James Nicholas Collins (born 1981) is a sports nutritionist, author, strategist and commentator. He is best known for his former role as Head of Nutrition at

Arsenal Football Club Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...

Current work

He is the founder and managing director of Intra Performance Group, an international consultancy working with prominent organisations in elite sport and entertainment, including

Chelsea Football Club Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. The ...

. He was a project lead for the 2020

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Expert Group Statement on Nutrition in Elite Football, bringing together an international team of 31 researchers and practitioners to deliver the best-practice guidelines within football. This landmark process included

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

delivering ‘The Coaches Perspective on Nutrition’.

Elite football

Collins worked as a consultant for

France national football team The France national football team (french: Équipe de France de football) represents France in men's international football matches. It is governed by the French Football Federation (FFF; ), the governing body for football in France. It is a ...

for their 2018 FIFA World Cup winning campaign and in 2014, worked as part of the backroom staff of the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Brazil. He was responsible for players hydration, dietary needs and supplementation. He worked as Head Nutritionist at

for seven seasons from 2010–17, developing the club’s first nutrition service.

Public commentary

Collins has been actively involved in transferring best-practices from elite sport to improve the health and wellbeing of the general public. He is author of the book ‘The Energy Plan’ (Penguin Random House) and narrator of the audio book, translating sports nutrition from the elite sport to the general public. He was formally elected President of The Royal Society of Medicine’s Food and Health Forum, organising educational meetings for UK health practitioners. Collins has also served as a columnist for The Telegraph and BBC, worked on the 2018

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educati ...

challenge and interviewed on many prominent health broadcasts.

Early career

After studying in the USA, he returned to complete undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

. He then joined the

English Institute of Sport The English Institute of Sport (EIS), established in May 2002, is an organisation which provides sport science and medical support services to elite athletes through a nationwide network of expertise and facilities, working with Olympic and Para ...

working with

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

. He worked with

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

athletes at the

Beijing 2008 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and

Rio 2016 The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Olympic Games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, James Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Living people Alumni of Loughborough University 1981 births