UF players noticing nutrition improvements under Kelsee Gomes

When trey dean discovered billy napper was going to take over as Florida’s head coach at the end of November, he immediately became excited about the potential of the program.

The senior safety already knew his head coach’s track record. TO Nick Saban disciple, Napier breathed new life into a Louisiana program that had never won more than nine games in a single season. However, under Napier, the Ragin Cajuns posted double-digit wins in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Dean was immediately hopeful that Napier could breathe similar life into a Florida program that was coming off one of its worst seasons in recent history, winning fewer than three SEC games for the first time since 1986. And just a few months later , Dean said he has already seen a change from the organized player parking program to a redesigned practice structure. Another significant area for improvement? Food.

“110 percent,” Dean said when asked if meals and attention to nutrition had improved with Napier compared to recent years.

While Napier orchestrated such a change, Dean and his teammates also have director of sports nutrition Kelsee Gomes to thank.

Gomes, who was hired as Florida’s new chief nutritionist in December after overseeing the sports nutrition department in North Carolina since 2015, has helped reimagine that aspect of player routines.

Some of the highlights: Each player has a spring weight goal posted in their locker with a regularly updated and detailed meal plan to help them achieve it. Players are encouraged and rewarded for meeting Gomes’ hydration guidelines, which include drinking approximately one gallon of water per day. The team is served a full meal and two grab-and-go snacks on weekdays, including what the players call “French Toast Fridays,” a locker room favorite.

“He’s giving us meal plans,” running back Nay’Quan Wright said. “If you want to gain weight, keep it off, if you want to lose it, they’re doing really well with that.”

A former Division I swimmer at UNC-Wilmington, Gomes has worked in the sports nutrition industry for more than a decade. After graduating with a master’s degree from Florida State, Gomes spent two years as a nutrition consultant. in the traumatic brain injury and rehabilitation unit at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Hoping to work in sports, Gomes said he contacted Ricki Keen, director of performance nutrition for Orlando City Soccer, for whom he worked until he got his first big break in the sports nutrition industry in 2011.

“I ended up getting hired by Tara Gidus, who was doing the Orlando Magic at the time, and then she got the contract at UCF, which was like 20 hours a week, so I started helping her with consulting there and I knew that was what I wanted to do. Gomes said.

In 2012, Gomes was hired as a sports nutrition coordinator at the University of Florida, where she spent three years before taking over UNC’s sports nutrition department. There, Ella Gomes was part of five national championships: lacrosse (2015), basketball (2017) and field hockey (2018-20). Her work with the Tar Heels was also formative in her overall nutrition philosophy.

“I’m very big on education,” Gomes said. “I think that’s our job. want [players] to understand why. I could tell you every morning, ‘Take your vitamins,’ and you could say, ‘Well, what is this going to do for me?’ I think it’s always been my thing and I remember a coach telling me that once. I was like, ‘God, so-and-so isn’t doing this,’ and he was like, ‘Well, if he’s not seeing the importance of this, then he never will.'”

Now in his second stint with the Gators, Gomes has the opportunity to focus on football nutrition after spending the last seven years in charge of 28 sports. With two full-time dietitians on his staff, Gomes hopes to improve players’ performance by improving their eating habits.

“I really try to emphasize that all foods fit our athletes or is there something, depending on what their goals are, is there something we need to change, something we need to tweak,” Gomes said, “there are things we need to talk about.

Gomes also aims to enhance the game day experience for players down the road. She said she has already traveled to the different hotels the team will be staying at in the fall to ensure they are fully equipped to handle Florida’s food demands.

And why go so far? Gomes said the reason is twofold. First, he wants to make sure the players eat the best they can. Two, she believes there is a psychological benefit to having good food ready for players. She values ​​her input in that process.

“Food memorabilia, food things that her mom used to make, you know,” Gomes said. “And I think it’s very important that before spring break we also did a player satisfaction survey with the guys just to get feedback… They’re being heard about things that they might want to see on the menus.”

Nutrition is one of the many areas players have improved under Napier, a process Gomes said she is “grateful” to be a part of.

Now, the veteran nutritionist is hard at work continuing to implement her plan. It’s what excites her most about the job.

“I love it because that’s the part where I get to educate the guys,” he said, “I see them coming out of high school and growing up as men and then even going to the next level, I think that’s such a cool thing and then when they come back, they’re still doing some of the stuff they were doing, I think it’s just amazing.”