Badminton Queen of India Saina Nehwal (8 page)

Saina respects her coaches a lot. She feels that their absence affected her a lot. The top badminton player of India had always considered badminton academy as her second home. Even today, most of her time is spent in the academy. The coaches, her colleagues, and physios are her family.

Playing for India had always evoked a sense of patriotism in Saina. It is her way to pay a tribute to the country she belongs to. Winning is like contributing to the nation.

Saina’s Preparation Before Match

Thorough preparation is definitely important before a match. For Saina, the preparation routines are traumatic moments of her life. She usually starts practicing and preparing for a match about a few weeks prior to the scheduled date. And just about an hour before the match, she starts warming up and focuses on visualisation exercises. These exercises include:

•    Planning her move

•    Rectifying past mistakes

•    Understanding the demands of the game

•    Indulging in exercises that overcome her fears related to opponents’ ability

Saina keeps thinking that she can win despite who the opponent is. Proper guidance plays an important role in a player’s life. Her mentor Gopichand guides her through the best visualization exercises to make them more effective.

The Feeling of Patriotism keeps
her going!

She is at her most anxious state when she enters the court. Her heart races and hand shakes! However, the moment her name is announced as ‘Saina Nehwal from India’, she feels better. This removes tensions, anxiety, and worries.

She plays for her country, fans, parents and those who love her. She is proud to represent India and makes dedicated efforts to make the country proud. The Indian triclor on her shirt reminds her of her duty towards the country.

The Team Spirit

Saina has to travel with team on various tournaments. Sometimes, she gets together with other players on various meets and conferences including prestigious events such as Olympics and Commonwealth Games. During these occasions, she feels that the entire team shares a great sense of camaraderie. Here, there are no distinctions between caste, creed, religion or status. For her and all of her fellow players, boundaries just vanish when they play together.

The Training Academy

Most of the current breed of badminton players of India train at the Gopichand Academy. Here, the players for Indian team are selected on the following two factors:

•    The Current National Champion

•    The Runners-up

Other players with high international ranking are also offered training. This rule culminates into having three single players in the women’s and men’s singles and double categories. The rule prevails for the mixed doubles too. The academy shapes up around 15 national players. These players attend various camps under the expert guidance of national coach.

The coaches include about 1-2 national coaches, a female coach and a double coach. The team also comprises of a group of physiotherapists. They take special care of keeping the players in best shape and treat them for injuries.

Ideal Diet for a Badminton
Player & Saina’s Diet Schedule

Being a badminton player is not easy. One has to go through a lot of hardships and struggle. Most importantly, the player must maintain a specific level of stamina and fitness. The typical health diet fads recommended for people these days may not make for adequate stamina providing servings for badminton players. They have to undergo rigorous training schedules and go through a lot of mental work. Hence, the diet they need to follow demands a lot of care and planning.

Here’s what an ideal diet for a badminton player should comprise of:

Carbohydrates

Did you know no athlete will last even 30 minutes in a game without adequate intake of carbohydrates? These are the primary source of glucose for all the cells in the body. More than half of the food consumed in a day should be in the form of complex carbohydrates such as cereals, breads and pastas. It is crucial to opt for the unrefined ones that are high in fibre. One can include starchy fruits and vegetables in their diet such as potatoes and bananas. These are vital contributors of carbohydrates in daily diet. This is required to build glycogen reserves, which is very important on match day.

Choose nutrient-dense carbohydrate-rich foods such as cereals and porridge. You may even go for whole wheat breads, brown rice, pasta, potatoes and starchy vegetables, fruit and dairy products such as milk and yoghurt.

Sportspersons may use cold drinks, sports/energy drinks, sugar, jam, honey, syrup, sweets, jelly babies, marshmallows etc., can be used to boost their carbohydrate intake. However, since these foods are low in vitamins, minerals and fibre, they should not replace meals. Eating or drinking sugary foods and beverages between meals should be strictly avoided.

Proteins

A moderate intake of protein is sufficient to heal any muscle injury that occurs after the game. Proteins also help to build the muscles and keep them strong. A badminton player must refrain from taking too much protein as it can cause undue stress on the kidneys. Badminton players need only marginally high levels over the normal intake. 1- 1.2 g of good quality protein is ideal for an athlete and it should always be combined with carbohydrates for the best results. Lean meat, dairy and eggs are good animal sources. Pulses and beans are other options for vegetarians that can help an athlete get the required amount of protein for going lean.

Badminton players need protein for strength, growth and to build muscle. Rather than going out and buying expensive protein powders, it is better to enjoy eating protein-rich foods like lean meat, fish, liver, low fat dairy products and legumes.

Fats

Fats are known to be an important source of concentrated calories. Hence, most badminton players are usually advised low fat diet. Too much dietary fat will cause weight gain which may impair peak performance. The primary sources of fats such as lard and margarine should be avoided by players. These are very harmful for the heart and overall health. Unsaturated fatty acids that are present in vegetable oils must be ideally used. Some of the best ones include olive, canola, safflower, sunflower and rice bran oil.

Fluids

A badminton player should aspire to stay well hydrated. His aim should be to drink just the right amount of fluids. Too little or too much can be a problem. The player should drink small sips of water before, during and after a game in order to play well. Health experts recommend energy drinks that contain electrolytes such as sodium and potassium.

The Key is to Minimize your FAT intake

It is important to steer clear from intake of junk food items such as chocolates, chips, biscuits, doughnuts, full cream dairy products, samosas, pies, chicken skin, fatty meats, oils, margarine, cream, mayonnaise etc.

Must Haves for Badminton Players:

Eat 2-4 Fruit and Vegetable Servings in a Day

Fruit and vegetables provide you with a range of vitamins and minerals needed to release the energy from carbohydrates, fats and proteins. These vitamins and minerals are also required to protect you against diseases and help you recover from heavy training sessions and matches.

Portion Control

Each plate of food must comprise of about 1/2 to 2/3rds of carbohydrate-rich foods. It should also contain 1/3 Portion rich foods. The remaining (little amount) should be dedicated to fat.

High Carbohydrate Snacks

The idea is to go for high carbohydrate less fatty snacks such as fruit or dried fruit. You can also go for muffins or scones prepared from bran, special fruit bars, water ices, provita, hot cross buns, raisin bread etc. Other things that can be added to the diet include unbuttered popcorn, sports bars, low fat pretzels, marshmallows, plain biscuits (Maries), low fat yoghurt or frozen yoghurt. Low fat milk drinks are also suitable as snack choices. The best time to indulge in snacks is right between meals and after training. Having snacks after training or playing a match aids recovery.

Include Variety

You should add a variety of foods to your diet. This is important to increase your chances of deriving a wide range of nutrients you require for playing the tournament.

A Special Fluid Plan

This is especially important before, during and after training/tournaments. You need to bring at least 1 bottle of fluid containing cool and refreshing fluid to practices and tournaments. The bottle can be topped up as desired. The body need may vary between 500 and 800 ml/hr depending on body size, temp etc. Make sure you continue to drink after the match to make up for further fluid losses during the recovery period.

In case, the training sessions or tournaments are long and intense, you may use carbohydrate drinks such as sports drinks, glucose polymer powders, etc. Sports drinks/salty snacks provide sodium and so should be encouraged if sweat losses are high. Drinks that contain caffeine or alcohol should be avoided as this will encourage further fluid losses.

Tournament Diet Tips

Players should strictly avoid new dietary strategies on the day of a tournament.

2 Hours Prior to a Match

You should consume a light, easy-to-digest carbohydrate-based meal.

Examples:

•    Cereals with low fat milk

•    Cereals with yoghurt

•    Toast with honey

•    Fruits

•    Pasta (don’t use creamy topping)

•    Sports bars

•    Low fat chicken and rice

•    Cornflakes and low fat milk

•    A sandwich (using low fat cheese/ham/chicken)

No Appetite Diet

If you have no appetite or if you are unable to tolerate solid food, have a liquid meal supplement. Add a carbohydrate drink along with this meal. You should also carry on with fluid intake as recommended above.

After the Match (within 30 minutes)

•   Have 50-100 grams carbohydrates (250-350 ml smoothie or a liquid meal supplement) with fluid

•    A little lean protein

•    Platters of diced fruit

•    1/2 carton low fat yoghurt

•    2 cereal bars

•    70 grams pretzels

•    1 sports bar providing 50 grams carb

•    A sandwich with a low fat filling (lean chicken, low fat cheese)

•    A fruit

Understanding Supplements

Badminton players usually take supplements to enhance their energy levels and play well. These are quite helpful too. However, one needs take these under expert guidance. A trained medical practitioner or sports health expert needs to choose supplements as per the requirements of a player. The idea is to ensure safety, appropriateness and that the supplements do not contain any prohibitive ingredients.

A world class athlete’s requirements for diet and exercise are different from a normal individual. Hence, it’s important to take care of what goes into the diet and the authenticity of supplements.

The diet chosen should complement the stamina and other requirements of a player. Recommendation from a specialist is important.

Here’s a sample meal plan for an active badminton player could follow for a typical training day:

Breakfast

•    Porridge consisting of 80g oats and 250 ml skimmed milk

•    2 slices multigrain toasted bread with olive oil based spread and peanut butter

•    Fresh fruit juice - 250ml

•    Tea/coffee

Mid-morning Meal

•    4-5 oatcakes with low fat soft cheese

•    A fruit

•    Drink

Lunch

•    Multigrain sandwich with olive oil based spread and lean chicken

•    100 grams mixed nuts, seeds & dried fruit

•    Mixed salad

•    Low fat yoghurt

•    Drink

For Badminton practice/cardiovascular exercise

Sip plenty of water/electrolyte replacement sports drink throughout

Immediately post exercise

•    25 grams whey protein powder

•    25 grams dextrose in water