Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/176703
Under the Dome Five Questions With … Director Of Sports Nutrition Kayla Matrunick Kayla Matrunick, a registered dietitian and Certified Sports Nutritionist, is in her third year with the Fighting Irish Sports Performance Team and in her first year as Notre Dame's sports nutrition program director. She oversees and coordinates performance nutrition needs for all 26 Fighting Irish varsity sports programs. Matrunick was a cross country and track and field athlete at Penn State. She holds an undergraduate degree in nutritional sciences and a master's degree in sports psychology. She uses the triad of nutrition, coaching and psychology to help Notre Dame athletes achieve optimal performance. Blue & Gold Illustrated: What is the most important aspect of your job? Matrunick: "It's taking care of my student-athletes and providing them with the resource to understand the pieces it takes to be the best student-athletes and keep nutrition as a positive contagion. "Nutrition makes you feel better, and if they feel better every day they will play better every day." Blue & Gold Illustrated: How do you manage the nutrition needs for all 26 varsity programs? Matrunick: "There are two sports dieticians here, so we are fortunate. The No. 1 goal is that there is nutrition education available. Myself and the other dietician split the teams up so we can personalize what each team needs. "For us to get to know each team, we have to understand their demands, their different types of training, and we have to cater the nutrition towards that." ▼ Blue & Gold Illustrated: How has your experience as a Division I athlete and coach helped in your position now? Matrunick: "I truly understand what a student-ath- lete goes through. I understand the heavy demand they have. That experience and my master's in psychology has helped me because really what I am is a nutrition coach, so I relate to the Matrunick student-athletes in every aspect. "I need to know the person first to get my nutrition message across. Then I use my expertise as a dietitian to tie it all together." Blue & Gold Illustrated: Some athletes, particularly football players, need to gain weight or lose weight, sometimes in a small amount of time. How do you make sure they are doing that in a healthy way? Matrunick: "My goal is to help athletes be ready for their coaches. I need to understand the program development of that player so I make sure they have enough energy to get through practice and training sessions. "So it's getting them enough calories to get them through the workout, but not too little to deplete their bodies and put them at risk for injury or illness." Blue & Gold Illustrated: If an athlete is not maintaining a healthy diet, what are the steps to make sure he or she gets on a healthy track? Matrunick: "I sit down with them individually and look at their eating habits for the past 18 years, look at the demands they have with academics, two-a-day practices, study halls and let them know I understand that. We see what foods they're eating, seeing if we can give them better alternatives. "Sometimes a bad diet is an inadequate amount of calories. So I sit down and go over an individual plan and goals and do follow-ups on a weekly basis." — Staci Gasser Click here to listen to Blue & Gold Illustrated's complete interview with Matrunick.