Virginia Tech student-athletes know all about working on a team, doing so on a daily basis in their respective sports during the academic year.

But a small group of student-athletes have decided to dedicate some time to help another team.

Several Tech student-athletes recently participated in the “Eat Smart, Move More” campaign designed by the Virginia Cooperative Extension Family Nutrition Program. According to The Virginia Cooperative Extension’s website, the Family Nutrition Program is designed “to teach limited-resource families and youth how to make healthier food choices and become better managers of available food resources for optimal health and growth.”

The “Eat Smart, Move More” campaign takes the Virginia Cooperative Extension’s (VCE) mission even further by teaching ways to choose and prepare nutritious meals and teaching ways to be more physically active. The Virginia Cooperative Extension approached the Tech athletics department about a partnership in which Tech student-athletes would reinforce the message of eating smarter and exercising more.

Tech’s student-athletes were more than willing participants.

“I decided to volunteer because I really enjoy working with kids in my sport,” said Ashley Manning, a women’s soccer player who graduated this past spring. “I thought the ‘Eat Smart, Move More’ campaign was sending a great message to youth members, and that’s a message that is important to me.”

Manning was one of six Tech student-athletes across five sports to participate in the initiative. The others include Adam Smith (men’s basketball), Jared Allison (men’s track and field), Katie Bean (women’s swimming and diving), John Trope (men’s swimming and diving) and Morgan Latimer (men’s swimming and diving).

It makes sense for Tech student-athletes to be a part of something like this. For starters, perhaps no group of people is more influential on youth than athletes, and many young children in Virginia look up to Virginia Tech’s student-athletes.

“I remember when I was younger, I would look up to not just the college athletes, but when I was in middle school, I’d look up to the high school athletes,” Smith said. “You always look up to those older than you. That’s the good thing about playing a sport, especially here at Virginia Tech. You’re on a stage. You’re in the limelight. You’re going to have people look up to you. So when you present something positive like that [the Eat Smart, Move More campaign], you’re going to get feedback.”

It also makes sense for Tech student-athletes to be involved from a more practical perspective. Who knows better about the impact of nutrition and exercise than a Division I athlete?

At Tech, the athletics department has invested heavily in nutrition over the past five years. Jennie Zabinsky, Tech’s director of nutrition, has implemented various nutrition plans to aid in performance and held educational sessions among the student-athletes on the importance of nutrition. Her bulletin boards throughout the department encourage athletes to fuel their bodies for optimum performance and suggest ways to help their bodies recover following those performances.

Those same messages apply to people in every-day life.

“I received a lot of my energy that fueled me through soccer by eating nutritious foods,” Manning said. “As a student-athlete, I was able to stay active with my soccer. But also, I was able to stay active in the classroom with my busy schedule. I didn’t feel tired or sluggish because I was eating right and staying hydrated. So there were multiple benefits to eating the right way.”

Tech’s student-athletes will be on VCE posters with young children, and those will be distributed throughout the state of Virginia. They also will appear on billboards throughout the state with young children.

Of course, the target audience isn’t just young children. The VCE wants adults to participate and hopefully set the example for their children.

“Diet is really important,” Smith said. “It catches up with you one way or another. The way I look at it is, you’re always going to eat. Eating is instinct. It’s second nature, as opposed to working out where you have to set aside time to walk or run on the treadmill or lift weights. You’re going to always eat, so when you do eat, why not go healthy?”

To learn more about the “Eat Smart, Move More” campaign, please check out this website - http://www.fcs.ext.vt.edu/fnh/fnp/index.html.

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