"We're there to feed them, fuel them, hydrate them, refuel them, and teach them about nutrition so that way they can go out and perform at their best" (NETNebraska). Those are word from Lindsey Remmers director of sports medicine at the University of Nebraska talking about athletes and what she and her staff do every day for them to perform their best. Sports nutrition is important in collegiate athletics and there should be a sports nutritionist on staff at every college or university. Sports nutrition is a big problem in the sports medicine world, with the main problem involving athlete's education on proper nutrition. Contrary to popular belief, athletic trainers have more on an influence on athletes health and should be implemented because of the further knowledge sports nutritionist have on proper nutrition of collegiate athletes and what is best for them in reaching their goals. Sports nutrition in collegiate athletics is a major key to success on and off the field in collegiate athletics, 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, and teaching student athletes about nutrition to achieve their goals and to teach them nutrition they can use the rest of their lives.

People believe that nutrition in collegiate athletes is common knowledge and that athletes should know what to eat, how much to eat, and how often to eat to obtain their goals. The University of Nebraska has a system set up for their athletes that color codes food groups so athletes can get all the food groups they need each day and how much of that food group they need. So all of the fruits and salads are together, all of the hot entrees are together, all of the carbs are together and are all color coded (NETNebraska). This teaches their student athletes how to eat and how much to eat each day depending on their sport and schedule. Student athletes relate to normal student and have classes, stress, and almost no times to themselves, and trying to fit a complex and dynamic meal plan into their schedule is more time consuming and takes discipline. In professional athletics it is much easier to gain or lose weight because that's all those athletes have to do is eat, lift, practice, and sleep. It is their job and consumes all of their time. Another big argument people make is adding another staff member cost more money for the school. In this situation the university or college should hire one or two sports nutritionists or registered dietitians for all of the sports. This program allows athletes to can come and see them as they please for personalized plans and any other nutritional needs. This program will give student athletes at smaller schools the chance to see a specialist to address for cutting or gaining weight and to discuss student athlete dietary standards. 

Sports nutrition at USC is important because it teaches student athletes about nutrition and what they should be doing to achieve their goals. USC football has a sports nutritionist on staff that implements plans, dietary guidelines, and teaches all of the football student athletes about proper nutrition and how it impacts their abilities in the game and their personal lives. More sports nutritionist should be added to the Gamecock's sports staff as all athletes at USC have the resource of a sports nutritionist to better their lives.

Sports nutrition began in 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 by showing great success from an athlete that consumed a strict and abundant diet that allowed Milo to conquer all of his goals as a man and as an Olympian. Ancient Greece had a very strong army that participated in wars that were very vigorous and gruesome. Reading 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. You can compare these warriors to some collegiate sports such as football. When most of those athletes train, eat, and play most student athletes have the mindset that they are preparing for war and that the game field is their battlefield. Fueling an athletes body right is a science and in the late 19th century scientist started to piece how food and performance work together.  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 determined that fat and carbohydrates were the main fuel of muscles (Sports Nutrition). The body was then studied in correlation with food and exercise to determine the right amount of food to keep the body in optimal shape in the late 1960's. "In the late 1960s Scandinavian scientists began to study muscle glycogen storage, use, and resynthesis associated with prolonged exercise." (Dunford). This quote shows that long distance athletes were tested on the muscle glycogen storage and what foods correlate in keeping energy in the body for the longest amount of time so the athletes can go longer, stronger, and faster than before. These scientist with help of exercise physiologists concluded that "endurance athletes, such as marathon runners and long-distance cyclists, benefited from consuming approximately 8 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight daily" (Dunford). Proving that in long distance athletes carbohydrates were the best thing to fuel these athletes with in preparation for competition to maximize optimal performance. Then scientist moved on to discover what fuels athletes in recovering from sports. 

After carbohydrates were found to be the main fuel for muscles the scientist began searching for foods and beverages 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 and enhance performance. (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 after lots of scientist searching and experimenting with many combinations and ingredients to find the ultimate protein blend that most student athletes take daily while trying to build muscle to recover from a long day working hard. With such success of protein athletes searched for more supplements to aid them in their quest for strength and optimal performance.

With the rise of sports nutrition and supplements there has become an increased need for sports nutritionist to guide people on how to achieve their goals on and off the field and there became high demand for strength and conditioning specialist to teach athletes the proper way to lift, to give them routines to follow for optimal muscle mass, to give them sports specific workouts to work the most valuable muscle groups for each sport, and they help the athletes with proper supplementation. The need for Athletic trainers also increased with the growing number of athletes and the talent of athletes increasing every generation. Sports medicine helps an athlete, achieve their optimal goals by getting the athlete back to their sport bigger, better, and stronger than they were before. 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 primary focuses 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. The Carolina Rhetoric has a few great articles that teach people how to eat better and to utilize home cooking rather than the fast food choices around today. Bittman says "taxes would reduce consumption of unhealthy foods and generate billions of dollars annually." (Bittman). Here Bittman is talking about taxing unhealthy food to promote people to choose healthier and with the tax cheaper options. The tax will make healthier foods more affordable and in sense making it more appealable to people. On a college campus this would help a lot and could direct athletes when at home to make healthy foods or to buy healthier options because it would be cheaper than the unhealthy options. Another author Salatin, a third generation farmer writes an article by the title of "Declare Your Independence" and a step by step guide written by Salatin to people teaching them how become a healthier version of themselves by buying local, eating healthy, and cooking their own food (Salatin). Salatin takes these points and teaches people how to use their local farms, farmers markets, and fresh section in the grocery stores to show them that healthy food can taste good, be cheap, and help local businesses with a little time and effort. Student athletes can benefit from this information by learning about local places that sell food that they can cook while they are at home or in their apartments when they cannot go to the dining halls on campus or just want a nice home cooked meal. Teaching the staff and coaches about proper nutrition is also 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. If athletes respect and understand the food they are eating then they can use that knowledge on what is best to eat. Wendell Berry a novelist writes about "The Pleasures of Eating" and talks about that people that understand where the food they have comes from like a garden that they grew or buying meat from a local meat market where you can see the animals in the nearby pastures makes a person feel better about what they are eating and makes the food better because they know where the food is coming from rather than getting food from a fast food place (Berry). 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. An article written by the American College of Sports Medicine says "Athletes need to consume energy that is adequate in amount and timing of intake during periods of high-intensity and/or long duration training to maintain health and maximize training outcomes" (Nutrition and Athletic Performance). This quote talks about athletes fueling for a full day meaning workouts, class, and practice. This article also goes on and says that the better an athlete eats for their day the better they will feel throughout the day and the better they will perform in their game or training for that day. 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 use the Dodie enrichment center where all of the athletes eat, have study hall, and get extra help for classes as needed. The food is put out in a way to improve diet and performance of the athletes depending on their needs for their individual sport and goals. The football players have full access to a sports nutritionist at all times, the other athletes have to educate themselves on what should be the best option to eat in the Dodie besides the recommended meals set up by the lines. Then the athletes have to determine how much to get from those suggested meals so there is a lot of gray areas on what is best for each athlete without a professional prospective. A 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. There should also be one to fix the food in the Dodie more like the program at Nebraska where the food groups are color coded so it is easier to determine what to eat and how much to eat by just telling the athlete what colors to eat and how much of those colors each day. This will help the athletes at USC and make it easier to get everything that they need in their diets. A study performed to study the eating habits of collegiate athletes tested 52 female D1 collegiate athletes and had them record their food intake for three days throughout the week to determine what collegiate athletes eat and to see if they were getting the proper nutrients and fuel needed for their sports. The study stated "Nearly all athletes in the sample failed to match their energy intakes with their estimated energy needs. The majority of them also failed to meet their carbohydrates needs, even though only the minimum carbohydrate recommendations for athletes were used in the study" (Shriver). This confirms that athletes are not educated properly and do not know or follow dietary guidelines that should be met daily for optimal performance. Athletes that do eat correctly and meet their needs have a much bigger chance for success than the one who do not and there should be more sports nutritionist to implement these programs so athletes can be healthier individuals.

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. Athletes need to make a stand to further better themselves and better athletes that will arise later and fill their shoes once they are gone. Having sports nutritionist to educate, implement a program, and to take the load off of other staff members will make USC's sports stronger, faster, and will have healthier graduates that can share their knowledge with the upcoming generation so all people not only athletes understand the importance of nutrition and to make a change in how America sees nutrition as a whole.  

