Birmingham judoka, Eryk Neumann is determined to harness the tools acquired from an eye-opening nutritional workshop to achieve his ultimate goal.
The 17-year-old ace is a member of Aldi’s Rising Stars programme, an initiative that supports 20 young athletes by providing a financial award to help with training and competition costs, while also delivering personal development opportunities to many athletes through workshop sessions.
The programme allowed Neumann to attend a unique Taste Kitchen workshop at Aldi’s Atherstone HQ, providing him with valuable insight into fuelling an athlete’s body for training and competing, as well as top tips for recipes, batch cooking and eating on the go.
Neumann only first took to the mat seven years ago and admits attending the event has further emphasised the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and looking after his nutrition.
He said: “I already did a lot of the stuff in terms of diet. But there were a lot of new things I learnt which I’m now going to incorporate into my diet.”
On the importance of Aldi’s Rising Stars programme, Neumann added: “I was really happy and excited to be working with such a big company like Aldi. The support helps me financially but also sessions like these about nutrition and other training sessions. The next one is about interviews and social media, so there’s a lot to take out of it that’s going to help in the future.”
The Rising Stars athletes will receive financial support through Aldi as well as a monthly food voucher, to fuel them through training, competitions and to future Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Aldi have a top 10 shopping list of affordable, healthy items recommended by nutritionists, Nigel Mitchell and Jenny Tschiesche – both of whom attended the event to help Neumann develop a better understanding of nutritious foods key for training, skills for cooking and how to maximise his monthly Aldi vouchers.
Neumann, who holds long-term Olympic ambitions, learned that eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming, with Tschiesche and Mitchell taking him and his fellow athletes through multiple recipes throughout the day.
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Mitchell, a Team GB nutritionist with three decades’ worth of experience working with athletes to create bespoke nutritional plans which aid their level of performance, added: “I believe in feeding people real food. Supermarkets like Aldi really provide an affordable opportunity for the consumer to look at getting excellent quality food at a much more affordable price. I think that is so important in today's age, where people are much more price aware, but are also really wanting the quality of foods that they really need to get the range and in depth of nutrients.”
Aldi is the Official Supermarket Partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB and have partnered with Team GB since 2015, ParalympicsGB since 2022 and will be supporting them through to Paris 2024
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