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The Squad Handbook
Every other document here is for one athlete. This one is for the person responsible for 20 of them, who has to defend those decisions to parents and administrators.
What is inside
- The four decisions a staff owns before any nutrition question, and who owns each
- A minimum weight system a club can run without any federation's permission
- A weigh-in comparison across seven formats, for a staff with athletes in more than one
- Monitoring: four numbers, 5 minutes per athlete per week, and the rule for acting on them
- The supplement rule, the contamination numbers behind it, and what each certification actually proves
- Anti-doping: what to brief, and what the staff should hold on file
- Athletes under 18: the section with the greatest consequences and the least guidance anywhere
- What the Code asks of the staff: the articles that reach a coach who is never tested
- Stopping a cut: what each sign means, and why the head coach is the wrong person to hold that decision
- Seven registers, including a growth record for juniors, and a note on handling records that concern children
You buy it once, you download the PDF, it is yours. No email course, no coaching call attached, no upsell. Refund terms.
Who it is for
- Whoever is responsible for 20 athletes and has to defend those decisions to parents and a board.
- A club that wants a minimum weight system without waiting for a federation to provide one.
- A staff with athletes across more than one weigh-in format.
Who it is not for
- An individual athlete. Every other guide here is for one person.
- A club looking for a way to get athletes lighter. The handbook is built to stop that.
- Anyone wanting a legal opinion on their duties. It sets out what the Code asks, not what your jurisdiction requires.
Before you buy
Two complete documents are free to read on the samples page, and the reasoning behind this guide is on the site at no cost. If the free pages answer your question, you do not need it.
Common questions
Is it for one sport?
No. It compares seven weigh-in formats, because most squads have athletes in more than one.
How long does the monitoring take?
Four numbers, about five minutes per athlete per week, with a rule for acting on them.
Does it cover athletes under 18?
Yes, and that section has the greatest consequences and the least guidance anywhere.
What do the registers include?
Seven, including a growth record for juniors and a note on handling records that concern children.
Who should hold the decision to stop a cut?
The handbook explains why the head coach is the wrong person, and who should.
Free reading on the same problem
The guide is the protocol. These articles are the reasoning behind it, and they cost nothing.
- For Coaches: Running Weight Across a Squad. Squads rarely fail on knowledge. They fail because nothing was written down and nobody was named responsible. What a staff decides, records and refuses.
- Half Your Squad Is Cutting and They Eat Together. The dining hall at a major competition is an unlimited buffet with no supervision. That is the worst place for the six of your eight who are making weight.
- The Decision to Stop It Is Yours. Dehydration, hard training and ibuprofen is the combination that kills. The corner is the last check, and the call has to be assigned before the week.
- You Are Not Tested. You Are Still Liable.. Seven articles of the Code apply to coaches. Complicity runs from 2 years to a lifetime, and it includes covering something up.
- The Room You Built: What a Gym Says About Weight. More than 95 percent of athletes with disordered eating are not in treatment. You cannot wait for one of yours to raise it.
- The Minimum Weight Rules Nobody Enforces. A body fat floor, a hydration test before the season and a descent capped at 1.5% a week. One sport wrote the model down. Almost nobody copied it.
The handbook is the system on paper. If you want it run for your programme, that is team support.
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Oleksandr Foka — sports nutritionist. Guides are sold and delivered through Gumroad, under their terms.
Educational material, not medical treatment. For adults 18+. Weight cutting carries real risks including dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, impaired cognition and cardiac strain. Nothing here replaces care from a physician. Under strict liability, final responsibility for anything you take is yours.