How did you start your career in the NFL?
I started my career in sports nutrition about 20 years ago. I graduated with a degree in nutrition and went straight to work at the hospital. Within six months, I realized that this was not for me and that I wanted to work with healthy people. The University of Florida did an internship in their sports nutrition department. It was long hours and not enough money, but it was a foot in the door, so I applied. I got the job and within six months I was hired full time. For the first five years of my career, I was at the college level.
I come from a long line of entrepreneurs and I knew I wanted to have my own private practice. I opened it up and it was working with anyone from high school athletes to Olympians, PGA tour guys, anyone who worked independently. Then Tom Myslinski, then the Jaguars’ head strength and conditioning coach, contacted me and said they had been looking for a nutritionist and my name kept coming up. He asked, “Would you mind coming in and chatting with me?”
I went to the facility thinking it was going to be a 30-minute talk, and five hours later, I talked to him, the general manager, the head coach, pretty much everyone in the building, and he had a job. He came once a week to consult. Within two years, I was hired full time. So since I started in April 2014 I went from being a consultant to having a whole department with an assistant, and we are growing a little more every year. It has been great.
When you first signed full-time with the Jaguars, what was your role like?
Let’s say you have 100 players: about 30 are very interested in nutrition, 30 are in the middle of the road and need a little guidance but know how to handle it, and the remaining third are the genetic monsters who have eaten hamburgers and chicken wings all their lives and see no point in changing. You choose your battles. When I started, I knew how to approach the job because I had worked with 500 athletes at a time at the University of Florida. So instead of making meal plans for each player, we would identify the red-flag players (guys who always have ongoing hamstring cramps or pulls or sustain injuries) with the strength and athletic training staff, and seek out those boys. , gain their trust and help them design a plan in terms of their nutrition.
The other part of the time, I would help out in the kitchen with meals that are really advantageous to our players. Instead of having chili cheese dogs before practice, try to find healthier options. Then on game days, there are a lot of players dealing with GI issues. Although many of them don’t want to admit they are nerves, many of them will have GI, upset because they think it’s because of what they ate the night before. So there is a lot to educate them and help them find what alleviates the problem if they know that this happens every week.
You mentioned expanding your department. What is your daily schedule now that you have more help?
A third of my day is meetings with the coaching staff, strength coach and coaches, and now there is a lot of administrative work coming up. Another third is hanging around during meals and seeing where the kids are. If I go up to breakfast and see a player eating only two pieces of bacon, I’ll check it out and see what’s going on. Then the last part is to go out and practice and research new hydration products or other nutrition products or tests.
