Nutrition: A National Championship Volleyball Factor

Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on Nebraska Athletics' Nutrition program.

Riley: Nutrition Vital for Husker Recruits

Nebraska’s Sports Nutrition Overview

Video: Nutrition Vital for Performance

Enhancing Student-Athlete Experience

Randy York N-Sider

Official Blog of the Huskers

Eating can be the most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. Ask Nebraska Head Volleyball Coach John Cook or Amber Rolfzen, the Huskers’ All-America middle blocker, who last year trumped her fast food addiction and chocolate cravings in favor of a superlative diet that fueled her body and transformed her mind.

Rolfzen’s dramatic adjustments directly influenced Nebraska winning the 2015 NCAA National Championship in Omaha last month – the Huskers’ fourth national volleyball championship and their third NCAA title under Cook’s guidance. Defeating a talented Texas team in the final match depended on a multitude of game-changing factors, one of which was Cook’s staunch belief in Nebraska’s keen knowledge for athletics-related nutrition.

A gifted student-athlete, Rolfzen bought into turbo-charged changes and credits major aspects of her extreme makeover to the diet that she embraced and then maintained. Thanks to new NCAA rules, the Training Table is now her home for breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. Rolfzen benefits from individualized meal plans, body composition testing and competition fueling.

True Confession: In First Two Years, Amber Never Bought into Nutrition

Tommy Jensen, an assistant director of Sports Nutrition for Nebraska Athletics, has taught Rolfzen about changing lifetime habits and motivated her to become a leaner, stronger, more energized competitor. “Since I started playing sports, I’ve heard lots of talks about the importance of nutrition and how it affects both you as a person and the athlete that you are,” Rolfzen said. “To be honest, I was never really sold on it, and I’ll be the first to admit that I ate absolutely horribly until getting to college.”

Rolfzen said a popular national fast food chain, a well-known brand of soda pop and heavily marketed chocolate treats “were always my go-to for everything,” she said. “I would often  go straight from a volleyball match in high school to the fast-food drive-thru. My first two years here at Nebraska were kind of the same. I ate well when I got to the Training Table but the minute I stepped out of the Stadium, I was back to my old habits. I even brought bags of chocolates for every road trip.” 

It wasn't until this past season that Amber Rolfzen started buying in to what her dietitian was teaching. “Tommy wasn't sitting there telling me what I could and couldn't eat. I wasn't forced to do anything I didn't want to do,” she said. “I just finally realized that not only did he care about what we put into our bodies, but also cared for us as individuals."

Mike Steele, executive chef for Nebraska Athletics, grills dozens of hamburgers for Husker student-athletes.

In Just 11 Months, Amber Rolfzen Made Huge Strides in Nutrition and Health

At the beginning of every season, Nebraska volleyball student-athletes set goals with Jensen, who measures their achievement. His sense of caring “influenced me and sold me on the importance of eating right,” Rolfzen said. “I’m nowhere near being perfect at this healthy eating thing, but in the short amount of time that I’ve worked on it, I’ve made huge strides.”

Even though she switched positions last spring, this past season was by far Rolfzen’s personal best. She started slow, sustaining an injury three weeks into the season. Since she couldn’t practice or play for two weeks, Rolfzen was at a frustrated crossroads. “There was nothing I could do to improve my skills on the court at that time, so I took that time to really focus on what I could control,” she said. “I rehabbed and I focused on nutrition.”

She went cold turkey on all three of her chocolate addictions and substituted trail mix and cliff bars into her diet. “From that point on, I turned the corner,” Rolfzen said. “I felt more energized when I went to serve and to pass, whether it was morning practice or actual game day.”

She Knew the Culprit Because Eating Was Her Only Change in Routine

Eating habits and fueling properly changed the junior starter from feeling sluggish to feeling energized. It was an epiphany. “I knew it had to do with what I was eating because that's the only thing I’d changed in my routine,” Rolfzen said. “I knew if I went back to chocolate or caffeine before a practice, I would be back to being tired and lazy very quickly.

“I've learned the importance of fueling before a game and the importance of post-workout recovery, which is just as important,” Rolfzen said. “I don't think I can honestly tell you that I would have had the year I did if I hadn't changed what I did with my nutrition.” 

The inherent proof within that statement created another positive thought without requiring a question. “If I didn't have a dietitian there to positively influence that change in me,” Rolfzen theorized, “it would not have happened.”

John Cook Not Surprised that Amber Embraced Every Aspect of Nutrition

Cook recruited Amber, a second-team All-American, and her first-team All-America twin sister Kadie Rolfzen when they were both eighth-graders in Papillion-LaVista, Neb. The Huskers’ head coach wasn’t surprised to see Amber embrace every aspect of Nutrition after understanding how constant rigor increases the odds of creating competitive value.

“Our Nutrition program is one of the greatest strengths and biggest differentiators we have at Nebraska,” Cook said. “Several years ago, we identified Nutrition as one of our greatest challenges for our student-athletes. Daily nutrition and fueling our player’s bodies for pre- and post-workouts is a very important part of our program, and it gives Nebraska Volleyball an edge.”

Jensen is very active with information, one-on-one meetings, food prep classes, reading labels, and grocery shopping trips. “We’ve done studies and found that our student-athletes lack some vitamins and have mineral deficiencies,” Cook said. “We’ve built our nutrition program to give us an edge in addressing those deficiencies. Besides Tommy's work with us, our Training Table staff does a wonderful job of providing healthy options three times a day for our student-athletes.”

Added Support Enables Huskers' Foundation in Nutrition to Improve, Prosper

Credit Steve Waterfield and Lindsey Remmers for helping Nebraska strengthen an area of expertise that’s not only a difference-maker in performance, but a key factor in recruiting. “We have a solid foundation in Nutrition, and that’s becoming increasingly important to continue enhancing the overall student-athlete experience,” said Waterfield, Nebraska’s executive associate athletic director for performance and strategic research.

Waterfield credits Nebraska Director of Athletics Shawn Eichorst for having the vision to sharpen Nebraska’s focus on Nutrition and for laying the groundwork to hire two assistant directors of Sports Nutrition – Jensen, who was hired 18 months ago to support seven other sports besides volleyball and Lynn Zang, who was hired six months ago to support eight more sports.

A former collegiate volleyball player herself, Remmers is Nebraska Athletics’ Director of Sports Nutrition. A registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in sports dietetics, Remmers has been a full-time Nebraska Athletics staff member since 2008, helping nearly 600 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports integrate healthy choices and optimal fueling into their daily training routines.

Amber Rolfzen Bought into Coach Cook and His 'Dare to Be Great' Philosophy

Jensen remembers meeting last February with Cook, who told him that Amber was a relationship-driven person. “I had a feeling we’d get along well because I’m the same way,” he said. “That’s the foundation of why we work so well together. When I met with each student-athlete, Amber was very honest with me from the beginning, letting me know that she didn’t have the best diet and had a sweet tooth. The more we talked, the more you could tell she was a very motivated individual who wanted to make a name for herself in 2015 on the court.

“Amber had the desire to be great and bought into Coach Cook’s ‘dare to be great’ philosophy,” Jensen said. “When we worked together last spring, I wasn’t looking to make drastic changes to her diet right away. I was thinking about making rather small changes that were realistic and obtainable. Amber would drink her favorite soda once a day at that time. We made a deal to cut that down to five a week, but she did better. In her first two weeks, she went from seven a week to only one a week. She also started switching out her candy on road trips for healthier options and immediately could feel the benefits of more sustained energy throughout the day.”

Once that experience was successful, it was easy for Amber to buy in continuously. “She did all the heavy lifting,” Jensen said. “No matter what I’d say, at the end of the day, she had to be the one to make big changes and that’s exactly what she did. Cutting down on her sugar intake helped her have far greater energy levels throughout the day, which led to better practices, better serve skills, better pass skills and better recovery.”

Jensen: Nutrition Gave Amber Added Confidence Boost in NCAA Tournament

By eating better, Amber got the most from her strength training with Brian Kmitta in the weight room, which helped her keep her optimal weight as the season progressed. “That was something we all focused on,” Jensen said. “Amber really wanted to finish the season out strong, so we worked together to make sure she was getting enough fuel to do exactly what she wanted.”

Jensen is convinced that Nutrition gave Amber the added boost of confidence in the NCAA Tournament “because of the work she put into being strong and healthy,” he said. “She won’t admit it, but going into the last half of the season and the NCAA Tournament, she wanted that All-American honor bad. You could tell she wasn’t going to settle for anything less, so she continued to make sure she was eating well. I couldn’t be prouder of Amber and the work she put into this past season."

Ask anyone who has tried or made dietary changes, and they’ll tell you it’s not easy. “I’m just happy I was able to provide Amber with the support to make those changes, but she held up her end of the deal and showed just how talented she is on the court," Jensen said. "Seeing the culmination of her hard work pay off was rewarding. She was announced as an All-American after winning the National Championship and was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team. That was pretty special, too. I could not be happier for Amber or prouder of everything that she’s done. There's a reason she went  from good to great in a year’s time.”

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