What it Takes to FEED the UT FOOTBALL Team | AthlEATS

they love salmon

they love broccoli we can't replenish it

fast enough and shrimp

[Music]

all right so i'm here with uh mr james

powers the general manager of the tank

yes how you doing today good how are you

i'm good what is the tank the texas

athletics nutrition center this is where

we feed all the ncaa and olympic sports

athletes for texas athletics we're able

to fuel them for performance so

everything that you see in this area is

for the student athletes and it's

customized to their individual needs and

kind of whatever they want do you sneak

in here and get get a couple meals

sometimes i eat here every day okay

kind of walk me through what's unique

about the tank you know i really think

it's the variety this whole room here is

spread out we've got lots of different

stations there's something for everybody

you're able to talk to a chef and get

somebody to make what you're craving

that day or what you need for

your next activity whether that's

working out or performance or recovery

the first one here kind of a new thing

we're doing right now it's a smoothie

bowls we've got them in our logo texas

cups you got a berry smoothie and this

one's a mango peach and different

toppings to add to those i think we take

it one step further instead of just

making something that they're gonna eat

it's hey here's a base here's all your

customization for it this one is kind of

a play off of our sandwich bar that we

already have we want people to come in

and try some different breads and

different meats with their sandwiches

it's a huge hit the kids love to toast

it in our pizza ovens back here this is

always a big hit our carving station

today we did a tuscan style top round

we've got a really great combi oven back

there that is able to get the perfect

roast every time so one of my favorites

this is our main line you're gonna see

some starches and veggies on this side

and then kind of protein heavy over here

on this side we try to do a lean protein

every day so you've got to pretty lean

with the roast and the salmon here burnt

orange glazed salmon kind of speaks for

itself the kids love pasta so you've got

a pasta dish here some handmade italian

meatballs and then orange salmon so

always have fresh baked breads today

we've got some biscuits here that have

been a hit lately a little honey butter

glaze not too much my favorite

this is a chili bar we can morph it

really into anything it just happens to

be this meal we're serving chili three

different ways we got a veggie chili a

white chicken chili and a texas beef

chili toppings for it again so you kind

of make it how you want

and then last over here is the omelet

station they love their omelets so

they'll come up actually fill out one of

these tickets say exactly what they want

on it what's their name how many eggs

they want kind of anything you could

think in an omelette so i think this is

a good fail safe and one of those

customized things if what we're serving

that day is a little too out there or

not in the flavor profile they want they

know they can come here and they know

they can get this our greek yogurt bar

we originally had a little more of a

savory palate on this one and trying to

incorporate avocados and bacon and

things like that the kids they love the

fruit really good healthy alternative

and a good good snack how can you guys

experiment with with new meals every day

work with the dietitians on a daily

basis to really go through our menu and

get rid of the things that don't have a

high take rate uh the kids aren't

enjoying so all right we're going to

change that and then we're always saying

okay what's the trends what's happening

and you know around town what do the

kids go to when they're not here so

we're taking those items and trying to

incorporate them into our menus whenever

we can our ability to change and adapt

is

really important to us now this is this

is texas this is ut

you guys are longhorns you gotta eat

steak right oh man you know we do

steak night quite often most operations

like this and steak nights once every

couple months

it's once a week i think here we're

doing steaks smoked brisket huge one

we've got a 35 foot smoker we did a meal

for the football team during training

camp and pulled that smoker up really to

like their front door had the student

athletes come out and they were actually

getting the brisket right out of the

smoker and did a whole barbecue theme

around it and it was kind of a showcase

it was a lot of fun so we have to make

sure that at texas we do barbecue right

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when i first started 10 years ago i had

a few goals to start out with and

getting a dining facility that was large

enough for all of our student athletes

to eat in was one of those first goals

where we started was really small we

weren't feeding all of our student

athletes at the time and some changes

and the ncaa rules have helped us so

that we're able to provide a meal for

all of our student athletes so we just

didn't have the space for it i also

really wanted to use this space as i

call it like our learning lab so we do a

lot of teaching and consults in our

offices we can actually show them the

food comes to life in here so it's

really important to us that we're able

to utilize this space

for that the other thing that was

important to me is that because we are

feeding all of our student athletes

there's something in here for everybody

no matter your size your goals your

sport your expenditure that you have for

that day you can learn how to adjust

those things each sport has a dietitian

that they work with and they can know

what their individualized goals are so

they can learn how to apply that in here

so the dietitians are in here doing some

food coaching

but the athletes can also then use those

skills that they have to then

individualize it so the way that we do

that is we have it set up in a lot of

different stations in those stations you

can even individualize what you're

getting they eat so many meals in here

every day you don't want to get bored

with what you're eating so you can be

really creative with going from our bowl

station and getting some grains there

and putting it on a salad or making it

into a grain bowl or taking something

from the main line and mixing it with

your pasta station having a smoothie and

having a sandwich with it one day and

another day mixing it with the main line

the other goal that i had is whenever

you walk in it should feel like home it

should feel like a place that we have

community with each other hopefully it's

something that doesn't feel

unapproachable it feels very

approachable because there's going to be

things in here that maybe are new

example yesterday we did buffalo

cauliflower everyone's used to buffalo

wings but we did it with cauliflower so

something that's prepared in a different

way

but then there's always also going to be

broccoli or green beans because those

are pretty well favored by most everyone

one i think i think that's special for

the tank is that the athletes get to

know our chefs and they get to know sort

of what their specialties are i had

somebody tell me the other day that if

it has on the label you know wands

casserole or wands ribs or wands or

whatever that they're gonna go for that

because whatever he makes is incredible

so that's one i think that's special for

the tank is that the athletes get to

know our chefs and they get to know sort

of what their specialties are and maybe

approach new foods because they are

trusting of that person making the food

the project that we're kind of always

working on is getting feedback from our

student athletes because we have

athletes that are definitely recruited

all from texas and all from around here

but we have athletes that are recruited

from all over the country and all over

the world so since i said it feels like

home we really want it to feel like home

we want food to feel like home it's what

feeds your soul we want to teach

nutrition through that way and so really

what we try to do is connect with the

athletes and get feedback on how things

are going and they typically are happy

to give us feedback on things that they

want to see more of or if things aren't

going well or things that they really

love and so i make sure that we have

meetings frequently all the dietitians

will come in and taste things and talk

to their athletes and then kind of give

daily feedback to our food service staff

about that the beginning of the year

this year we introduced a new bowl

station and that was the most popular

any day that we have our carving station

i see people going through that quickly

i think because you can really see what

you're getting and it just looks

delicious but i see that getting

replenished a ton pasta is pretty

popular but one time we did a great

infographic showing how much pasta we go

through and how much protein we go

through anytime we have wing night we do

that once a week that's super popular

with everyone when i started here you

know it was ten years ago it was me and

550 athletes and i couldn't

individualize plans for all of them but

that is really with performance

nutrition is an athlete understanding

what their body needs at different times

based on what their goals are and that

can change even day to day i think

what's really special about our

nutrition department is that we get the

support

to really say that every student athlete

receives the same level of care and so

we have a staff of dietitians that can

get to know their athletes and get to

know what their goals are and get to

know their day-to-day needs and then

guide them on what that is and help them

put together those plates for example

it's the spring so we have a lot of

teams that are in season so their needs

are very different than maybe some of

our fall sports that are in their off

season and their goals are very

different and that's why in the tank

it's important that things can be

individualized so that way

our menu doesn't change for one team

that's in season versus off season our

menu is pretty varied year-round and

then we work with the athletes to

understand okay if you're a swimmer and

you're in taper before competition this

is how we adjust that plate because our

hunger cues aren't always going to be

able to guide us in that so the

dietitians can help the athletes know

how to translate what we teach them

in our consultations in here to what

they put on their plate and then

hopefully they learn that then for those

lifelong skills the other thing i think

that's really cool that we do because

austin is known for good food good music

at least once a year if not a couple of

times a year we bring in local chefs and

they set up stations inside the tank the

athletes can go through and sort of

taste the restaurants that they've heard

of because they hear about all those

cool places to go eat but then they can

eat it here in the tank and try it out

in a place like the tank when there's so

many options i think sometimes people

can feel like i want to try everything

in here i want to try all the foods and

i want to try all the things that look

good and i tell them you can do that

anytime we don't have to do it all today

right so i think what's important is as

you're walking through the door to kind

of be thinking through

what have i had so far today with my

nutrition what do i still need in my

nutrition what sounds good based on

what's on the menu and how can i still

meet my nutritional goals with what

looks good for the day but then the

other thing that we do is we teach those

portion sizes so we usually use our hand

as a guide your hands are bigger if

you're a bigger person you're smaller if

you're a smaller person so it's a great

way to sort of do that portion control

and then it's a great way to teach them

okay today is a two-fifths carbohydrate

day so it is a one-fifth carbohydrate

day so use that as a starting point

touch base with those hunger cues and

then go back if you're feeling you're

needing more typically the dietitians

are also talking with the coaches the

great thing that we've done with our

program is just build relationships with

both the athletes and the coaches so the

coaches have trust in us that we're

going to be working with our athletes to

help them to achieve the goal to win we

as healthcare professionals also care

about their long-term health and

wellness and how to adjust that through

different times of their lives and then

teaching them some cooking and teaching

them how to grocery shop so they have

those skills to last for the rest of

their lives when my staff asked me about

that i say the first thing you have to

do is build relationships you can be the

most knowledgeable person in the room

but if you don't have trusting

relationships they're not going to

believe what you say so our presence not

only here at the nutrition center but

present sometimes at practices when we

can help out at those practices and we

can add value at those practices and

just being there in their environment

and seeing the expenditure that they

have and seeing the life that they go

through and understanding what a

challenge it is to be a student athlete

and knowing what their schedule is like

if the coaches and the athletes

understand that you understand and

that's what you're trying to help them

to achieve you can use that knowledge

that you have and then really take that

really far because then you're learning

how to apply that because they've

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