Sports nutrition is important in collegiate athletics and especially at USC and if there should be a sports nutritionist on staff at every college or university. This is a big problem and discussion in the sports medicine world with the main problem being athletes are not educated properly and the staff that knows the most about nutrition have many other obligations that are more important that nutrition. People disagree and go on and say that the strength and conditioning coach or SCS's and athletic trainers or AT's have the common knowledge and should take the appropriate time to educate and help collegiate athletes on what proper nutrition is and how to achieve it when in reality athletic trainers have the injuries to help and prevent and strength and conditioning coaches have to teach kids how to properly lift and get stronger and help them with their supplementations. 

People also believe that nutrition in collegiate athletes is common knowledge and that athletes should know what to eat and how much to eat and how often to eat to obtain their goals making it no big deal when it is one of the hardest and most complex things to balance as a student athlete to eat right, eat at the appropriate times, and to eat the right amounts. Student athletes are like any normal student and have classes, stress, and almost no times to their selves and trying to fit a complex and dynamic meal plan into their schedule is a lot harder than people think. In professional it is much easier to gain or lose weight because that's all those athletes have to do is eat, lift, practice, and sleep there is no class, studying, test, or the fear of not graduating because of an overload. Another big argument people make is the money associated with having another staff member and having to pay that staff member. In this situation I believe that the university or college should hire one or maybe two sports nutritionist or registered dietitians for all of the sports and the athletes can come and see them as they please for personalized plans rather than the staff member being with a particular sport and only doing things for that sport. This will give the athletes at a smaller school the chance to see a specialist if they do need to cut or gain weight and are having trouble doing so in a dietary stand point. 

Sports nutrition at USC is important because it teaches student athletes about nutrition and what they should be doing to achieve their goals in a dietary stand point, Nutrition is a major key to success on and off the field in collegiate athletics, and having the right staffing such as a registered dietitian or sports nutritionist is beneficial in a collegiate setting because players, coaches, athletic trainers, and strength and condition coaches do not know as much about proper nutrition of collegiate student athletes. So I believe these people should be a part of the staff and they will have a great benefit to student athletes.

Sports nutrition can been seen all the way back into ancient Greece where the Spartans were fed on extra-large plates (Sports Nutrition). Greek Mythology also tells us about the great wrestler Milo of Croton who ate 9kg of meat and 9kg of bread each day while drinking 18 pints of wine saying that this diet helped Milo perform better and led him to win five Olympics from 532 to 516 B.C (Sports Nutrition). This story shows us that in a very early time people believed that nutrition was directly tied to success in sports and that the better a person eats the better that person can perform on and outside of their sport. Ancient Greece had a very strong army that participated in wars that were very vigorous and gruesome. When you read about the army eating it is never a meal or a snack the army feast every time getting as much fuel as they can for the long days ahead knowing that if they did not eat properly they would be weak and die in battle. Early on protein was thought to be the primary fuel for the body's muscles and their contractions. At the end of the 19th century a German physiologist by the name of Nathan Zuntz dertimed that fat and carbohydrates were the main fuel of muscles (Sports Nutrition).

After carbohydrates were found to be the main fuel for muscles the search began for a beverage or food that helped with muscle fatigue. The brand Gatorade was then formed in 1960's that replenishes electrolytes lost by physical activity and decreases muscle fatigue. Sports nutrition started hitting the ground and running then. Building muscle was also another big talk. People wondered how they could get their protein needs easier than eating 9kg of meat a day like the Greek legend Milo. Eugene Shadow or "The father of modern bodybuilding" was the first to advocate a strict diet with lots of protein to gain muscle encouraging people to drink beef juice to promote muscle growth. (Sports Nutrition). This eventually turned into the whey protein powder that you commonly see today to get a substantial amount of protein at one time. 

With the rise of sports nutrition and supplementation there became a need for sports nutritionist to guide people on what to eat to achieve their goals on and off the field and there became high demand for strength and conditions specialist who teaches people and athletes the proper way to lift, gives them routines to follow for optimal muscle mass, and gives them sports specific workouts to work the most valuable muscle groups for each sport. The need for Athletic trainers also increased with the increase in athletes and the strength, size, and talent of athletes increasing every generation. Sports medicine has been used for a lot of years and a lot of the main principals are used today to help an athlete achieve their optimal goals. Sports nutritionist have evolved players into a new generation of athletes and with increase in research and food athletes are going to continue to get better on and off the field.

Sports nutrition is a growing field that supports student athletes in multiple ways. Sports nutritionist are obtaining more jobs in workplaces, universities, and sometimes the bigger high schools. One of the sports nutritionist main task is to educate athletes, coaches, and staff about proper nutrition of their athletes. In college nutrition plays a big part in getting the athlete strong and confident. If an athlete is not educated on proper nutrition then they will not fuel their bodies in the right ways and if they do not fuel their bodies in the right way it can greatly decrease their progression in getting stronger, and gaining or losing weight based on their sport and position. Teaching the staff and coaches about proper nutrition is important so the staff understand what the athletes should be eating so they do not tell them to eat the wrong things and to encourage athletes to eat the right way to obtain their goals. Based on a study done by USC's own Dr. Torres-McGehee who is the graduate director of the athletic training program at USC athletes in this study only displayed 9% of athletes that had adequate knowledge about basic collegiate student athlete nutritional needs that means 91% of student athletes did not understand what they should be eating daily. The highest knowledge of basic nutrition came from the SCS's at 83.1% with the AT's closest behind them at 71.4% (Torres-McGehee). Most people argue that Athletic trainers and strength and conditioning specialist should know the basic nutrition and they should be the people who teach that but based on this study those people do not have the adequate training in sports nutrition to properly teach and effectively do the job responsibilities of a sports nutritionist. Sports nutrition can also help an athlete off the field by feeding the body and mind right an athlete can perform not only on the field but in the classroom better as well.

Sports nutrition is not solely based on their sport. The way an athlete eats while in college will affect them off the field and later in life. After college most student athletes have to have a job and a normal and stable life. The way they are taught to eat in college will most likely carry over considering that is what they are used to. So a sports nutritionist has to also teach student athletes about what they are eating and why rather than just telling them to eat things. If student athletes understand what they are eating they can carry on that into life after college and help them get good habits of how to eat healthy effectively when their bodies aren't under so much stress and require a strict plan to follow. Eating the correct way in college can also help a student athlete in the classroom. The better and cleaner an athlete eats then the better they will feel and the better they feel the better they will do is some people's philosophy. Sports nutrition fuels athlete's bodies to endure a long day having workouts, class, practice, and then going home to do homework or study for the day ahead. If an athlete eats better then they will not be hungry in class so they can focus, if an athlete eats clean they will be more alert, awake, and focused in class rather than tired, hungry, and non-engaged.

Having one person focused on such an important aspect in collegiate athletics in more efficient and makes more sense. For injuries there is an Athletic trainer that prevents, diagnosis, and rehabs/ modifies for all injuries that a student athlete may endure through athletics or through their college career outside of athletics. Strength and Conditioning specialists have the job of strengthening athletes and getting then in good physical shape for the sport they must endure. They have to get the athlete bigger, stronger, faster, and sometimes helps them mentally getting to where they need to be physically to perform at their best. Both of these professions have very important roles in collegiate athletics and it is hard for these people to also include nutrition into their job roles. A better way would be to have a sports nutritionist on staff to educate, and implement nutrition amongst the student athletes. People argue that athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches have the time and knowledge to cover nutrition as well while their responsibilities encompass a lot and having someone else to take over such an important part as nutrition would be much more efficient and would help the athletes more rather than having someone not fully educated on proper nutrition give advice to athletes.

Sports nutritionist should be more common on an athletic staff in a collegiate setting. At USC there is only a sports nutritionist at football and football is the biggest sport at USC but that does not mean the other sports are not equally as important. There should be a couple more sports nutritionist hired that cover many small sports to give those athletes the opportunity to have a sports nutritionist to consult with to better themselves. All athletes at USC can use the Dodie which all of the athletes eat and there the food is put out in a specific way to improve diet and performance but not all athletes have the opportunity to meet and consult with a sports nutritionist about an individualized plan that is unique to only them but are on a basic diet that the Dodie features for those athletes. The few sports nutritionist can be hired to cover many sports like one for all fall/winter sports besides football and one or two for all of the spring sports that USC has. 

College students and student athletes can make a petition to bring to the head athletic director to propose the hiring of some more sports nutritionist. Students would sign to hopefully better the athletes so the athletes can better at their sport making sports better at USC. Student athletes would sign to better themselves. I have worked with the men's soccer team here at USC and they are all very disappointed that there is no meal plan for them to eat in the off season or no workout regimen for them because USC does not supply those staff to help those athletes get bigger, faster, and stronger during the offseason and expect them to be able to do those things on their own rather than having a professional help them. I have also worked with the USC football team and they believe that the sports nutritionist there is a valuable member of the staff and respect him as much as they respect their coaches. Some of the football players have said that having a structured meal plan given by the sports nutritionist have helped them gain or lose the weight they were trying to and many of them said that once they started their individualized programs that they felt much more energized throughout the day. 

If the change is made to integrate more sports nutritionist into collegiate athletics the whole game can change at the University of South Carolina. Athletes if given and carefully follow the given meal plans by the sports nutritionist will be more healthy, have a sharper attention span and mind during class, and be able to perform at a higher intensity than they ever thought to be possible. The student athletes in other sports rather than football do not understand nutrition and what they need to eat according to their sport and the current staffing does not have the knowledge to help and teach them to their potential.

The sports nutrition field is growing in collegiate sports. USC has the funds and resources to add a valuable member to the team such as a sports nutritionist. Having this person could greatly influence positive changes to the sports at USC.

Need A strong conclusion

