Our aim
Food 4 Sport is a campaign launched by the Health Improvement Commission to promote health and wellbeing by supporting community sports clubs to provide food and drinks that are good for our health whilst remaining affordable.
Sports clubs play a fantastic role in helping people to be active and feel connected to their local community. They are used by many - athletes, family, friends, spectators, coaches and support teams. As well as being places to share a passion for sport, grassroots clubs play an influential role in their members’ health and wellbeing – both on and off the field.
The health of the club environment is affected by the food and drinks available. All clubs – big or small can get involved in healthy eating, whether it’s a club with a small tuck shop run by volunteers, a vending machine or a full-service restaurant and bar.
How we can support clubs
Food 4 Sport aims to support clubs to empower their members to make healthier choices – providing guidance, advice and working with them every step of the way.
Created and curated by experts in healthy eating and sport and recreation, we’ve developed a ‘Healthy Clubs Canteen Toolkit’ - packed with resources and information to kick-start your club’s Food 4 Sport journey.
Every club will be at a different stage of its healthy eating journey, so look for a tool that works for your club community. It's okay to start small as many small changes can add up to big differences over time. The main thing is taking this first step towards better health – so jump on in!
For some, food is a big part of the experience – tucking into a burger or hotdog after the game while you debrief with teammates or fellow spectators. Our mission is not to lose this tradition, but rather make subtle changes to improve the nutritional value – for example, 50/50 wholemeal rolls, high-quality lean meat, and low salt and sugar ketchup.
Many of the resources in this toolkit are based on the latest evidence and have been trialled by global experts. Similar approaches have already been applied in settings across Guernsey such as nurseries and pre-schools, schools and colleges, and community centres. By getting involved, your club will be part of an island-wide movement to improve our community's nutrition and health.
In addition to the toolkit, we can work with clubs in numerous ways to implement changes - supporting key stakeholder engagement and buy-in, helping to get a team of volunteers in place to lead the change, and signposting to suitable suppliers.
Sylvans Football Club Case Study
We’ve been supporting grassroots football club Sylvans to make small changes to their clubhouse canteen offering to help their members stay fit and well.
Di Simon – Sylvans Volunteer:
“Working with The Health Improvement Commission has fundamentally changed the way that we look at the food we serve to our club members. We’ve made small but manageable changes over the 22/23 season, some examples being removing the salt and sugar from the ketchup we serve, and using rolls that are 50/50 wholemeal/white which offer more fibre. We’ve stopped ordering sweets and are slowly phasing these out as we reduce our stock holding. We’re now serving fruit kebabs and watermelon slices, which have become really popular. We’ve introduced a homemade cake each week that contains fruit, is made using wholemeal flour, and portioned so that the calorie content is kept to a minimum (150kcal per portion). We’re also serving a delicious homemade vegan soup which is always packed full of veggies, and our burgers are sourced from local suppliers, which ensures that the ingredients used are the best quality and traceable. The changes have been going down really well and now the season has ended, we’re going to survey our members to find out what new healthy options they would like to see on the menu next year, such as perhaps more vegetarian options like falafel.”