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J Nutrition program fueling the Badgers LUCAS AT LARGE MIKE LUCAS • UWBADGERS.COM ohn Dettmann, UW's long- time director of strength and conditioning, takes exception with those who sub- scribe to the proverb, "Too many cooks spoil the broth." For one particular cause — the Performance Nutrition Program — Dettmann is a firm believer in "the more the merrier" when it comes to the campus-wide partnership. What makes it unique, he says, is that various departments — Food and Beverage, Life Skills, Sports Medicine, Strength and Conditioning — have formed an allegiance to implement the program, and the athletes are the beneficiaries. After a number of trial semi- nars over the past 18 months, Dettmann said, "We have de- fined a curriculum of skills that we would like to teach." In addition, he said, "We wanted to have as many ten- tacles as possible." That extends to an introducto- ry class when freshmen arrive on campus for summer orientation, a manual, a web site and the use of Twitter, among other things. "We're doing tweets about ba- sic nutritional information," he said. "We're trying to hit them with as many different messages from as many different people as possible." The goal, Dettmann stressed, is to create small changes so that "the collective cumulative ben- 10 » VARSITY APRIL 5, 2012 efit over time would be substan- tial" for the athletes. That takes into consideration the importance of progression in their lives. "You want to see yourself improving and getting better," he acknowledged. There's a reasonable expecta- tion to all of this, too. "We certainly aren't going to teach them how to be gourmet chefs," he said. But it might be as simple as creating a healthy snack or hard-boiling an egg. "We didn't want to overwhelm everybody, so we've scaled it down," Dettmann said. "A lot of this stuff can be done with a mi- crowave and a hand blender." There's also a costing compo- nent — cost per serving. Scholar- ship athletes on training table are fed once a day and only dur- ing certain times of the year. "We want to get them infor- mation to help them sustain and survive," Dettmann said. Beyond explaining what athletes can do for recovery in fueling their bodies — along with what they should be consuming for performance-based reasons — is an academic variable. "Kids have nutritional needs to stay attentive in class or to be able to function through a long day." The manual addresses seven habits: 1. Eat breakfast. Morning calories drive the day. 2. Hydration. Water is a key component. 3. Alcohol. On a college cam- pus, it's all around. "You need to know the impact of alcohol on your body and how it impacts recovery," Dettmann said. 4. Be aware of your calorie needs. "Athletes have a tendency to eat the worst when they're doing the least, which is over the weekend," he said. 5. Become a smart shopper. Know how to eat good foods on limited funds. 6. Supplement use/or abuse. What are you taking? Why? 7. Go easy on yourself. "Don't set yourself up for failure," Dett- mann said, "by thinking you're never going to make a mistake." Little changes add up to big results, he concluded, so be realistic."What we don't want to do is turn it into an obsessive- compulsive concept," he said. You're not going to do every- thing perfect all the time, so don't expect to. "The manual," Dettmann said, "came together from feedback by the athletes. What would you like to see in there? What are we missing?" Dettmann agreed the Nutri- tion Performance Program has a cutting-edge feel to it. "It has put us out there in a different light," he said. "We've reinvented how athletes gain information and utilize informa- tion and put together a program that is a progression."