The details of the course in which I have enrolled in explore the idea of hydration and nutrition for elite exercise and performance.

Nutrition for exercise and performance is a micro-credential course that spans for 10 weeks through the University of South Australia on the Open Universities Australia website. This course is all online and there is no prior study or ATAR required to complete this course.

There are four main points you will have learned thoroughly by the end of the 10 week course. These include; applying key principles of nutrition for optimal exercise and performance, what special nutritional requirements are needed for athletes with disabilities or have food intolerances or allergies, how to identify athletes that are nutritionally vulnerable within the sporting population and critically assess sports supplements.

There are nine topics covered throughout this course with an average study load of 10-12 hours per week. These nine topics contribute to two assessment tasks, a report of 2000 words and a portfolio. The topics include; introduction to diet planning for exercise and performance, supplement research and people in exercise (the young, the old, athletes with disabilities), just to name a few.

I selected this course because, as an athlete myself, I want to understand more about nutrition and how it can affect our overall performance and wellbeing. I struggle with mean periodization and when is best to eat at what time and what foods are optimal for recovery after a vigorous session, and this course provides the answers to these questions I have.

I believe this course will help me understand food and nutrition a lot better and enable me to pursue a career further down the line in this specific area.