Meet Steph: Sandringham's Head Dietitian

03/07/2026

When you see the Zebras run out on game day, you may not think about how they stay fuelled, hydrated and ready to perform. At Sandringham Football Club, this is where Steph Cheah, our Head Dietitian, steps in. From pre-season education sessions to post-game recovery, she plays a vital role in supporting our VFL and VFLW teams on and off the field.

Like many teenagers, Steph was unsure of her career path but knew she loved people, food and science. It was her Year 10 work experience with a dietitian that sparked her interest in the field, as she thought it was the “coolest thing ever!”

This experience showed her what a dietitian actually did and presented her a path. With her lifelong love for sport, sport dietetics seemed to be a natural fit.

Turning this spark into a career, Steph completed a Bachelor of Nutrition Science at Deakin, followed by a Master of Dietetics. Although university content was not primarily sports focused, she was determined to crack into the sports industry. She had to source opportunities herself through initiative and willingness to build her experience in the field she wanted to be a part of.

Steph’s ambition to work in sport led to eye-opening experiences in some of the state’s top performance environments. Through university, she secured a placement at Geelong Football Club. However, landing the position was still a full application process, with a video application and interview. From there, she gained experience at Hawthorn Football Club and the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS). Unlike her placement at Geelong, it was through networking, connections and asking around that Steph was able to land these roles.

Across these environments, she learned from different supervisors and mentors, observing how different dietitians practice. This allowed her to pick and choose elements from their styles to help form her own approaches. These practical experiences gave her a window into what high-performance sport looked like day-to-day and prepared her to step into a head role. 

Steph’s journey to Sandringham is a reminder that not being afraid to chat can really kickstart your career. Steph met Sophie [Houghton], the previous Sandringham Head Dietitian, at a sport dietitian meeting. Although they only spoke for about 10 minutes, they still exchanged details. One day, Sophie messaged her asking if she was interested in the role. After a successful interview, Steph Cheah was offered the Head Dietitian role at Sandringham Football Club.

Now in her second season at Sandringham, Steph has stepped into a role that combines elements of performance, education, logistics and mentorship. 

During pre-season, she hosted group education sessions with players, along with conducting body composition assessments. This was all about teaching players “how to fuel themselves and recover well, helping them feel the best they can.”

Game days involve a lot of food provision such as providing pre-game snacks and hydration. These include quick-digesting carbohydrates and quarter-time and three-quarter-time hydration trays and lollies. After the siren, Steph is responsible for post-game recovery nutrition to help players bounce back for the week ahead.During the week, she emphasised, being physically present during training is important in itself as it allows players to comfortably ask questions - small questions that might not have been something players would have raised if she was not physically there. Even informal sideline chats can turn into deeper conversations about fuelling, recovery or broader wellbeing.

Being the Head Dietitian, Steph has found herself learning various skills that may not seem obvious to the role but help ensure these programs run smoothly. She manages budgets, orders supplies, adheres to supplement and body composition policies and procedures, as well as mentoring nutrition interns.

Steph recalled how she improved her Excel spreadsheet skills in the budgeting world and joked how little you learn about it at university but is rather something you learn on the job. A challenge she overcame was navigating a limited budget. “The budget is really small, so we have to work with what we’ve got – we’re trying to provide as much as we can to the players and keep everyone happy.”

Additionally, she mentioned that reaching out to brands and potential sponsors are ways to support these programs and stretch resources further. Another key learning she found was dealing with travel logistics and hotel catering for away games.

Steph found mentoring interns so early in her career was unexpected but definitely a rewarding part of her position at Sandringham. “I really enjoy it - it makes me more organised and I like showing them what it’s like working in sport”, she said when asked about her experience as a mentee. 

Due to working within a high performance team, Steph works closely with physios, strength and conditioning coaches and football staff to ensure players’ nutrition aligns with their programs, especially those in rehab or with specific development goals. 

With football rarely fitting into a classic nine to five schedule, Steph has learned to set healthy boundaries with players. She has learned to be available and approachable whilst also protecting her own time so she can stay at her best for the players.

Being part of a community club like Sandringham, Steph has “loved [her] time here”. She described the club as a place with a strong sense of collaboration.

“Everyone’s there to help each other, to help the players and to help the club thrive in general.” 

Today, Steph’s work touches every corner of the club: from the snacks in the locker-rooms to the conversations at training, to the spreadsheets that keep everything running smoothly. Whilst the players are the ones under lights, Steph’s impact is felt when they run out fuelled, hydrated and supported by a club that values the people behind the very program that helps the Zebras perform at their best.

Written by Amelia Tran - Sandringham FC Media