Meal planning, one-on-one meetings and team talks are a few of the things Amy Goodson does as sports dietitian for TCU athletics.

Goodson, a 2003 TCU graduate, has worked at the university for almost eight years. Along with TCU athletics, Goodson also acts as a sports dietitian for the Ben Hogan Sports Medicine Institute, the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers and FC Dallas Sports.

A sports dietitian, as per the Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutrition [SCAN], website of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “provides individual and group/team nutrition counseling and education to enhance the performance of competitive and recreational athletes, on-site and during travel.”

For TCU athletics specifically, Goodson said she meets with every team during their season and gives talks.

“We typically always go through and do a team talk every single year in the fall,”
she said. “For a lot of teams, we circle back and do another talk in the off-season for maybe weight gain, weight loss, performance and recovery.”

Goodson said the team talks cover general nutrition and eating habits, covering the basics of food composition, how to eat around workouts and how to properly hydrate. Goodson says she also meets with some TCU athletes one-on-one.

Goodson said she individually meets with about a fourth of TCU’s athletes each year. She said she has had a meeting with every baseball player, which head coach Jim Schlossnagle requires of all freshman and transfer players.

Goodson said she also does most meal planning for volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball and football teams, including “at-home meal planning, team pre-game meals and game meals on the road.”

The individual meetings allow Goodson to personalize athletes’ meals based on their goals, she said. Goodson said she then makes individualized meal plans or meal ideas based on athletes’ schedules and whether they eat at Market Square or off campus.

She walks through Market Square about twice a year to help with meal preparation, Goodson said. These walk-throughs have also effected what food is served to students.

Market Square did not originally serve beans and grilled chicken for dinner every night, but Goodson said she made sure the healthy options were staples.

“Our goal is really fueling and trying to make common everyday as I can,” Goodson said. “The more you can make nutrition a constant, the better you’re going to do.”