FCA Offers Athletes A Comprehensive Sports Nutrition Program
W
e are proud to be the first youth baseball club in the State of Washington to offer our players a comprehensive sports nutrition education program. We initiated this program in 2015 with the help of ViTL nutrition (www.vitlnutrition.com) to build a program consistent with collegiate D1 and professional programs.
Why is nutrition part of our baseball program?
Because it works! And at FCA Baseball, our goal is to provide our players every competitive advantage possible as they learn to be great athletes and outstanding men. ViTL Nutrition has brought a unique perspective to helping our players get excited about developing nutrition skills that serve them for a lifetime both on and off the field.
Players see big results in 18u thanks to the culmination of nutrition effort they’ve put in over the years and an emphasis on off-season muscle mass and strength gains. While they refine their application of nutrition strategies at this level, they take on the responsibility of achieving strong performance outcomes under the guidance of coaches and ViTL Nutrition.
From Coach Glenn, FCA College Liaison: “Bottom line: our players are stronger, show better, other coaches at this level constantly comment, and college coaches are excited to see our players. Nutrition is our secret sauce.”
And it doesn’t stop there – many players report other benefits like better focus in the classroom, quicker injury recovery, reduced expenses with food and supplements, easier weight management, and more.
In our young players at 13u and 14u, a large focus is on motivating them to begin thinking about nutrition as a means to performance enhancement. By bringing in delicious food after practice and connecting it through fun back-and-forth discussion to clear performance outcomes that players care about – strength, exit velocity, playing high school baseball, etc. – coaches and parents see young players begin to make self-motivated changes and lay foundations for performance and life-altering habits.
From Coach Moisant, 2020-2022 FCA Club Director: “When my son and I were new to the program, I was skeptical about whether the young players would apply this knowledge and see real results, but it soon became clear – we began showing up to the field bigger than everybody else, we hit the ball harder, and we performed better late in games.”
15u and 16u players go through cooking workshops to enhance self-efficacy to power them through high school and prepare them for college and adult-life. This high-energy environment revolves around competitions to reinforce and build on athletes’ sports nutrition knowledge, topic-relevant snack sampling and food exposure, cooking skill development, and food players can prepare at home to fuel performance.
Who is Vitl Nutrition?
They are our sports nutritionists! Scott Littlefield, MS, CN, CISSN and Susan Littlefield MS, CN are co-founders of ViTL Nutrition and work to transform the science of nutrition into foods and strategies for athletes from youth organizations all the way up to college, the pros, and Team USA. Their backgrounds are in biochemistry and cell biology and their Masters are in Nutrition & Dietetics. They have published research, appeared in international nutrition documentaries, and even hold patents for a new, revolutionary sports nutrition app that our players get access to.
Outside of working with organizations and one-on-one with athletes, Susan is a Washington State Powerlifting Champion (and was 12th in the nation last time she competed) and Scott is a Golf Pro Long Drive competitor (with 2 regional wins and a 2021 Top-32 finish at World Championships). We’re excited that they bring a ton of energy, positivity, and a unique perspective to our program.