by PonyTales » Thu Dec 13, 2001 7:08 pm
1. I have read in many magazines -- and heard directly from high school players -- that the training table at Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, etc., was really impressive and helped them choose those schools. Not that they chose those schools solely for the training table, but it's one more element that other schools offer that SMU doesn't. When a kid goes on his visits and sees the cafeteria at SMU (much improved thought it may be from when I was in school) and then goes to Nebraska and sees the spread they have up there, it gets noticed. 18-year-old guys always have at least two things on their minds, and food is one of them. Trivial though it may seem, this will have an effect. Needs to be done.
2. Who cares that UT spent $50,000 swapping out the paneling in Mackovic's office? UT plays by another set of rules. Budget is not an issue. They are almost like Notre Dame, where they merely make a shopping list and get what they want/need. At SMU, budget is an issue, and an important one. This is a different world than they live in at UT, so financial expenses have to be watched.
3. DiamondM, remember when you were a freshman. Did you make decisions as logically as you do now? Doubt it. These are kids in their first year(s) out of high school. You can not rely on them to discipline themselves into eating right. Remember being a freshman and your roommate ordered pizza and couldn't finish it all? Bad food is available all the time, and kids will eat it. As for your assessment that professional players are counted on to eat all their meals in a healthy manner, and that they decide what goes in their mouths: wrong. When at home, they are asked to eat well, but even that can not be guaranteed (that gets into the discussion about 22-year-olds making millions -- would be sorely tempted to eat steak three times a day.) Professional players are at their complex all day long. Lunch is provided every day. Dinner usually is provided. And they're not being served chicken-fried greaseburgers. These teams all have hired dieticians and nutritionists because they know it's in the best interest of the players -- and the rest of the team personnel, considering the financial investment in those players -- that they put the best possible fuel in their bodies. Teams carefully monitor what players eat at least twice a day, just as they monitor how each player runs, lifts weights, etc. And there's Met-RX all over those places, and with good reason.
Get a training table. Sign up with Met-RX. Get everything possible for the weightroom and training staff. From there, let the coaches take over. We need to compete on every level.