On September 10, the Herbalife Ice and Snow Development Fund donation ceremony was held at Beijing Sport University. The fund will be used to help carry out the government’s Outlines on Sports Power Construction policy , support the Healthy China Initiative, contribute to the government’s plan of having 300 million people participate in ice and snow sports, and help Beijing Sport University strengthen their ice and snow sports research. According to the agreement reached by the two parties, Herbalife will donate RMB9.05m to set up an ice and snow sports development fund which will be mainly used for the popularization of ice hockey in schools and universities as well as for research into winter sports athletes’ dietary requirements.

Ice hockey is not popular in China due to the inaccessibility to ice rinks. To help popularize the sport, the development fund will be used to donate ice hockey manuals, equipment, and synthetic ice rinks, and to help build school teams. Specifically, the donation will be used to support 80 schools over 3 years, help build 15 ice hockey school teams, and organize 390 ice hockey classes. It is estimated that around 18,000 students will benefit from the project.

The fund will also be used to establish a food and nutrition research center in the Kinesiology College of the university, which will focus research on nutritious diets in ice hockey players, figure skaters, curlers and young winter sports athletes. The researchers will study the nutrition requirements athletes need in accordance with the characteristics of each ice and snow sport and the physical condition of individual athletes to help them improve their competitiveness and prepare them for the 2020 Beijing Winter Olympics through recommending appropriate diets.

Reference: chinanews.com

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick