audiences’ most anticipated session. Five of LA Galaxy players, Emmanuel Boateng, David Romney, Daniel Steres, Baggio Hušidić and the ex-Barcelona player, Jonathan Dos Santos, came to the stage to share their knowledge and experiences about the importance of nutrition management. There was also a question and answer session with the players. Hušidić was the center of the attention during the session because he recently became a vegan. “After I became a vegan, I sleep deeper. When I wake up, I feel refreshed and I have more energy at the field compared to the time when I still consume meat,” explained Hušidić. The session was followed with a meet and greet and photo session with the LA Galaxy players.

Translated by: OJ