In this webinar we’ll dive into the world of football and its impact on diabetes management. Our expert speakers will share insights from The Diabetes Football Community (TDFC) and discuss tips and tricks for managing blood sugar levels whilst training and playing the game. We will also hear from parents of young people living with type 1 diabetes who will give their perspective on how they support their children to follow their dreams, safely playing the sport they love.
Were joined by Chris Bright, Founder of The Diabetes Football Community, Lorraine who is a parent of a child living with type 1 diabetes and Jack who plays professional football for Bolton Wanderers FC
So welcome everybody um to diabetes UK’s tackling type one and football webinar it’s a privilege to be partnered with JDRF today and also the diabetes football Community you might hear me shorten that down throughout the night to tdfc so that’s what I’m referring to
But I’ll keep you in the loop as we go along so I’m Lucy and I’ll be your host for the evening I’m the youth coordinator at the diabetes UK north of England region um and I lead on our youth program together type one although I do wear a few hats tonight being on
The tdfc women’s team and also living with type one myself and we will be recording tonight’s webinar so if you have any family or friends or anyone that might be interested in watching then it will be going on the diabetes UK YouTube channel next week hopefully um
And we will send it out with a post post event email as well as this is a webinar we won’t have any audio or webcams from anyone today but what we do encourage is to pop any questions or comments in the chat for us um you might need to change
A little setting on there so it should say to everyone I think at the moment except to hosts and panelists so if you click on that little arrow you should be able to hit everyone and you should able to then chat to everyone on the chat um
And we’ll be happy to answer any questions that you might have we will be doing a Q&A at the end with our panel today um so we will be answering any questions at the end of the webinar so we’ve got some good sessions coming up tonight we’ve got a conversation with
Lay he’ll be sharing more about how she supports her son um with manage his type one and also playing football we’ll hear from Jack who um how he’ll talk about how diabetes hasn’t stopped him becoming a professional footballer and how he manages day-to-day as well there’s also
An opportunity to hear more about the diabetes football community and also diabetes UK’s new youth program together type one and but before I hand over to Chris we’re just going to ask two Paul questions that will pop up on your screen so please do try and answer these
If you’re able to and so the first one being what session are you most looking forward to in this webinar just give you a few moments to fill them out and then the second one is for those living with type one um so does your condition ever hold you back from participating in
Sport I’ll just give it a few moments to make sure that everyone’s able to answer those if you’ve got any problems with that just pop it on the um group chat and I hope the panelists aren’t select in their own session that’d be cheating okay so I hope you’ve been able to
Answer those Paul questions we will have a couple at the end as well um so just to give you the heads up so I’m going to hand over to Chris now who is our JDRF community and Partnerships event lead um who also wears a few hats tonight which
I’m sure he’ll go on to explain but go ahead Chris thanks Lucy I’m just going to load up my slides now so bear with me just a second hope everyone can see that yeah that’s all good if you want to pop it into slideshow yeah and then I think does that
Work yes perfect thanks Chris so um diabetes in football so it’s a an exciting conversation to start with but tonight and um yeah really excited to to be involved in this and from my perspective as a as an individual living with type one wearing a few different
Hats something hopefully I can provide a little bit of support around and um some signposting as well so I think the first things first is it’s a football webinar so I’ve got my favorite team shirt on tonight so I’m hoping if people can pop in the chat their favorite team mine is
Uh I don’t know if you can see it on camera but the mighty Aston Villa so hopefully we’ve got a few Villa fans in the house but it’s not guaranteed is it although we’re doing quite well this season so yeah it’ be lovely to see who’s the teams that people are
Supporting and where you’re from and and your participation in football at the moment and engagement in it um I wanted to begin my session really just talking about uh the diabetes football Community where it comes from the engagement um and also then leading into what is JDRF
And the work that we’re doing at JDRF around physical activity and exercise so I think with the story of the diabetes football community and the support it provides it starts here really which is a little bit of my own personal Journey my own personal connection to the
Condition so I was diagnosed with type one aged date in September the 6th 1999 but the the key question that I sort of posed immediately was can I still play football and even though it was a really dark moment and a really challenging moment for me and my family
And we felt that for for years really to come and arguably still feel it now but the light for me as an eight-year-old was about what was my big interest at the time and what really drove me which was which was football so for me I used
It as a really positive part of my life to maybe take away some of the negatives of living with tipe one or mask them and it’s allowed me to to Really hone in on that but also now as I sort of are into the roles that I am now I’m
Able to reflect back on some of the things which I found tough in the early years and they kind of fitting in and and being the only one and the the kind of challenges of that uh Society looking at type 1 diabetes and in particular in football where maybe
Conditions are um are tough to Showcase where it’s so so can be so driven by performance so it was for me an opportunity to to look back on some of these tough early years and some some cracking pictures here of uh a Young Chris which unrecognizable now I’m sure
Um hopefully you can picked me out in some of the team pictures but really important to reflect on this because now informs a lot of the work that we I do with the diabetes football community and as a collective we do but also then some of the the work
We do to support young people and adults that really want to engage in sport and physical activity as well it’s been a lot of teaching from from being diagnosed at the age of eight through to where I am now there’s learning at different stages of Life the impact that
That it has in the condition they’ve helped shape me and helped shape what came next for me and it drove me into some some key areas my my own individual connection um in sport is around footall and football I’d played part-time uh football and and played footall at an international level
Which sort of drove me into the work that I was doing with the diabetes football Community I wanted to give something back some of those challenges that ID faced I wanted to then harness that and create a vehicle and a support mechanism which gives back and connects people to each other that are
Likeminded and ultimately makes a difference and and improves the experience of people living with type 1 diabetes that was what I set out to do based on the experiences I’ve had living with it and my experiences in within sport I’ve then moved on to trying to influence then in Academia and how that
Goes out into higher education and then the kind of education which is offered in the mainstream environment so that they’re all important aspects of the things that I’ve gone on to do which now inform some of the amazing opportunities to try and support people with type 1 diabetes which which is um which
Motivates me this is the diabetes football community and and this is what it’s all about we probably got a few people on tonight that might be watching from the diabetes football Community loose is involved in it I’m involved in it and essentially we’re a a peer support Community that’s started online but it
Is spread into different pockets of the United Kingdom it’s reached across the globe and and ultimately we’re there for each other but focused around football and bringing people together through the vehicle of the sport to provide education and inspiration for people with a condition which we hope manifests
Itself in different ways whether that’s online through podcasts blogs or through our social media channels or our participation opportunities there’s a different vehicles and it works for different people some people want to be able to look at posts on Facebook or Instagram others might want to really get involved in the real conversation
Which exists in some of our WhatsApp groups but equally some might go another step further and then want to really get involved in some of our teams which is the the men’s team women’s team kids participation days Etc which we’re now putting on and trying to connect so
There’s really a vehicle for each person in the way that really connects with them whether they’re a bit more whether they need to watch for a while or whether they want to really get involved straight away hopefully there’s an opportunity in whichever format suits you
Best here’s a few images of some of that work and some of those teams so everything from Facebook post or social media post celebrating people within the community through to the men’s team playing a fixture um in the in the European foot sou championships for people with diabetes a mix session which
Connects men and women and our women’s team playing their first fixture as well there’s there’s hopefully an opportunity for which whichever part of the community you are from and we are Keen to explore that and Keen to grow it as well so the doors are open and we hope
To welcome many of you to to more sessions and to more things that we’re doing online and one of those things is our uh Awareness Month celebration so diabetes Awareness Month celebration which is on the 25th of November um amazingly this is something which we’ve already sold
The tickets for um I wanted to highlight it though because it gives us a if there’s a real desire for it we want to bring it back and we want to do it in different places around the country so we’ve started this event in Essex um starting next weekend the 25th of
November but we believe that there’s a real appetite to do this elsewhere so if you are listening and you are thinking you would love us to come to your area to put on a kind of a day which engages different parts of the community whether you’re a child with tight onean a parent
Or there adults men and women so we would love to hear from you so please do get in contact with us around these opportunities and we’re going to see what we can do to to to make more of them in the future but I also wear a different hat
Lucy mentioned different hats this evening I wear a hat for JDRF as a Community Partnerships and events lead so I’m the founder of the diabetes football Community but I also work for JDRF now JDRF is a charity which offers an array of different opportunities for people with type one diabetes but our
Objectives really are to drive in on that research towards a cure to really try and accelerate the Technologies and treatments which are available for type 1 diabetes and where my role at the charity also comes in is about information and support um and improving experiences for people living with type
One and I wanted to relate that to some of the work we’ve been doing in physical activity because this crosses hopefully everybody this evening that’s attending but also e Al this goes across the the different charities and the different stakeholders involved in this space so we’ve been working with the likes of
Diabetes UK who obviously Lucy works for to try and do as much as we can for our community and we ourselves have produced some research recently some market research which polls and gives us idea gives us some ideas from polls about the the community feel around physical
Activities some of the barriers and also some of the outputs which you might be expecting a charity like JDRF or diabetes UK to get involved in to try and help people with type one so we’ve done a lot of work in this space and we’re continuing to do an awful lot of
Work some of the logos here of of the organizations we’re involved in whether that’s the football association in Wales and creating guidelines or the lawn tennis Association again working with them to produce better information for coaches and facilitators but also working in higher education like the University of Worcester or connect with
The association for physical education to try and improve uh knowledge which exists for PE teachers and equally working with opportunities like this evening to come to people with type one and showcase what we’re doing as well as then working with organizations such as exod and the football association in in
Sur to again enhance the knowledge which is given to both coaches but also people living with the condition JDRF do a number of things things in this area such as content on the website uh virtual events as well on the JDRF YouTube channel but also physical events as well like our sports
Day which we’ve done in 2022 and 2023 and something similar will arrive again in 2024 so there’s lots of opportunities lots of great content that we available guides leaflets support mechanisms on the JDRF website which you can find download and Order and equally getting involved in some of our community events
As well um and what we are offering to those of you living with type one or impacted by type one across the country in different Pockets different events and also online as well so hopefully that was a Whistle Stop tour of what I’ve got going on in terms of the
Diabetes football community and that project but also equally giving you a view on what is going on at JDRF and how we support um from both organizations perspectives those living with type 1 diabet bees and hopefully Lucy kept pretty much the time and straight back over to
You spot on Chris thank you and and you know thank you for all the work you’re doing for the diabetes community and I’m sure I can say that on behalf of everyone that’s watching today I’m going to tell a little bit about my story now
As well um so I think my slides are going to magically appear from somewhere so like Chris um I’m actually wearing a couple of hats tonight myself so as you heard at the start um I do work for diabetes UK but I’m also part of the tdfc women’s team um so the
Project team sort of established in 2020 during covid um I was sat at home and I started getting tweets from some of my friends um Chris had actually put out to see whether anyone was living with type one um with female and wanted to get involved with creating a women side of
The diabetes football Community um and then we built up content on socials we started doing some Instagram lives Twitter spaces um and we started to slowly build a project team there was about three of us um and then we just needed to get the word out we’re all quite spread across
So a lot of the girls are from further down south whereas I’m from the north um so we created a WhatsApp group we’ve actually got more than 20 members now I think on the WhatsApp group we speak quite um quite often about sort of tech um football fixtures scores uh we talked
A lot about like the women’s Euros the Women’s World Cup and it’s just nice to have that sort of community where you can talk about type one and football um as it’s actually a really big big space in the market where and people want to
Talk about it um we also had our first face to face meet in April 2022 which was great I think there was some photos up there from Chris then and we’ had all been speaking over WhatsApp and things but it’s always nice to just meet up
Face to face and actually have a kick about as well we also partnered with her game 2 who joined us at our next Meetup um and they actually sponsored our kit as well um again a massive campaign for the women’s game um and they also learned a lot about diabetes as well and
Was able to share a lot of that on their Twitter and then we also featured on Match of the day extra in September 2022 um reys Parkinson who is one of the um presenters on the show um recently was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and some
Of you may know that already um and it was just really nice to get the men and the women together we all had a kick about there was filming and and it’s just a real nice Community to be a part of um and getting people along and also
The quiet ones as well quiet people come along and they come out of the shell they’re able to talk about their experiences and it’s nice for people to gain that confidence as well but with the second hat I do work at diabetes UK I’m the youth coordinator so I’m going
To give a little bit of background about our youth program now this isn’t specific to footb football at all however the youth program has been able to sort of um run this event today so last year we had a youth program funded by Steve Morgan Foundation um as Steve
Morgan has a type one stepson um and he was diagnosed not long ago um so he donated 5 million pounds to start a youth program all over the UK um and these are the key aims of the program so these are to support young people to understand them feel more confident
About managing their type 1 diabetes again this is quite a long-term goal um some people join the youth program not really knowing where to start some of them are newly diagnosed um to support young people to develop strong peer support networks and that’s to sort of reduce feelings of
Isolation and loneliness especially with Co Just Happening um a lot of people were diagnosed in that um in that time so we want to really create that Community where people can be together um we want to support young people to better communicate with Healthcare teams and create change in their local system
We want them to have the confidence to be able to go to their clinics and ask why they’re not getting specific Tech um and Tech for the likes of football and for different sport that makes it a lot easier which I’m sure we’ll cover later and also to just raise that
General awareness of type 1 diabetes um I think that’s massive and I know you’ve probably seen on Tuesday it was well diabetes day it’s nice to see that amount of coverage we get on sort of social media and things like that um so the first year of the program has just
Been um it’s been a really successful year um we recruited over 30 beneficiaries um and also recruited 18 young leaders um we’ve held fa five face-to-face events and these have all reached ages between 11 and 25 so this is the age for the youth program um at
Diabetes UK in the north of England we do look at and the younger age category as well um so so if anyone wants to get in touch about any of that then please do let me know we’ve built up a support network which has sort of created lots
Of different events um and we’ve done trampolining we’ve done roller skating um and it’s just been a real good first year to the program um and we do have some contact details at the end of the um session and where you can find out more about the program but that’s enough
For now so we’re going to go on to the next session which is all about a parents perspective um of living with type one diabetes um and we’re going to welcome Lorraine to the show hi hi you thanks so much for inviting me along to chat about my experiences with Dan
That’s okay and thank you for coming along it’s really helpful for us um so as you know we’re going to ask a few questions to you today lorine um so let’s start from sort of the beginning so could you tell us a little bit about when your son Dan was diagnosed um and
How that come about yeah so Dan’s 15 now U he was diagnosed when he was nine and that was back in August 2018 um and I think it’s probably like a lot of people’s stories that it was the summer so um it seems that a lot of
Children seemed to be diagnosed in in the summer months and um Dan was out you know playing a lot of football drinking a lot because it was so warm tired because he’s out playing in you know some holidays going to bed later than he would do and started to well wet the bed
Quite a bit and I I just put that down to drinking too much you know during the day and and just being exhausted at night time and I didn’t really put two and two together you know and then a relative came over to see us and hadn’t
Seen us for a while and thought Dan had lost quite a lot of weight um and it was then I just thought this doesn’t feel right so went to the doctors and then you know obviously um he was diagnosed with type one so it was a real shock
Yeah yeah of course it must have been a real shock I mean everyone’s diagnosis stories are so different um but all them symptoms are always the same and and it’s important that they’re out there um so going to football so how do you and Dan typically prepare and manage um on a
Match day with type one diabetes do you have a certain routine yeah yeah we try and stick to the same thing but as again most people will know it doesn’t always a work out as you expecting Dan’s a goalkeeper so I guess his kind of buildup and management of his diabetes
Is a little bit different to perhaps someone who’s playing Outfield um um but for Dan he’s there’s no subs for him because he’s the only goalkeeper so we’re always thinking we need to make sure he keeps on on the pitch um and we do Pastor seems to be the thing that
Works for us uh and again obviously with all these things I’m saying tonight it’s just really what we’ve found works for us it doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for everyone um but we found having pastor about two hours before the match um with with no insulin funnily enough
Uh is something that just keeps him maintained at about 9 or 10 throughout the whole match um he does wear his pump uh and it does give out basil um so it man it seems to manage well with um his activity um but before then as he as
He’s grown we’ve changed our ideas and our um the mes have got longer so we’ve had to do different things but when we were first diagnosed we were on pens um and we were finger pricking at half time and before the match and after the match
Um and using lots of short um fast acting carbs uh when he was younger um you know rather than the long like with Pastor it’s a lot obviously much a longer slower release so um that’s been a big change for us through the time that he’s played yeah no that’s great
It’s interesting to hear sort of the difference between positions you know goalkeeper um obviously I play at left wing so I’m very different sprinting all the time so everyone’s different and has their own way of sort of their own routine and how they deal with it um so
I have you touched lightly on around some of the tech that Dan uses um do you feel that the tech has really helped Dan um being able to be more flexible with his football and his sport massively I mean I I think in the early days when we
First started uh we were on pens um and and finger pricking uh then we moved to the Libre that was a really big advance that time for us um so at least we could scan him and kind of find out where he was rather and keep pricking fingers but
Since we’ve been on we’re on a metronic pump uh and sensor and since we’ve been on that system it’s just been a whole new ball game because obviously you can see um the trend arrows if he’s going if he’s falling rising and just knowing what what’s you know what his levels are
Um has helped massively in terms of trying to manageing while he’s in goal if he needs anything extra which now we’ve moved to Pasta generally doesn’t really need much topping up yeah but there are times as everyone I’m sure will will recognize who plays or has children who play that um things change
And if Dan’s got lots of nerves before a game if it’s a particularly big game and he’s he’s worried about it his levels can plummet uh you know so it’s it has helped massively um to take a little bit of you still worry but it takes a lot of
That um anxiety out for me anyway Fab Fab no I think it definitely makes a difference having that Tech available um and yeah it just makes it a lot more easier and a lot more independent probably for Dan as well um how as a parent have you sort of dealt
With those feelings of handing that over to Dan and you know once he’s on the pitch you sort of aren’t able to communicate as much how how does that make you feel as a parent and how have you coped with them emotions as well uh well I mean in the beginning it was
Really difficult because you know you I’m used to monitoring him all the time knowing what he is and when he’s out there playing you’re kind of conscious that you want him to concentrate on his game uh and as he’s getting older now I mean he’s 15 so the last thing he wants
Is his mom hanging around you know being on call Sidelines so I think it’s been it’s been very difficult I think personally for me wanting to take care of him but equally knowing that you have to step back a little bit and let him manage himself um but what I have
Managed to do which is I think is been has been great I’ve spoke to the fa and our our local fa staff at year have been really really supportive um and they’ve because Dan plays on 3G now and it’s in an enclosed environment parents aren’t
Allowed to go down to the pitch at all um whereas um staff of shfa have given me permission to be on the side to be on Pitch side with the managers um so that I can actually be close to d uh if he needs me in any way um and I do
Communicate with him when the ball’s out of play I shout across to him for him just to double check what his levels are and then he’ll just look at his pump and shout back to me um so I do keep in touch you know a little bit in the game can’t kick me
Away no that’s great and that is the struggle isn’t it he’s at that age where he probably wants to be left alone but I can understand that it’s not as easy as that um so what is your proudest moment so far um with with done having type one
Diabetes and also with his football as well um if you could touch on that um I mean I think generally just just that you can play a match you know I mean in the early days when we first got diagnosed I honestly I thought he’d never play again and football’s his life
Um and he did actually ask me that when he got diagnosed the first thing he said was can I still play football uh and I’m saying yeah of course you can but inside I’m thinking I don’t know how you know so I think generally just the fact that
He can play football get through a match and comes off and he moaning about the game and not his diabetes so that’s always a Telltale sign that it’s been a good match you know not a good match but I mean A well-managed match from my perspective with him but um he recently
Got a trial for Nottingham Forest um under 15 goalkeeper um trial so um that was amazing that you know he was he got chance to he was selected to go and do that and it wasn’t his diabetes that was defining him he was there for his own um
Under his own reasons and you know he had an equal opportunity just like anyone else else um to to Showcase what he can do so that was fantastic oh that’s brilliant um and it just shows you can do whatever you you put your mind to and Ty diabetes doesn’t stop you
From doing that um also I think we touched on earlier around Dan being a referee and do you want to touch a little bit on that and how how you supported him to do that as well yeah well this is one of those moments where you say say to your children you know
Diabetes is not going to stop you do whatever you want to do and then comes home one day and says oh can I referee as well Mom and you think oh no am I going to do that one um but you know again different type of management for
That so um he he referees on Sunday morning he does six matches now um and then we literally jump in the car and then he goes and plays a football match um so he’s really active doing Lots his different types of activity um but I’ve been again really supported by the fa
And Stafford share I can’t um say you know speak more highly of them they’ been great because they’ve put in place um a mechanism that if Dan wants to referee longer games at the moment he’s doing um the under sevens and under eights so they’re about 10 minutes each
Way but to do play a longer game they’ve put in place um arrangements for rest breaks uh for him and the rest of the team so he speaks to the man the referee speak to the managements the managers and um have put those rest breaks in
Place so that Dan you know doesn’t stop Dan refereeing a longer game uh if he wants to which I think is is amazing really yeah it is definitely and it makes him feel a little bit more comfortable doing it and you know I’m I’m a coach as well and I know it’s
Really hard to get referees so I’m I’m glad they’re being supportive and not making it a barrier for him um also we’ve sort of like you’ve talked a little bit around like match day routine and things like that is it the similar for training sessions or do you have to
Tweak it a little bit for those um it it depends really on the time of day so um obviously can’t really give him pasta for uh breakfast so so Saturday morning training um we do mainly fast acting um carbs and also some slower carbs so he might have cereals with banana um and
Kind of mix it up a little bit that way um because training generally is much more intense because he does quite a lot of Fitness training with the rest of the team and then you know you may only do like 15 minutes in goal um the majority
Of the training is is more like Outfield playing that he might do so quite a different regime really for training um lots more kind of you know high high impact carbs really yeah yeah no cool um and also um I had a question in mind let
Just G blank oh that was it um hypo treatments is there anything specific that Dan uses or what he recommends or prefers to use uh generally the glucose shots do you know the lift um shots I think we find those easier to D really because it is harder to eat I
Think well you know like the dexos tablets or various things like that um during exercise so he he prefers the shots they seem to work faster uh and certainly when he if he does have to take anything on board while he’s playing in goal um usually have to
Loosen them a bit with his goalie gloves he can’t always get the tops off yeah but um generally they’re quicker again just to quickly have um you know when the ball’s out of Play You’ll quickly take one of those that’s great and has he ever really had to you know get
Subbed off or ever had any struggles where he’s had to um come off the pitch to be treated or anything like that no I mean we’ve been really fortunate that we’ve we’ve never come off um he’s broken a collar bone and all sorts of things have to come off for but
Generally not his diabetes you know it’s he’s done he’s done well to keep on really um but you know some matches when he’s really worried uh and we’ve gone to the match we’ve gone you know his levels are fine when we’ve left the house but then as he’s got to the match they’ve
Really dropped again through nerves so sometimes we’ve had lots of conversations in the car where he’s then becoming more worried um because he’s going lower and it just makes the problem worse doesn’t it um so just trying to keep him calm sometimes and that can be a struggle and then we you
Know all of a sudden when he gets down to train down to the m the pitch he seems to it kicks in and he seems to come up again so yeah yeah it’s it’s interesting how like the different factors play on blood sugars um I think
For me when I’m playing a game um I tend to spike if my nerves are shot at and if I’ve got like a bigger game coming up or whatever my um I tend to spike so it’s just around treating that as well and um I guess everyone’s different in the way
They react to certain situations um and a final question for you would be where would your signpost people for support you know if they’re sort of wary of getting their child into sport or ever they’re you know feeling a little bit nervous about that um well I think first
Of all you know speak to your diabetes team um I mean we’re really lucky in saf we’ve got um dietitians on hand who who’ve got some great experience and knowledge uh in terms of sports and exercise and you know foods to go with that so I’d first of all always go to
Your diabetes team uh first of all secondly I think there’s loads of groups out there um groups obviously like Chris’s group with the tdfc parents group the WhatsApp group that’s been a great source of uh help and support um there’s Facebook groups with parents uh
A parents group on there as well so I think just tapping into those kinds of support networks because there’s always going to be somebody out there who’s got a similar experience uh that you can get some advice from so I think they’re really useful and I’ve again this one
Sorry the fa have been great for us I mean I I really wouldn’t have thought of looking at the um the fa at all but locally we’ve had some great support from saaf your fa through their safeguarding uh and Welfare officer um they’ve just been tremendous so I think
It’s it’s an unusual Place really to look for support um but they’ve been really encouraging and certainly made some you know quite a lot of arrangements for me to be around at the pitch yeah that’s great and it certainly helped me within football is having coaches and managers who really know
About your diabetes have a lot of knowledge about it also teammates as as well um them having a little bit more knowledge about it I mean I have a lot of ban toing my teammates about diabetes and you know they all know when I’m having a bit of a funny turn or whatever
So it’s it’s nice to have an environment where you feel comfortable and safe playing football I think it’s um I think it’s it’s difficult for I think teenagers though in the sense that as a parent I’m quite happy to go off asking people this and asking people that and trying to make things
Better for Dan but at his age now he just wants to go along and not be different yeah and he doesn’t want his mom there particularly you know causing problems um so I think it’s it’s a tricky one um because I’ve often said to Dan you know you need to say more about
Your diabetes but he generally doesn’t really want people to know about it and he’s more like I just want to go and train M I don’t want to be talking about my diabetes so I think that’s sometimes quite hard for teenagers um to be different definitely I think I I started
Playing football um when as I was D just before I was diagnosed um and again yeah I think I I was 13 when I was diagnosed so it was sort of similar ages where you don’t want anyone to know you just want to get on with it get on the pitch play
Your game and not not want anyone to notice that you’ve even got type one diabetes so it’s definitely um a teenage thing and you know I think it’s really good for people to know that out there that it is normal for teenagers to feel that way um especially for parents as
Well and because sometimes they might have to go to their fa themselves like yourself um and sort of put those things in place but thank you thank you R very much for coming along today we really appreciate you joining us all and I know many parents on the call will have been
Inspired and with how you support Dan and to achieve anything living with his type one so just thank you um as well if there’s any kind of young you know new diagnosed parents out there so to speak I honestly felt when Dan got diagnosed he’d never play sport again so it’s
Really it’s just I just want to say that you know with lots of preparation and planning you know you can do it and um yeah I just wanted to kind of say that on a posit like end on a positive note really yeah no thank you so much lorine
And for anyone that has any questions for Lorraine please do pop them in the chat and we’ll answer them at the end like I said earlier you might have to change the setting um it says to everyone and but it might be set to hosts and panelists so do just change
That to everyone and we be able to answer those questions at the end but thank you very much lorine thank you thanks for having me no worries and now I’d love to hand over to Chris um Chris and Jack are going to do a similar interview now um from a different
Perspective so over to you Chris thanks Lucy so uh yeah just to welcome Jack into the webinar so hopefully many of you know a little bit about Jack but I’m not going to steal his Thunder too much with with an introduction so just to to start us off
Jack do you want to give us a little bit of a Insight around your connection to type one what he get up to on a daily basis and probably that all important day job which people are desperate to hear all about as well uh yeah thank you for having me on
Um my name is Jack idel um I play professional football for Bolton wanders um and I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 12 years old um and that was when I was living in Australia at the time as well yeah thanks for for giving up the
Time to evening Jack to come and and share your story and talk to us about what you’re up to in your journey so with most stories and and Journeys it would be good to kind of start maybe at the beginning so do you want to talk to
Us a little bit around your diagnosis story and how that sort of came about for you um yeah I mean it was it was pretty pretty long ago now um Al so I’ve had it for over half my life but I remember um you know I was a really
Really active kid um and I was doing a lot of you know probably Sumer holidays I think as well at the time um no it definitely was actually got diagnosed just before Christmas so it was it was the summer holidays um and I remember at
The time I thought I just had um I thought I had the flu or a bad cold or something you know I was really really learic um but at the same time I wasn’t really piecing together everything like my mom maybe was at the time um I’d lost six
Kilos in two weeks um at night time sometimes I I was having to get up and and go and go and pee maybe 12 13 times during the night and then back then my favorite drink was full fat Coke so because I was so thirsty I was trying to
You know I was just drinking full fat Coke out the fridge in the middle of the night and then it was you know never end in cycle and that plus the losing weight plus the super lethargic and everything like that Mom just said no right let’s
Let’s get to the to the doctors and yeah it went from there really straight away it was okay um you know your the sugar levels are meant to be between four and eight and I think mine were 32 when I tested so it was right let’s let’s get
You to the hospital um yeah spent a week um on the on the team Ward they put me on there just because I was just before I turned 13 and learned basically everything um in a in a whirlwind five days back really a crash course on Diabetes yeah U remember the crash
Course myself spending some time in hospital I think it was four days in four days in for me um and yeah was but at that point when I was diagnosed I was already into football so similar for you jack were you already kicking a ball round well into the football uh story
For you when at the point when you were diagnosed yeah I was I was into everything basically I was playing football uh rugby and I was doing Judo at a pretty a pretty decent level as well um and that is one of the things that definitely helped me because two of
My my teammates at my Judo Club were actually type 1 diabetic they were a brother brother and a sister and they had both been national champions with type 1 diabetes so straight away I had that positive reinforcement of okay they’ve got diabetes but they’re still
The best in the country at what they do so I think that was really really good for me to see straight away um but yeah for me football was always the number one um and that was the the second question I asked the doctor actually the
First one was is this going to shorten my life basically that that was what I was I was scared of and then um when he said no you’ll be fine um I said can I play football and he said yeah you’ve got nothing to worry about if you manage
It correctly that’s that’s um what you can do so as soon as I heard that you know it did calm me down quite a bit yeah and like I said in my introduction I think I said it’s the first question I probably asked the more morbid question before it but the first
Question after was definitely that so yeah again mirror you on that and I think it probably when we think about who’s watching tonight I can imagine it’s the one of those first questions for so many people as well so you’re you’ve you’ve already started football you’ve been diagnosed with type one what
What happens then with your progression because obviously now you’ve got this this amazing day job you’re you’re playing football every day you’re playing for bolon Wanderers how do we where do we go next after that diagnosis and how do you sort of get into the the
Pro game um yeah I mean the the coaches that I had at that age were were so supportive so understanding I don’t think they’ ever had a diabetic player before to be honest but they um the two two of my coaches came and see me in hospital and I knew straight away from
Then that I was going to have a really supportive environment um and yeah the every single football environment that I’ve been in since being diagnosed has been top class in terms of people especially the coaches just kind of understanding to the extent but also just allowing me to control
What I need to control and not not interfering and not making things any more difficult they just gave me that sort of safe environment to say don’t worry you’re here to play football um and if you need anything else we’re here to help as well so um having that environment definitely helped me
Massively and like I said for me football was only ever the only thing that I wanted to do so um progressed through Youth Level um in Australia represented the the Australian under 17s um at uh at World Cup qualifiers and went through a couple tough injuries
Where I didn’t actually know if I was going to be able to make it pro um had to to jump on the plane and come back to to the motherland where I was born in Scotland um and that’s where I signed my first professional deal so that was I
Think it was 2017 June June 2017 was when I I flew over signed my first pro deal and um yeah we’ve been moving along nicely ever since yes not bad trajectory since then Jack so I mean on that then in terms of your progression and where you are now what’s your aspirations
Where where you think you’re heading or or what’s your your thinking for next for you what you what you aiming for um I mean for me the the biggest goal I’ve always had as a kid two of them were to play foot play professional football in
England and to play the World Cup and and the the World Cup is the one that I’ve got my eyes set on I’ll be 30 31 at the next World Cup and I’m I’m doing absolutely everything I can to to get there and represent my country but um
Other than that it’s just to play football at the highest level possible and I’m it’s such a massive Club at Bolton at the minute and and we’re doing well this season hopefully all eyeses are on promotion and that’s going to be another step up next season I’ve got
Another year for next season and and if uh get some Championship appearances with a club as big as Bolton that’s definitely going to be um really special yeah and I’m sure many people are keeping an eye out for Bolton results knowing that they’re you’re you’re playing representing tipe one as
Well so on the tipe one front Jack how do you go about preparation for games and what’s the sort of maybe the routine that you put in place or the way that you tackle it I’m sure it’ll be really useful for so many to listen to how you
Go about it to sort of tackle your professional games yeah mine mine was definitely trial and error um it’s only sort of been the last maybe four or five years that I’ve nailed down my routine and and that’s what it is it is a routine I I make sure that the night
Before a game I’m eating the same meal basically um at roughly the same amount of time just because now I know what most of the time that’s going to do to my sugar levels um so my my go-to before is uh my girlfriend makes a really nice
Uh pasta dish so I ask her to make me that um and I love that the night before on a on a Friday night and then on the on the Saturday on game day um I’ll do my my morning lantis so my my slow acting I’m on lantis um and my fast acting
Is it’s a fiasp I’ve recently just changed to the fiasp on I’m still on pens um and the the freestyle lb as well so I’ll do my morning lantis when I get up I won’t eat anything until um half1 and that will be when I have my my
Pre-match meal basically so I’ll have my my smoothie um and I’ll have two bits of white toast with uh three eggs with scrambled on in an omelette and then I’ll have two wheat bigs with a bit of sugar as well and that is my my pre-match meal basically and and that’s
Just become a routine I I sort of know the patterns of what it’s going to do to my sugar levels by the time kickoff comes around I’m trying to make sure sure that I’m going out to play anything between 7 and a half to 10 because with activity my sugar levels will
Drop um so ideally I’m going out to play between s and a half and 10 um coming in at halftime whether I need to do an a unit of insulin or or have a bit of bit of sugar just to balance it out and then
And then we go back out for the second half so that is that’s the plan for me basically that’s what works yeah and I think so many people try to produce a sort of plan and I certainly follow the routine for Saturday football when which is very similar to the way that you’ve
Approached it spaced out from the game similar food each time I come round to it and it gives you a a good chance to have to I guess measure the variables and and reduce those variables going into a game and then going into the game then Jack have you faced any particular
Challenges or how do you as the game goes along how does that manage have you had any High POS what’s sort of going through your mind when you’re you’re playing big games on a big occasion on a big Pro game um so I think uh playing for Bolton has sort of
Hardened me up to playing in front of the bigger crowd you know we get over 20,000 every game now but when it’s top of the table Clash or a big cup game or something definitely nerves come into play um and I definitely run higher with nerves um and yeah even with the the
Plan that I try to have sometimes it just goes out the window you know sometimes it just isn’t working and that’s I think a that definitely does frustrate me um but at the same time I have been in those situations before and I do know how to sort of control that
One thing I’ll try not to do is have any insulin within three hours of kickoff because I feel like that’s gives me my my most realistic reading of my sugar levels and then in games I think I’ve I’ve maybe had a hypo three or four times in my whole career I’ve played
Nearly 250 professional games and that was including when I was playing Youth Level as well so um the physio has got a bottle of Lucas a in in his uh little physio bag and basically he knows the drill if I go down on the pitch bring
The juice on even if I’m holding my ankle I might just be you know I don’t want to say cheating but I might just be trying to buy a little bit of time just to make sure the juice comes on so um yeah a couple of times it has happened
He brings the juice on and I’ll just lie back and have a Lucas Aid and he’ll sort of fiddle with my ankle or play with my knee or something to make it you know buy me that extra minute um but as soon as I’ve got that down I’m basically
Ready to go again you know within the minute I’m I’m back out there and and over we go so hasn’t happened too often but um you know thankfully it’s been uh nothing major yeah that and great for so many to hear that that you you know you manage
It like that but also when things do go wrong because invariably at some point you know living with Taiwan it doesn’t go smoothly 100% of the time you’ve got a plan and and there’s a way of working around it we’re all trying to find that you mentioned technology earlier so you
Mentioned you’re wearing the freestyle Libra what are your thoughts on the use of you know diabetes technology in sport how it’s helped you but also maybe the The View on things like hybrid Clos Loop and wear in a a pump in the future which talks to the CGM what are you what’s
Your thoughts on all of that at the moment yeah so this freestyle Libra for me has been massive um especially with the latest update where it’s just uh basically is a CGM and it can tell me what I am what direction I’m going in and all that kind of stuff because for
The longest time I was pricking my finger and having to do the injections and all that but this just cuts out so much time makes it so much more convenient and when I was growing up the Specialists were basically telling me that the pump was very big very bulky
Was going to get in the way of football I mentioned the people that I knew doing Judo they hated having the pump when they were trying to compete and everything so that always put me off it um but I am now seeing that there is a massive Improvement in how that it’s
Used especially in football I know you’ve recently you know uh jumped over and and you’re you’re seeing the effect of it so it’s probably something that I need to make you know do a little bit more research into for my personal use but I’m very
Much in the mindset of what I’m doing is working for me and I’ve found that it works and um if if it’s easy for me to do then I don’t really see why I need to change but if I’m if it’s going to make a massive difference then obviously I
Would but for the time being I’m happy using the the freestyle as the CGM and then just my my fast acting in makes perfect sense and uh yeah I considered it and and moved over from where exactly where you were MDI was you know multiple daily injections with CGM
And I’m seeing a difference but also there’s a diff you know there’s where I am age wise as well Sport and stuff like that there’s uh there’s other reasons as to why I might be trying and moving over and things like that and and also looking at the future and and this is
Going to be the I think the future for managing type one so really interesting to hear your your thoughts on that and then I wanted to ask you jack around you know a bit more on the football stuff because people want to hear about your football as well so what’s your kind of
Favorite thing that’s happened to you in football your favorite moment the what’s the memories for you what what stands out in your career so far and obviously there’s a big game that you’ve got that will hopefully be the big thing but what what what’s so far yeah so there’s
Probably a couple highlights for me my career one of them was was signing for Bolton um because it’s such a a big Club you know when I was growing up Bolton in the Premier League with you know players like JJ aota Nicholas enela Sam allardi was there you know players like Gary
Cahill and Jack Wier have all played at this club so it’s such a massive Club um so getting to to represent both bolon every week you know every home game we’ve got over 20,000 in in a in the stadium which is incredible um and then another game that sticks out was before
I signed for Bolton I was playing for camb bridge United and we played against Newcastle in the FA Cup um and it was Eddie H’s first home game so it was there was 52,000 in the stadium and we actually won one nil that game so um I
Think yeah though those are probably two of the the bigger highlights in my career so far amazing highlight and for anyone listening aspiring to being that those shoes great to hear for for people with type one diabetes and on the on the clubs then and the you know you’ve moved
You’ve moved to a couple you’ve been around a few of them Jack youve obviously now at Bolton which is a a really big club like you said with a rich history a former Premier League side where do you think um the management has been really good with the
Clubs around type 1 diabetes have you had a club that have really helped you or been really uh accepting or gone out of their way and supported or do you feel it’s been very similar at clubs how do you think the response has been in the professional game to to you having tight
One diabetes uh yeah know I think I’ve not really had a bad experience or a negative experience at any club regarding my diabetes you know I think um because all of the managers I think have never really had a diabetic player before they don’t really know how they can help other than just
Saying if you need anything let me know and we’ll sort it other than that they know they just let me get on with it um every Club I go to I tell the Gaff when I get there say look I’m I’m diabetic um I’ve always got a Juice by the pitch if
I need it for whatever reason I just need to get the juice and they say yeah sweet just just give me a shout and I saw it so a couple times in training the snc coaches will be beside the pitch and I’ll just say I need I need my juice and
They’ll just Chu it over and either I’ll do it I’ll drink it in between in between drills or I’ll just step out for 30 seconds and and then I’m back in and um I had one coach when I was at Green Morton two of his sons were actually
Type one diabetic so that was that was that was uh know pretty comforting um although he didn’t play me very much that that wasn’t very uh that wasn’t very fun but um yeah now all clubs to be fair have been really good really comforting um very understanding and
Just sort of let me get on with what I need to do and just let me know that I am being looked after and whatever I need they they can help with brilliant to hear and I can imagine the manager at Green at Morton probably
Regrets not playing you now to be fair I think uh think you might have gone on to slightly bigger and better since then so uh yeah it’s football it happens it is yeah it is couple more questions for you then Jack just to finish up so you recently stepped on the
Pitch and I I think I messaged you about this with another type one footballer you were up against them in the opposition what’s that like if you come across that in other situations does do you do you think about that do you stop and think about the magnitude of what
That means to people living with the condition for a second when you meet another professional athlete another professional footballer on the on the same pitch um to be honest I don’t think I properly recognize what that might mean for especially younger footballers um for me football’s my job I’m diabetic
And the diabetes is just a sort of back thought you know I’m at the stage now where it’s just part of my life I don’t really need to give it too much of a second thought because of the routine that I’ve got myself in but I can definitely understand why especially
Young footballers can see oh there’s two professional footballers playing against each other in a big cup competition you know at a at a stadium like like ours so um and actually didn’t even know that uh the the boy from sford was diabetic until until you actually shouted her um
But played against a guy from Barrow I think who’s also diabetic and we had a a good chat there there’s a couple a couple footballers especially around the level I’m playing at in England that that have it so um yeah I’m I’m sure that people can recognize that that that
Is pretty pretty cool to see yeah and that footballer at Barrow I think it’s Nile canavan I think the type one so yeah make sure you go and check out NY he’s still playing at Barrow still playing week in week out doing a great job as well um and then
We’ve nicely seged to the to the last question Jack which is about those young and aspiring footballers what would be your message to them what would be what you would say to pass on to them if they’re wanting to one day step into your shoes it’s it’s possible um you know
It’s it’s it’s not going to stop you if you don’t let it you know if you control your diabetes you’re going to be okay basically all it needs to do is just make sure that you find what works for you because what works for you might not
Work for someone else um but that took years of trial and error it’s not going to be an overnight fix you you will get the hang of it and you will understand it and and if you do manage to to get yourself into that routine and and find where you’re comfortable with your
Diabetes then then you you’ve got nothing to about on that front the rest will just be based on you know how far you want to you want to take your career especially because it’s not looked on negatively in any change room that I’ve been in you know the boys actually find it quite
Interesting they’ll ask me questions they’ll tell stupid jokes that don’t make any sense but they think that that it does make sense but um you know it’s not a a negative thing and it’s not something that people need to be worried about being being judged for or it
Holding them back you know people might think oh the coach will look at him and think oh he’s diabetic I can’t rely on him that that’s never happened to me anywhere I’ve gone um in fact coaches actually find it you know quite impressive that you managed to have that
Kind of mental aptitude and capacity to be able to look after that and it it probably matures you as well to to a certain extent so um yeah just an add-on from what I was saying there it’s not it’s not looked on negatively um and and it can actually be positive for a
Career great words to finish on Jack and just to say massive thank you for personally for for joining us tonight as and I’m sure from everybody that that’s involved uh for coming along and sharing all of your Insight and and giving us a window into your world of uh of being a
Type one professional footballer so massive massive thank you Jack for joining us um and hopefully there’s going to be now an opportunity to do some Q&A so we we’ll welcome back Lucy and and Jack I know you’re going to hang around for a little bit longer so
Hopefully we get a few questions in for you as well Lorraine’s coming back and uh I’ll hand back over to you then Lucy to to sort of kick us off yeah perfect I can see the um questions coming in thick and fast so thank you all for
Um for doing that um so first up we’ve got a question for La rain so Jude has asked how did you engage with your local fa eron plays for County fa team but I’m unsure how much they know about type one as we have never ever talked about the impact on
Eron um for me it was through our local um safeguarding and Welfare officer at Stafford town where Dan place um so they were really helpful in connecting me to the actual staffer fa contact for the whole staffer so it was through our local rep but um I can’t I can imagine
You could go on to your local fa website if it’s anything like the staff ater one there’s quite a lot of contacts and names on there um of of various people and email addresses so I would imagine for your local um fa that you’d be able to do the same
Thing yeah that’s perfect lorine and also we will be sending this out to the FAS um after the event so we will be sharing the webinar because it’s recorded and so we’ll be sharing the link to them and asking them to share um with their coaches as well um so yeah
Thank you for that Lorraine um I’ve got a question for you Jack so it robs asked do you have a particular blood glucose level you aim to get to pregame and what happens if you’re not close to it or not there um yeah so what I try and get out
Is between seven and a half and 10 basically that’s sort of my range where I feel like I’m going to be able to play optimally um and I’ve had a couple of times where you know I’m either Skyhigh or five minutes before kickoff you know
I’m three and I’m I’m having to have a juice so to be honest there there’s not too much I mean I can’t delay the game until them mod just hang on a second like I need a bit for my insulin to kick in so it’s basically just become uh an
Educated judgment on how much insulin I’m going to need I can’t have too much because I get so reactive to the insulin that I will plummet but at the same time if I’m low I definitely need a sugar so I basically will just drink my my Lucas
A or whatever and and that usually does the trick so it’s having to become an educated guest but yeah optimally between 7 and a half and 10 perfect thank you very much for that so I’ve got on for line again and so the to and family asks it’s great to hear
From another goalkeeper mom so thank you for telling Dan’s story and we’re five months into diagnosis so still learning when he was on pens did you ever deduct insulin for match or training as we do um as he’s running high for a while after do you did you experience anything
Similar at all yeah definitely um with pens we used to reduce his carb ratio by about 25% um just to make sure they had enough um his levels were high enough to play um and then afterwards we you know he would be high sometimes it depended on
How busy he was so if if we we were playing a really good team um and Dan was really busy you know his levels pretty good when he came off but equally you could have a a game where we were the better side and Dan was propping the
Goal poost up and not doing a lot so I think it just depends and i’ you know sometimes encourage him to move around a bit in the goal and keep walking in and out of it and trying to do some bit of exercise if he’s not so busy just to try
And you know get his levels down a little bit but finger pricking at half time was useful because sometimes we’ then insulin um you know if he was a little bit on the high side yeah yeah perfect thank you and again like we’ve said all along everyone
Is different um everyone does react in different ways so we aren’t medical professionals but um yeah I think everyone like Jack said earlier it is all trial and error um so just try and find things that work for you and it isn’t an overnight fix it does take a
Long time to sort of get it definitely what I didn’t say earlier was I I’m a bit bit um what’s the word I write everything down so everything we’ve tried write it down then just change one thing because if you you know then you won’t know what’s work so I do write
Everything down and that sometimes that help me anyway yeah that’s really great advice as well line I think I I need to take a leaf out of your book there um I don’t document enough I should document more um question for you again jack so Rez
Said Jack awesome to hear your story do you have a nutritionist at the club that monitors your carbs insulin do the club chefs make you specific Foods or any anything in particular they prepare um no so the the club has um the snc coaches that have their qualified
Nutrition degrees but I have recently been talking to a nutritionist who specializes working with diabetic players um or diabetic athletes really and that’s been um really cool to learn because that’s the first time I’ve done something like that in a little while um and neither the chefs will prepare
Um everything at the club and it’s just up to me to monitor how much I’m having but on the board beside the the meals they’ll have all the nutritional information on them so the amount of carbs proteins calories you know all that kind of stuff and they’ve got a
Number of different choices that you can have and that’s just up to up to me to monitor how much I’m going to have but um being able to see the serving size and the amount of you know nutrition in each serving size is is definitely helpful that brilliant thank you Jack um
Another one for rain so how does Dan protect his pump when playing a match I don’t know ever Chris you might have some tips for this as well um well generally he’ll wear it on the front in a pouch around his his stomach um and took it down his trouser
Sometimes a little bit extra support a a little bit extra protection but I always try and come up with some weird ideas of stuffing sponges and all sorts of stuff in this P to try and protect it which he just throws out you’ll have none of that
Um but we found we’re on metronic and we found it to be really robust and I mean he’s diving around all the time uh it doesn’t stop him he’s with his sensor as well he’s diving on that and I always I always sort of think at the end of the
Game it’s going to be broken or come off or something but it we’ve been really lucky um and you know we’ve been touchwood all good so far but just generally wearing on the front he’s found that more helpful I think from my perspective I’m
A month into being uh a wearer of a pump and mine is a tubus one so I wear omnipod um which is the closed loop omnipod 5 and at the moment I for game day stick it on my lower back either side towards the sort of slightly closer
To the hip than the spine is my general view I don’t really feel it there to be honest which is amazing um it does get hit in terms of slid tackles or you get sent in the air or whatever it has been hit but it survives and and actually
Don’t really notice it much at all so yeah from a football or foot sale perspective it’s been battered it’s gone through a number of different games obviously you change it every three days anyway but the lower back seems to work quite well for me yeah I’m the same I’m
On omnipod um I wear it on my higher part of my arm um and I don’t tend to get knocked really um well it does get knocked but it doesn’t come off yeah it does get battered but I’ve never had one come off yet I mean I’ve been on it for about two
Or three months now um it’s mainly sweat that sort of has more of an impact on it so I tend to wear like a plaster around it and which you can buy on sort of anywhere online and but they are really helpful those um plasters I would
Recommend them I was also going to say your friends of mine who’ve got who play out fields their Suns play field they tend to use a vet tape you know the it’s like an eoin wrap it’s like a selfadhesive tape and that generally for the omnip Pod or sensus they wind that
Round and that seems to keep it secure yeah someone in the chats just said they use the same so that might be a good one to look into as well yeah definitely um another question for you jack so this is from Daman and Harry who asked do you find that high
Sugar levels impact your performance and have you seen yeah massively yeah um in terms of just how much energy I’ve got and also how uh mentally clear I am I feel quite foggy the especially if my sugar levels are know pushing 15 um I fatigue quicker the higher my
Sugar levels go and also I’m not mentally as as you know fast as clear so that’s you know one of the very many reasons that I try keep my sugar levels in that range of sort of seven to 10 because I feel like that’s where I’m optimal yeah no definitely and mirror
Again thinking the same kind of things there I feel fatigued above sort of 13 14 playing and yeah I I I’ve had experiences when I was younger where the levels might have got to 16 17 18 and I was cramping after 55 60 minutes because my levels were so high and it wasn’t
Because I was fully fatigued it was because my levels were were high going into the second half so yeah those those high sugar levels definitely impacted my performance and and it sounds like yours Lucy definitely yours as well Jack so yeah really interested in that one yeah
Yeah perfect and so we’ve got a question for Chris so David has asked is there any plans to have any Regional diabetes football Community teams um I guess yes is the answer uh we have tdfc London so we’ve got a specific Regional setup in London where there’s their own WhatsApp groups there they’ve
Been playing as a team together in uh the sort of regional foota League down there so it would be amazing to replicate that in other parts of the country it just relies on those that live in those parts of the country to be able to connect in with us and want to
Do it and have the the time really to engage in it so if there is in particular sort of David if you are Keen to do that or get involved more in in supporting us in a particular part of the country to to maybe get some a
Session off the ground or an event off the ground to bring people together that are living with tight one and engaging football I’m all ears please do get in contact and we’re keen to do it I know Lucy would definitely advocate for it in the Northwest so if you’re in the
Northwest David I think we’re we might be on to a winner to start but yeah please do get in contact and then I’ve got a question going back the other way then this one to Lucy so Becky asked as a female player how do you manage the hormonal
Factor when you play with your blood glucose levels yeah so as you know um different times of the month will affect blood sugars um so it’s pretty much just the same in football so I do tend to have a higher blood sugar on the time of
The month so it’s just a case of managing that um and not always sort of treating that too much during football because you know you will have that sort of drop afterwards um but that has become a lot more manageable now I’m on the pump um with sort of having that
Basil just in the background and um so I’ve found that a lot easier on the pump but it does definitely affect it um and again I guess everyone’s different in that way but it is crazy how many factors can affect blood sugars and blood sugar
Levels so I think I have another one for Lorraine and so mention support groups have you ever met other parents with children were type one who play football too um so I guess you are part of tdfc sort of parents I think there was one Meetup but have you ever come across you
Know at like Dan’s games or anything like that before um I’m in a Facebook group through um in in Stoke and Stafford Sher so um but we met as a group of parents and supporting children our children and it so happens that a few of them play football so
And there a couple of them are the same age as Dan and they play each other as well and one of them their dad’s a type one um there’s quite a lot of us around in in this area you know so it’s actually I always felt in the early days
Quite relieved to be playing them because I used to get to the game and think they understand you know so that was actually felt quite friend well it’s always been friendly but you know felt more so um having other children around and and parents who understand um but
It’s gen we’ve met obviously more people through uh the tdfc WhatsApp group we’ve met up so it’s just good to keep doing these things that’s great thank you line definitely and there’s a question for all of us on this next one so um what are your favorite hypo snacks while
Playing sport so Lucy let’s go with you first what’s your favorite hypo snack so actually so I love obviously Lucas a whether that be sport or the energy one um during football um just because it’s just a nice refreshing drink anyway um but also then everyone eats jaffa cakes
At half time so if my Bloods are at the right level and I need a little pickme up I can have a Jaffer cakes so I tend to eat a few jaffa cakes at half time to be involved depending on my blood sugar level Lor what about Dan what does he
Have hypos uh yeah well he he likes um the gluca shots when he’s playing uh but yeah Jaffer cakes one of his favorites as well yeah Jack what’s your goto I mean what’s your go-to for a game but what should go to when you’re slightly low away from a game that you might
Actually pick you know you would choose or it’s nicer to have um yeah for for a game like I said it’s it’s a Lucas sport or anything relevant you know just a a sports juice because I feel like it’s the quickest and the easiest to be able
To get on board um in the change rooms before a game the chef’s always always got Jaffa Cakes and haros and all sorts laid out and it’s so dangerous and it’s so tempting if my sugars are at okay level I’ll let myself have one but for
Me if I’m low like if I wake up during the night or something and I’m low I’m I’ve got such massive hyper awareness I just get so hungry and I could eat an endless amount of wheat bcks just covered in Sugar I could an endless
Amount of wheat BS and then once I get to the stage of how like if I’m seriously struggling and I’m just starving anyway and I’ve had like seven or eight weat picks and I just feel horrific afterwards but so that’s something I have to try and manage you
Know once like in my brain I know that I’ve eaten enough that I will it will correct but at the same time I’ve still got all those symptoms and the Brain sort of goes into a bit of panic mode and I can just keep eating so the the
What I always crave is honestly just we bcks nonstop yeah no it’s uh the hypo Munchies are another level I think they kill me yeah that I’ve been there in the middle of the night rooting through the the fridge and just yeah the stop the stop button is just not there it just
Carries on so yeah I feel you on that and then um the for me it’s probably my choice would be fruit pastels or Haribo tank tastics yeah they’re right up there for a choice one I think for games very similar like Lucas a sport isotonic drinks tend to be something that hits
Faster and quicker um and then yeah I’m I’ve I’ve got a weakness for chocolate if I’ve got enough time where those levels aren’t dropping rapidly and I can get in there with chocolate first I’d rather I’d rather shoot for a small chocolate bar if I can but it’s not the
Best hypo treatment if I need to do it for Speed so there’s a couple of choices I make I think around what I can what I would like to have versus what I need to have perfect and another question for all of us so um George is asked how do
You manage post game I often find myself running low throughout the day and day after even with reducing basil um and Ballers sometimes goes the other way as well though so um we’ll start with Chris on this one how do I manage post game um I tend
To make reductions in the the the bolus I have I for Recovery reasons I always try and get some food on as quickly as I can whether even if it’s just as simple as like a protein bar or a couple of protein bars if I’m not having a meal
Straight after but then I reduced the bolus by a Sig decent amount I think it was it would have been more when I was on injections it’d be more like 40 50% reduction but on pump it seems to be a little bit less than that kind of like
20 25% reduction so it’s just a small amount but I make reductions in the bonus but also try and get a me on really quickly for a recovery perspective and then just keep an eye on things uh for the hours after tend to run a little bit lower insulin
Sensitivity tends to be a bit higher so if I’m doing anything after a game you know on my feet a bit more or even the day after sometimes it can can be a little bit of a watching brief just to try and make sure I don’t eek myself
Down um and then the if it’s after game day my I mean as a part-time player I kind of will go for like recovery run which means my intensity is a lot less than where I was at on the on game day so less strenuous to sort of build back
Into the week on exercise yeah Jack do you want to go next um immediately on the on the night post game so as soon as I’ve played it’s basically just half I just half my insulin um and then the following day I still have reduced my fast acting by about
20% um my my long acting I’ll do more units in the morning and less at night because I was finding myself go low a lot during the night um regardless of playing but yeah post game immediately whatever I’m eating I do about 50% of what I would normally do for that meal
And then the following day recovery day will be about 20% less and the rain what what does Dan do uh we tend to leave our tempy Target on this a setting on the metronic pump um I’m sure the pumps have got similar settings where it um gives you a higher
Level so it reduces your basil uh intake um and then um if it’s High um well not so much now we’ve got rid of it but I used to stick him on the trampoline and down on that for 10 20 minutes um but
We’ve got rid of it now so um we tend to walk the dog bit faster than normal um but but generally he lower after a game so um it’ll just be you OB reducing that insulin intake yeah same for me pretty much you know um ucing insulin it’s it’s new to
Me at the moment with the pump so just still trying to work it out really depends what I’m eating after as well sometimes with not being a pro footballer I will have a takeaway on a Sunday after a game if I’ve earned it um so it just depends what I’m eating um
Reducing that insulin a little bit and just obviously just keeping an eye on your blood sugars a little bit more than usual as well yeah that sounds sounds similar for most of us Lucan sensible as well uh takeaway though is it oh it could be anything could be chippy it could be a
Pizza depends um I’ve got another question in here so but again for anyone who particularly wants to go first on this um Daman and Harry ask could anyone of the team recommend the best or preferred preferred low carb hydration drink for match days do there anything you do low
Carbon and hydration at the same time has anyone got a something they want to come with Jack you got something you guys um I mean I I drink a lot of water on Match days regardless because we actually do hydration tests um every day before training and every day before a game as
Well um I I can’t remember the name of it but I will find it and I will send it in but the club actually has um like little hydration tablets that we put into into water and it dissolves one of them has carbs in it and they give me
One that doesn’t have carbs in it um well it has very very minimal like less than you know one one gram of carbs whatever and that works really well as well and it tastes pretty good too so I will find out what they use because um they definitely there always one of
Those at my spot and then basically all the other boys have the kby ones so I’ll find out what the name is yeah I’ve just started recently using something similar Jack they’re called High 5 that I use I don’t know whether they’re the same and but again it’s like a dissolvable t
Um it’s Berry flavored but you can get them in loads of different flavors and but I found they just sort of make you feel a little bit more hydrated and you know replace those electrolytes that you use in during football so um I definitely recommend them because again
They are completely zero calorie and zero um carbohydrates there there is um a zero Lu said isn’t there it’s a pink one yeah that we’ve used that um from time to time look they used to do like a a low carb one it’s about cars for the whole
Uh bottle but I they stopped making that one now which is really annoying it’s kind of a halfway house really yeah gave you a little bit of something but not too much um but I definitely know there’s some zero carb um that the pin’s definitely yeah there’s a there’s a zero
Luc sport now as well I think I know there’s the other one but there’s the fizzy one and then there’s actually the zero sport one now I’ve not looked into that one and I don’t know whether that would be any help as well yeah I haven’t got anything
Particularly that I would go to low carb uh hydration stuff I would tend to go with just squash G that’s my normal goto bit of squash and water um and yeah I think for then going into isotonic drinks for um adjustments during the game if I need a small bit of carbs and
Obviously the added hydration that comes with it as well so yeah not not much else to to sort of add I don’t think on that from my perspective yeah cool um okay so I’ve got another one um so one for Chris um David has asked have you seen any different post
Game since starting the Clos Loop um the biggest difference is how it manages overnight it because of the automatic adjustments you just you go to sleep at night and it’ll basically just it’ll chew now obviously not produce any insulin when you don’t need it and then obviously your levels creep up a little
Bit it drops a little bit in so the automatic adjustments mean that every night since I’ve been on cloth Loop whether I’ve tested it with loads of activity or or a match or whether it’s you know I’ve not done that much that day it’s always leveled out my
Levels during the night and that in itself is unbelievable that I wouldn’t have achieved that before there would have been anite somewhere maybe after one game where I might have needed to to wake up to make an adjustment of sorts but literally in a month the overnight
Ability of the Clos Loop has just is worth its we in Gold already oh I would second that because we’re we’re on a close loop um and it’s it’s amazing yeah
6 Comments
Great ❤
I missed it really sorry
My son plays football
And looking for more info
Waw , same age is my son .
How can i get in touch with you please ?
Hahah