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News Industry Informed Sport Certified Hydration for Pre-Season Training


Industry

19th August 2021

Informed Sport Certified Hydration for Pre-Season Training

Entering pre-season fully hydrated is proven to help players train harder and perform at their best. Muscle strength and endurance decreases during the periods not spent training or competing. Returning to the intensity of pre-season training without adequate conditioning and hydration places the player at risk as their body isn't equipped to handle the physical challenges. Pre-season preparation helps players build up their fitness, agility, and strength - it allows them to improve their technical ability and ensure optimum performance when they enter the competitive season.

The significance of pre-season hydration means players need high-quality and trustworthy products that work with them to enable them to perform at their best. Informed Sport is a testing and certification programme that assures sports professionals that products displaying the Informed Sport logo have been regularly tested for prohibited substances and manufactured to the highest quality standards.

Professional sporting bodies such as the English Football Association and Rugby Football Union highly recommend that players and athletes only choose products that carry the Informed Sport logo. The Informed Sport certification programme works with brands at all levels, meaning players from local sports clubs have the same access to gold-standard nutrition and hydration products that professional club players are using, such as the iPRO Hydrate – Sport Edition range at iPRO.Direct.

What Informed Sport Certified Means

Informed Sport is a global testing and certification programme catered to elite athletes and sports professionals whose careers are dependent on following doping control standards and passing performance-enhancing and social drug tests. The smallest amount of contamination in a supplement or sports drink could spell the end of their career - tarnishing their reputation and costing them endorsements. With the Informed Sport certification, athletes and players can minimize the risks often associated with untested sports drinks and trust that they are safe to drink. iPRO Hydrate - Sport Edition is fully Informed Sport certified which reinforces the company’s partnerships with established sporting organisations globally.

iPRO proudly demonstrates a wealth of long-term partnerships across different sports, ranging from professional clubs to grassroots teams. Notable partners include sports governing bodies such as Scottish Rugby, Irish FA, and British Basketball. iPRO is also the Official Hydration Partner for Premier League calibre such as West Ham United FC and Crystal Palace FC. The Informed Sport certification for iPRO Hydrate – Sport Edition is a mark of excellence that reassures players they are consuming the best healthy isotonic drinks on the market during pre-season training.

The Informed Sport Certification Process

“Presence of the Informed Sport quality mark on product packaging demonstrates to athletes and consumers that every batch of a product has been tested for substances prohibited in sport and that the product was made in an environment with quality systems appropriate for the stringent demands of sports nutrition manufacturing” - Informed Sport, 2021.

An Informed Sport certified product means it’s passed the programmes manufacturing quality system audit and rigorous product testing. The process starts with pre-registration product testing that includes testing five samples from different production runs. Next comes extensive product evaluation, including analysis of the formulation, label claims, and nutritional labelling. Then, they carry out a raw material evaluation to look at the quality of the ingredients, the supplier, and how the products are stored. The programme also performs a manufacturer review to ensure the validity of accreditations and assess the Standard Operating Procedure and quality systems for which every company has handled the product. Lastly, they batch-test every single production run of that product before being released to market. Once the audit is satisfactory and the product testing has shown no contamination issues, the product will be registered into the programme and carry the Informed Sport logo. Informed Sport tests over 20,000 samples per year for more than 600 companies worldwide, showing the scale of the thorough testing process for all brands who receive approval for their products.

iPRO has made it even easier for clubs to order their cases of Informed Sport certified healthy hydration. The iPRO.Direct store is bursting with flavoured hydration in Berry Mix, Orange & Pineapple, Citrus Blend, and Mango. Packs of iPRO Hydrate – Sport Edition cost less than £1 per bottle with free delivery to anywhere in Mainland UK. Visit iPRO.Direct for more!