Nutrition the secret to Walia success
By Collins Okinyo
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – A lot of pundits have been wondering how Ethiopia Walia Ibex transformed itself and is now enjoying footballing success in Africa.
Many have talked about the coach’s tactical and technical superiority but one factor that has also been important in their success has been the team nutritionist Tesfaye Berhane who is a top exercise biochemist and a lecturer at Adama Science and Technology University.
Tesfaye was adamant that proper nutrition has played an important factor for Walia’s success since he took over the portfolio that had been vacant.
“‘When I joined Walia the players were eating anything on the table and this was not good for their performance since they could not gauge what was good and bad for them. But since then things have changed as I have introduced a regime that entails four meals in a day that help replace the electrolytes lost in training. It is important to note that when players train the muscle is damaged that is why I have emphasised on the carbohydrates loading to help play against tough teams like Nigeria.”
“Proper nutrition is important when playing three important roles of training, proper nutrition and proper rest to ensure productivity. Nutrition can make or break a player and since we started the regime we have seen fundamental improvements and success has accompanied this,” Tesfaye told supersport.com after the team training in Addis Ababa.
Original article appeared on supersport.com