Milk - Nature’s Sport Drink: In Conversation with Kezie Apps and Chloe McLeod
Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with National Rugby League Women's (NRLW) star and NSW Dairy Industry Ambassador Kezie Apps, along with renowned sports dietitian Chloe McLeod, to delve into the fascinating world of nutrition, sport recovery, community and the vital role that dairy plays in this equation.
From Farms to Sport Fields
Kezie definitely knows a thing or two about milk. She fondly recalls her childhood on the family dairy farm in Bega, NSW, and cherishes her upbringing, which included riding motorbikes and playing footy in the backyard with her family.
Despite initially believing rugby league was a sport only for boys, encouragement from her brothers led her to join the local junior team at the age of eight, playing until she was no longer allowed to play at the age of twelve.
Fast forward ten years and a chance viewing of the Australian Jillaroo’s winning the World Cup on TV and her passion for the sport was reignited. She returned to playing, initially with the Helensburgh Tigers, before going on to represent NSW and Australia in the same year, beginning a journey that continues today.
Chloe McLeod's story is equally inspiring. Hailing from the rural town of Naracoorte in South Australia, She, too, experienced a childhood immersed in sports, playing netball and hockey and supporting the AFL. From an early age, Chloe grappled with various food intolerances and eczema, instilling in her a keen awareness of nutrition's impact on her wellbeing and recovery, which would ultimately lead her to a career in nutrition.
Specialising in sports dietetics, Chloe works with various athletes, from cyclists and runners to the elite levels in rugby league, including the Parramatta Eels.
Kezie Apps running a community clinic (image supplied)
The Importance of Nutrition
Through Chloe’s work, she became fascinated by the quest for marginal gains in elite sports, where even minor improvements could significantly affect the outcome. Nutrition emerged as a linchpin in this pursuit, offering athletes the means to push their boundaries and achieve peak performance.
“I think it's incredible to see the impact that good nutrition can have on performance and you know, particularly once you get into the elite space, starting to look at what we can do to help people to perform just that 1% better.
Nutrition is one of those things that can have a huge impact on performance and helping people to not just perform better at sport, but also recover more quickly, so that they're able to get back on the field more quickly,” Chloe says.
This is a lesson Kezie has learned over her career.
“Honestly, it probably wasn't until I was playing elite sport, I really understood the importance of [nutrition].... But now I know the importance of how that little 1% can help. So it's definitely something that I've learnt along the way.”
Milk: Nature’s Sports Drink
Among the array of nutritional options available to athletes, dairy milk stands out for its unique benefits. Its rich composition of easily absorbed protein, essential amino acids, calcium, and electrolytes makes it an ideal choice for post-exercise recovery. Chloe McLeod highlights milk's role as a natural sports drink, noting its comprehensive nutrition profile.
” if you look at a normal or a man-made sports drink, it's got the carbohydrate, it's got the electrolytes, it's got the fluid. But milk is fantastic, because it's got the protein as well. So it helps that whole recovery process, not just the rehydration process.“
For choccy milk lovers, there's good news. Flavoured milk offers additional carbohydrates, making it even more effective for recovery.
“the extra flavouring in it just adds to the carbohydrates so that it helps with recovery a little more.”
Supporting the Community and Fostering Inclusivity
Kezie has a deep appreciation for tight-knit rural communities and is committed to support connection to community in various roles, includingin her role as an NSW Dairy Industry Ambassador. She actively participates in school and community health education, emphasising the importance of supporting local farmers, including conversations with teammates.
“They [the team] understand my background and where I've come from,
so I always encourage them to buy Bega,
and they message me or send photos of Bega Cheese…
[because now] they understand that they're supporting real farmers.”
Kezie is also instilling the same sense of belonging and inclusivity of her early childhood into fostering female sport.
“It's just so heartwarming to see those opportunities, that I never had growing up, and for them to see myself and other amazing athletes an NRLW player or even play for Matilda's or AFLW. Whatever it might be, there's so many different avenues that young females can inspire and to dream to play at that elite level.”
As we move forward through this series we’re heading into some of these communities, businesses and meeting the people and families that make it happen.
Paid Partnership Transparency:
Humans of Agriculture have been fortunate enough to engage in a paid agreement powered by the NSW Government, Dairy NSW, and Dairy Australia to gain first-hand insight into the Australian Dairy Industry and share it with our audiences and more broadly. This six-part series includes video, podcasts, photography and written content (like what you’ve just read) and is made possible by the Australian and NSW Government’s Storm and Flood Industry Recovery Program.