In the ultra-competitive world of Division I sports, schools from across the country are constantly searching for any kind of edge they can get.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban sent over 100 letters a day to running back Alvin Kamara, and Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin draws recruits with his Aggies “swagcopter” – just to name a few.
UCLA is no exception. From building a state-of-the-art football facility to signing a record-setting apparel deal, UCLA is making big moves in an effort to hold onto its place as the university with the most national championships.
One smaller move, however, was the hiring of Beth Miller in July 2015.
Miller, UCLA’s Director of Sports Nutrition, faces the responsibility of fueling approximately 550 athletes across all of UCLA’s Olympic sports with the exception of football.
Athletes come to Miller’s fueling station in the Acosta Athletic Training Complex before and after practice, but her work doesn’t end there. Miller’s thorough approach to nutrition that optimizes sports performance as well as health is what gives UCLA an extra advantage.
Miller got her undergraduate degree at Tennessee Tech University, a Division I school where she played softball her freshman year before moving to track and cross country. She earned a master’s degree in exercise physiology at Florida State University and worked in its athletics department in sports nutrition before UCLA snapped her up.
Miller’s office is directly adjacent to her fueling station – a juiced-up snack bar loaded with hydration drinks, protein supplements and real food like fruits and oatmeal.
“We get way more stuff than we used to,” said rising junior volleyball player Christian Hessenauer. “Especially for the volleyball team, we’re always struggling to gain weight, and getting that stuff from the fueling station really helps.”
In order to make sure that the nutrition is having the proper impact, Miller utilizes an egg-shaped BOD POD to conduct body composition tests that track the athletes’ body fat and muscle mass.
“It’s helpful every time we do it,” Miller said. “There’s not one specific number that every athlete needs to be at, but there definitely are ranges that we know are healthy. That’s very sport-dependent, too.”
The fueling station, body composition testing and Miller’s counseling all worked in perfect synergy for women’s soccer player Gabbi Miranda.
“Meeting with Beth and having her tell me, ‘You need to eat before you lift weights,’ changed my whole body,” the rising senior said. “I actually gained five pounds of muscle, which is kind of unheard of, but that happened this past year.”
Miller’s guidance extends far beyond before and after practices, though. A mobile app, grocery store, dining hall tours and competitive cooking classes ensure that student-athletes are consistently eating nutritious meals.
The “Fueling Bruins” app features guidelines for how to eat healthily when visiting more than 20 restaurants in Westwood Village, as well as an extensive list of healthy recipes for dining in.
In order to equip the athletes with the ingredients for these recipes, Miller physically walks students around local grocery stores and farmer’s markets.
“I’m teaching them good tips – how to get the most nutrition on a college budget,” Miller said. “As we’re going, I’m also teaching about the specific foods and their benefits. I teach health benefits as well as sport performance benefits of all those foods.”
As for the students living on the Hill, Miller conducts tours of the dining halls to show students how to put good meals together for themselves without access to a kitchen.
“Right now I don’t have any control of what’s served up there, but what I do have control of is how they’re educated,” Miller said.
There are future plans for an athlete-specific dining hall, Miller said. She will have complete oversight of that menu.
The competitive side of Miller’s athletes is on display when it comes to teaching them how to cook. Her cooking classes feature a recipe of the night, judges, winners and losers.
The classes are a great way to simultaneously facilitate team bonding and teach the athletes life skills, Miller said. One athlete, however, says he’s always a little bitter about the classes.
“I’ve gone to two, and I always get last place,” Hessenauer said. “I’m not a bad cook. I’m a great cook. I just don’t like how the directions work. Other than that, I think it’s a super cool idea.”
Email Gottlieb at dgottlieb@dailybruin.com or tweet @BroadcasterDave.