ND Ups the Performance Ante
posted by Scott Engler
(The Rock Report) - Just two months after ND Strength and Conditioning coach Ruben Mendoza called nutrition the "missing link in athletic performance", Notre Dame announced the formation of a new Athletic Performance Division. Said Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick, "The goals and expectations of athletics at Notre Dame necessitate finding ways for our student-athletes to optimize their efforts when they compete at the championship level of our programs. That doesn't happen by accident."
Mark Karwowski, A 16-year veteran of the Notre Dame athletics administration, will coordinate efforts to enhance areas such as strength and conditioning, athletic training and physical therapy, sports medicine, nutrition, sports psychology and others that contribute to student-athletes' physical welfare and on-field performance.
Currently Notre Dame does not have a training table as most schools with high level sports programs do, which many believe hurts Notre Dame's ability to compete during a long football season in a program that has to play athletes earlier in their careers.
While this move still has to play out, the continued cadence of sound, constructive moves from the Athletic Department provides mounting evidence that, after a decade of incompetence and fecklessness, Notre Dame may have finally found an Athletic Director equal to the challenge of upholding Notre Dame's long tradition of Athletic excellence. While the jury is still out and there are major issues such as scheduling on the horizon and that small problem called winning, the needle, at the very least, appears to be pointed in the right direction for Swarbrick, which would be welcome news to long suffering Irish fans.
Mark Karwowski, A 16-year veteran of the Notre Dame athletics administration, will coordinate efforts to enhance areas such as strength and conditioning, athletic training and physical therapy, sports medicine, nutrition, sports psychology and others that contribute to student-athletes' physical welfare and on-field performance.
Currently Notre Dame does not have a training table as most schools with high level sports programs do, which many believe hurts Notre Dame's ability to compete during a long football season in a program that has to play athletes earlier in their careers.
While this move still has to play out, the continued cadence of sound, constructive moves from the Athletic Department provides mounting evidence that, after a decade of incompetence and fecklessness, Notre Dame may have finally found an Athletic Director equal to the challenge of upholding Notre Dame's long tradition of Athletic excellence. While the jury is still out and there are major issues such as scheduling on the horizon and that small problem called winning, the needle, at the very least, appears to be pointed in the right direction for Swarbrick, which would be welcome news to long suffering Irish fans.
Labels: Notre dame performance, swarbrick
16 Comments:
This is good news and a big step in the right direction!!
The way to a man's success is through his stomach.
I like it. Its definately the right thing to do at the right time. Im just curious as to how much backing this program will actually receive and what the time table is to implement it.
To paraphrase a Michael Jsckdson (Hoosier) famous song from the '80's. "Eat it. Just eat it."
It is pretty disingenuous to blame ND's poor football performance on steak and potatoes. The talent is there; it hasn't been used right.
Would the training tables be within the dining halls? Part of the great tradition at ND is the fact that athletes and students are not seperated in school life.
In addition to basic food, they should be able to get some good deals from supplement companies, provided they buy in bulk for the various programs. I know many athletes have to swing it on their own with supplements, which isn't in line with other schools. This is long overdue....
we had a training table for athletes in the south (and only) dining hall during the fifties.we only lost five games in my four years-only two were home games.i don't know if was the food, but special nutrition for athletes makes a lot of sense.
There is absolutely no need for a separate training table at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame's food service provides some of the best and most nutritious food found at any university. They are an in house facility not contracted like so many other schools.
What is needed is a discipline with the athletes on their eating habits. An improved oversight as to where they eat and what they eat is all that is needed. Also, the school should provide the supplements to the athletes free of charge.
I just underwent a cardio vascular study by the NFL Alumni. It was a real eye opener to learn that many college football players come to the pros in terrible cardio vascular condition. Most of it is attributed to very poor diet habits while in school.
Keep track of where the athletes eat by using the electronic tracking system which records when the student enters the dining halls.
Hold educational classes on nutrition and inform them what they must eat to be healthy and competitive.
Karowski should do a good job coordinating these inter-related elements. Taking his place as head of compliance is Jill Bodensteiner, from the University Counsel's office. It will be good to have a lawyer monitoring that thicket of rules known as the NCAA Manual.
There is absolutely no need for a separate training table at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame's food service provides some of the best and most nutritious food found at any university. They are an in house facility not contracted like so many other schools.
What is needed is a discipline with the athletes on their eating habits. An improved oversight as to where they eat and what they eat is all that is needed. Also, the school should provide the supplements to the athletes free of charge. A a cardiovascular study by the NFL Alumni was a real eye opener. They learned that many college football players come to the pros in terrible cardio vascular condition. Most of it is attributed to very poor diet habits while in school: training table or not.
Keep track of where the athletes eat by using the electronic tracking system which records when the student enters the dining halls.
Hold educational classes on nutrition and inform them what they must eat to be healthy and competitive.
It's about time ND woke up to the value nutrition plays to college athletes. Anyone who's been concerned about training & keeping fit knows that nutrition is an integral part. It's even more important for athletes. Hopefully our coach will understand this, as it appears our new ad does, & lead by implementation not example!
www.DARIsports.com
If you think nutrition is a missing link then you have to check out this service too. There is a lot more out then you think.
I think all of these areas are important and it is nice to see them all starting to be embraced and utlizied more regularly.
It's good to see that people have noticed how awful our strength and conditioning program is. Hopefully there will be a lot of improvement in that area.
For a University that prides itself on the cutting edge research that benefits every corner of the globe, this has taken way too long. People in the Athletic Administration haven't figured out that proper nutrition and monitoring effects athletic performance?!?! This is 2009...not 1909, right?!?!?! How can you possibly expect to compete on a national level in any sport on a consistent basis if EVERY aspect of athletic performance is not adequately addressed?!?!?! Ridiculous....
Great news, but WAY, WAY overdue. When Bob Davie was coach, he spoke at length during his news conferences of the need to implement a comprehensive nutrition program. He pointed out the success that Nebraska had with their program, and stressed the need for ND to step up to the plate in order to maximize our players' potential. How is it possible that no progress was made until now? Unbelievable!
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