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New fueling station opens for athletes

On January 12, the Aggie Fueling Station opened its doors to Utah State athletes.

Located on the first floor of ICON Sports Performance Center, the new station isn’t for filling up a vehicle, but a way that student athletes can get a pre or post-workout snack. The center is managed by dietitians who help USU athletes make smart, healthy eating decisions.

“It’s nice because we do the preparations for them,” said Stacey Garrett, one of the Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDN) who helps run the facility. “I think athletes want to make healthy decisions and we’re here to make the healthy decision the easy one.”

The fueling station is set up right below the weight room. It’s organized so that athletes can get come in and go through a line to get the food they want and need. From fresh vegetable and fruits to an oatmeal bar, granola bars and breads there’s a variety of choices for their needs.

“We have different things to meet different training needs,” Garrett said. “For example, for a pre-workout snack you want something that’s more fast acting, fuel that will hit the bloodstream fast like applesauce or the other fruits.

“Then we have the post-workout items that are higher in protein to help the muscles recover. That would be our hummus, greek yogurt, cottage cheese and chocolate milk.”

Numerous companies in Cache Valley help supply the food to help feed all the Aggies. Some among the donators are Old Grist Mill, which supplies specialty bread and bagels that they don’t sell in the store. Gossners helps supply milk and cheese and the Aggie Creamery also provides milk and chocolate milk.

With all of the choices, the most popular item for Aggies is the vegetable cup.

“Our vegetable cups go really fast,” said Ashlie Bankhead, another RDN in charge of the station. “It’s easy for the athletes to grab and go. If that was in my fridge every day, I would eat it. Doing the prep work is the hard part.”

Dietetics students have a chance to volunteer and work at the station to get hands-on experience.

“We’ve given a lot of the opportunities to students,” Garrett said. “They create menu items, see what the athletes like and don’t like and we run the station … student volunteers help with all the prep and help with management duties.”

In addition to the preparation work, dietetics students along with exercise science and food science majors will have the opportunity to give presentations to student athletes and answer questions they have about what and when to eat.

The idea for the station came from an athletic trainer who contacted Sheryl Aguilar, the senior dietician at USU, to discuss nutrition. The two came up with an idea to have athletics and nutrition work together to provide athletes with what they need.

Aguilar said the idea blossomed in June with the set date to open in January.

Right now, all the Aggie athletes except for the football team are being served. Plans to include the football team for next season are in the works. Bankhead said that track and field athletes use it the most, mostly because they are the largest team.

Bankhead estimates the fueling stations serves 150 to 200 people per section.

The Aggie Fueling Station is open Monday through Thursday from 7-9 a.m. and 1-6 p.m. and on Friday from 7-9 a.m.