Kate Walsh, Sport and Drinking

Last Wednesday I had the privilege to attend an interview with Kate Walsh, the GB hockey captain, and Rob Richardson, the GB sitting volleyball captain. Kate and Rob spoke about the build up to the 2012 Olympics and the time at the games and in the Olympic village. The focus unsurprisingly was on when Kate had her jaw broken in one of the matches during the Olympics. She spoke about how there was great uncertainty about whether or not she'd be able to participate in the rest of the Olympics.

Although her injury was the main focus of the interview Kate also spoke about all the choices she had to make in preparation of the games and also the choices she had to make to get her to become an Olympic athlete. One of these choices is that she cuts alcohol out of her diet apart from an occasional glass of wine.


It is not surprising that Olympic athletes or any sort of serious athlete does not part take in serious drinking. This however made me think of our research on University Sports teams and Alcohol consumption. It made me wonder as to why alcohol was such a big part of University sports teams when it is such a big no no for professional athletes? Do sports teams not really care about sport?

According to Professor Ron Maughan of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Loughborough University, "ingestion of alcohol will increase the risk of hypoglycaemia [abnormally low levels of blood sugar] due to the suppression of glucose production by the liver. This may be of particular concern during prolonged moderate-intensity exercise when glucose output from the liver is an important source of energy." So should that suggest that there is a correlation between the amount of Alcohol a team consumes and the league position of a team? and that there is therefor a correlation between the seriousness the team takes the sport to their position? Therefor suggesting that university sports teams don't really care about how they do in the sport.


I think that the university sports teams alcohol consumption idea is a lot more complex then it may at first appear but that at the same time it is it a lot more simple. I for one being part of a sports team myself definitely think that there are many players who train the hardest but then also drink the hardest.   I am not sure if they see the alcohol as a reward for hard training as that would just seem very naive. I am now very excited to see the results that our survey uncovers.