CHICAGO, Jan. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --While millions of football fans will be watching two of the best college teams ever assembled in the BCS national championship game between the LSU Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide on January 9, dozens of major college coaches will be watching what only they and a few others know to be the two best "fueled" teams in history.
The practical application of sports nutrition has been bandied about for decades, but aside from a handful of visionary coaches like Tom Osborne at the University of Nebraska who pioneered "performance nutrition" in the 1980s, few have acted. Only 28 major college football programs have taken the feed-to-fuel nutrition concept seriously enough to employ a full-time Sports RD. That leaves 92 of the NCAA's 120 Division 1A head football coaches still asking themselves if performance nutrition is a good idea.
If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, consider that both LSU and Alabama have full-time Sports RDs on staff, and that last year's champion Auburn and runner-up Oregon also had full-time Sports RDs fueling their athletes throughout the season. And of those 28 Division 1A teams in 2011 that employed one or more full-time Sports RDs, 23 went to a bowl game.
While still barely a flicker on the grand radar screen of big time sports in America, upward trajectory of performance nutrition is unmistakable, and it's being fueled by two factors: ambitious coaches and ADs seeking the one-to-two percent competitive edge that old hands like Nebraska's Osborne say full-time Sports RDs can provide; and the fledgling Collegiate & Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA), whose 600-plus members are determined to demonstrate that performance nutrition professionals are as essential to successful athletic programs as "injury prevention" and "strength and conditioning" specialists.
For the registered dietitians who work full-time in sports, the Alabama-LSU game Monday night will be between veteran Sports RD Amy Bragg at Alabama and relative newcomer Jamie Mascari, who worked all year with Louisiana State before being promoted last month to full-time Sports RD. For those curious football coaches and ADs looking on as spectators, the game is another reminder that teams with Sports RDs might be kicking off next season with a two percent edge over teams that don't have one; and that win or lose, Sports RDs help athletes perform at their best.
For more information about CPSDA visit http://www.sportsrd.org/. For a list of full-time Sports RDs, click the "Full-Time Sports RDs" page. CPSDA has a seven-member Board of Directors, all who volunteer their time to govern CPSDA and all of whom are registered dietitians, comprised of Dave Ellis, veteran Sports RD (President); Amy Bragg at Alabama (Vice President); Becci Twombley at UCLA (Secretary); Randy Bird at the University of Virginia (Treasurer); Amy Freel at Indiana University; Scott Sehnert at Auburn University; and Amy Goodson, sports dietitian for Ben Hogan Sports Therapy Institute and Texas Christian University athletics.
SOURCE CPSDA
