On the occasion of World Diabetes Day, celebrated on November 14th – the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, the scientist who first discovered, isolated, and applied insulin in one of the greatest medical discoveries in history, HAŠK Mladost organized a seminar for coaches and sports professionals held on November 22nd, 2023.

During the seminar, we emphasized the importance of understanding the specificities of training people with diabetes.

The lecturer at the seminar was dr. prof. Maja Cigrovski Berković, an endocrinologist and professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology in Zagreb. We had the opportunity to directly hear the experiences of those who applied the theory from the manual into practice: Krešimir Čač, a swimming coach and coach of athletes with diabetes, and Marin Kučić Mirković, a swimmer with diabetes. The moderator of the seminar was Ines Jakopanec, one of the founding members of this project.

We learned answers to questions such as:

• Symptoms of diabetes and prevention of hypo- and hyperglycemia
• The impact of different activities on glucose levels
• The importance of understanding the individuality of athletes with diabetes
• The importance of communication between athletes and coaches
• How to educate oneself to train athletes with diabetes

If you didn’t have the opportunity to participate in this seminar, you can watch the entire seminar below.