The fruits of Dr. Kris Clark’s labor are more than just fruits and vegetables.
They’re the reading of labels, increased energy to complete strength coach Craig Fitzgerald’s early-morning workouts and the substituting of turkey subs for cheesesteaks.
All of which are more critical than ever given a Penn State football roster than may be leaner by sanction but also leaner in body fat. And sharper – and lighter, more durable — on their feet.
So while the Nittany Lions may be Lifting for Life today, now more than ever they are also eating for performance.
“If we can correct nutrition deficiencies and talk to them about things like skipping meals, I can keep their energy levels up, so that when they come into practice they have energy to stay focused and attentive.” says Clark, director of sports nutrition at Penn State since 1991.
“If an athlete gets sick or injured, they’re not going to be training or playing. Nutrition plays a huge role. In strength and conditioning, Fitzgerald will tell you that if he gets a kid who did not eat, for 50 percent of their workouts they are going to be tired and not be able to do the workout he is expecting.”
Clark is quick to emphasize that she is part of a team that constantly works in concert to improve the nutrition, health and ultimately the performance of Penn State’s football team. It begins with Tim Bream, director of athletic trainer services at Penn State and head athletic trainer for football, a PSU grad who spent 19 years with the NFL’s Chicago Bears. It also features Fitzgerald, a Pennsylvania native who previously headed strength and conditioning for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina. At the top is head football Bill O’Brien.
“We are doing different things these days,” Clark says. “Bill and Tim and Craig came on board much more interested and open to the whole idea of nutrition. Tim used nutrition tremendously in the NFL. Craig used nutrition as part of his program at South Carolina. Bill O’Brien was very much on board.
“Nutrition is really a training tool. When they met me they embraced me. They said we want you to have an office over here and be here as much as you can afford to be. They’ve included me in all the changes they’re making. We’re really a team; I can’t stress that enough. That approach is maybe the biggest change. We have this mindset and everyone is on the same page – strength and conditioning, training, nutrition.”
Clark, amazingly, is the sole nutritionist for all 31 of Penn State’s varsity sports teams and their athletes — not just for football. That encompasses almost 850 athletes, plus head coaches and assistants, trainers and team physician. By comparison, the University of Florida’s athletics program has four full-time nutritionists on staff, while Notre Dame’s top two nutritionists are both Clark pupils.
She came aboard almost two decades ago, at the urging of Joe Paterno and Dr. Helen Guthrie, initially focusing on football. Since then, as Penn State athletics has grown, so have the number of her “clients,” as she calls them.
Many times, football comes first, especially first thing in the morning. Yesterday, Clark started the day with two hours inside Lasch Building, connecting with players informally and conferring with a core of medical and training staff that included Bream, Fitzgerald and team physician Dr. Peter Seidenberg – all there bright and early on a July morning.
“The players know who I am. Earlier this summer, I gave the freshmen an overview of the expectations of how they are to eat now that they are here and on the football team,” she says. “Now I really want to be available, especially with the freshmen. I go to up them and say, ‘Hey Garrett, hey John, hey Taylor, how are you eating? What are your struggles? What are your goals? Are you trying to gain weight, are you trying to lose weight?”
Food and nutrition are just part of the continuum – and challenges – that all college students face, even more when you’re an athlete working out up to five hours a day. Now double that when you’re a freshman away from home for the first time, when you also have to deal with a whole new set of circumstances. O’Brien calls it his summer bridge program, when beginning in late June 36 freshmen – 14 scholarship athletes and 22 run-ons – are assimilated into Penn State and Penn State football.
“These kids have ingrained habits. We are asking them to do a lot of different things, not just with food,” Clark says. “They must alter sleep patterns, alter exercise patterns, alter study habits. If you read anything about how much change one person can go through at once, it’s a lot of change – especially for new kids coming onto campus for varsity athletics. The one thing that no one can control but the kids is food. They must show up for practice, for workouts, for class, for study hall. Eating is the one thing they can control.”
Clark is a terrific role model, fit and engaging and energetic. She walks twice a day for a total of five miles, bikes up to 30 miles a day over the weekend with her husband Craig Weidemann, czar of Penn State Outreach’s programs area and St. Louis Cardinals aficionado. She has to eat right, accompanied by up to five cups of coffee in the early a.m. (none after that), to keep up a pace that touches hundreds of athletes.
Take yesterday, for example. After two hours at Lasch, she hoofed it back to Rec Hall (where her office is located) to meet with associate athletic director Charmelle Green, the senior woman’s administrator. Then she drove to The Penn Stater to lunch with a candidate for the vacant women’s softball head coaching job. From there, she went to the Natatorium to meet with interim head coach Liz McMillian, then went back to Rec to meet with freshman basketball Infiniti Alston.
She moves with her feet, but tends to the head as much as the stomach.
“Eating is probably 85 percent psychological,” Clark says. “What people choose they eat for so many reasons that have nothing to do with hunger. When I talk with student-athletes about their eating patterns I try to get them to think about why they are making these choices. It’s not just telling them hat to do. I try to get them to think.”
For football, that has meant an offseason of brain food. When comparing official football rosters from the Wisconsin game last November to the team’s depth chart released in June, the impact has certainly been something to think about.
Tight end Jesse James dropped 15 pounds and tight end-turned-offensive lineman Garry Gilliams gained 43. All-Big Ten wide receiver Allen Robinson added 11 pounds, as did kicker Sam Ficken. And transfer quarterback Tyler went from 199 pounds, as listed in the March media guide, to 213 pounds, according to the latest depth chart. Big changes.
Is football’s new nutrition emphasis working?
Well, Clark may not be a gastronomic Superwoman, but with numbers like those the proof is obvious: They’re not eating the pudding.
