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The team behind TeamSG: Dietician

1 January 2022

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Off the record

They feel every victory and every heartbreak. International competitions mean just as much to those in the background supporting Singapore’s sports stars, whether as a coach, sport scientist or dietitian. This is part of a series of features on the Team behind Team Singapore.

Liyan in a black polo t-shirt and a white mask packing nutrition bars into cooler bags at a kitchen counter.

Liyan preparing food packs for athletes to fuel them up for their overseas trip.

The stomach for success

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Written by Virginia Woolf in the 20th century, this famous line holds true for winning Olympic gold medals as well.

Take Singapore’s first Olympic gold medallist, Joseph Schooling, for example. Judging by how Schooling stopped by his favourite chai tow kuay (carrot cake) shop on his victory parade after winning a gold for Singapore at the 2016 Rio Olympics, there is little question about the role food plays in a sportsman’s morale.

In fact, sport dietitian Huang Liyan says that Team Singapore dieticians even recreated the dish in faraway Rio for Schooling after his stunning achievement in 2016.

“We want to provide a home-away-from-home feeling for them,” says Liyan.

Indeed, food is nourishing balm for many a homesick competitor in distant lands. But it’s not just a mental boost. Liyan works with athletes and coaches and conducts research to ensure Singapore’s best are powered to perform.

Not leaving it to chance

“We don’t leave anything to chance,” says Liyan, who is overseeing the nutritional needs of the nation’s badminton and table tennis teams.

To emphasise her point, she says each athlete was given a food pack pre-flight, so they did not have to go hungry during a six-hour wait for COVID-19 test results upon arrival in Japan for the Games. As the Olympic participants did not have refrigerators in their rooms, Liyan also considered what protein-packed foods keep well at room temperature. Some solutions — of varying popularity among athletes — include vacuum-packed braised eggs (“they tend to go quite fast”), canned tuna (“not so bad”) and tinned sardines (“nobody likes it!”).

Liyan observing the national badminton team at training from behind a safe distance behind the court.

Liyan observing the national badminton team at training, a silent supporter behind the players.

After all, Liyan can only do so much to encourage athletes to eat well. “I can only lead the camel to water, and can’t force it to drink,” she says. The reasons range from not having the time to meal prep, to pre-game superstitions.

National shuttler Loh Kean Yew, who Liyan affectionately calls a “charming young lad”, was resistant to using energy gels as a mid-match boost when she first met him in 2015. She noted at the SEA Games that year that his energy levels dipped during long-drawn matches.

But Kean Yew would only consume energy gels after matches. “He said he is pan tang (superstitious) because every time he takes it, he loses,” shares Liyan. Now, however, she is proud of the fact that she has helped Kean Yew overcome the psychological barrier, built on their relationship of trust and educating him on his nutritional requirements.

In the Tokyo Olympics group stage, Kean Yew was seen refuelling between sets in his valiant three-set loss to world No.7 Jonatan Christie. It seemed to work: After a narrow first set loss, Kean Yew stormed back to clinch the second set decisively but was eventually edged out in the rubber set.

Most recently, Kean Yew became the first Singaporean to win the title of men’s singles world champion at the 2021 Badminton World Federation World Championships.

In Singapore, we always like to ask ‘Ni chi le mei you?’ (‘Have you eaten?’). I hope one day the greeting will be ‘Have you exercised?’. This will show that exercise has become second nature to us.

— Huang Liyan, sport dietitian, on her hopes for the local sporting scene. National movements such as Team Nila, which advocates sport volunteerism, are also driving a more vibrant Singapore sporting culture.

Liyan’s greatest fulfilment is seeing athletes cultivate a healthier relationship with food and watching their performances improve as a result. “When I watch them compete, I feel like I’m a fan girl after supporting them for so long!”

Look out for the next part of this series on the Team behind Team Singapore. In the meantime, you may be interested to find out more on different sports subsectors (opens in new tab) in Singapore, and how to get more involved in sports (opens in new tab).