Setting An Example

The University of Maryland hosted an unforgettable evening of sharing nutrition advice through singing, dancing, conducting a game show and presenting a live cooking demo on Feb. 24 at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center. 

The most recent edition of Maryland Masterclass was hosted alongside Joy Bauer '86 and special guests Maryland Football Head Coach Michael Locksley and School of Public Health Dean Boris Lushniak. Attendees enjoyed learning more about the importance of health and wellness while taste-testing the sweet savor of chocolatey turtle dates and key lime dates.

Bauer, a nutritionist best known for her work on NBC’s Today show, is a member of the UMD Alumni Hall of Fame. The renowned health and nutrition expert is also a The New York Times bestselling author of 14 books. 

In addition to countless other career experiences and accolades, Bauer maintains a close connection to her alma mater. 

“This is my happy place,” she said. “Fortunately, we have a lot of reasons for visiting from time to time. I just get the chills from head to toe, and not just because I went to school here, but my older daughter went here as well. I remember moving her into her dorm and graduating.”

She and Locksley spoke about their passions for health and wellness. A recent experience changed everything for Locksley and made him more keen on his health choices. 

Locksley played defensive back at Towson from 1988-91 before entering a career in coaching. As a young athlete, he ate everything and anything he wanted without the consequence of gaining weight. However, as he grew older, he began gaining weight. The added weight, paired with the physical toll his body took as a former athlete, caused him to have two knee replacements over the last two and a half years.  

His doctors emphasized the importance of losing weight and putting less weight on his knees. He says he’s lost roughly 110 pounds in the last year. He compared his weight loss journey to lifting weights. Both require consistency and making correct decisions.     

“Wellness is showing and setting a good example for our players,” Locksley said. “They've been pretty proud of seeing Coach Locks back, and I actually like the look again. I feel like my old self.”

Locksley used his example of embodying health and wellness to introduce what he believes is the forgotten part: mental and emotional health. He explained that many of the people he recruits to join his program are first-generation college students who use football to open doors.   

The coach says that to help his student-athletes accomplish that, he and his staff must go beyond helping them physically. 

“What I've learned in coaching, if you want to win, you have to win hearts,” Locksey said. “To reach hearts, you have to reach them mentally.”

One way Locksley wins hearts and mentally engages players is to have them share their “three H’s” in front of the team. The H’s involve players sharing who their hero is, what hardships they’ve experienced and the happiest moments of their lives. 

The activity makes players vulnerable to their teammates while also exposing coaches to the student-athletes' lives. Coaches can then provide each player with the necessary support. Three full-time nutritionists and six mental health counselors can take care of every player. 

“We recruit these guys for football, but to get them to play at the highest level, we have to surround them with the right mental health stuff, as well as with the nutrition [and] the wellness that comes along with being a student-athlete. It's more than just playing football. The game is so much more mental and I know that we've put a lot of time into what they eat, when they eat, how they eat, as well as when we train them. There's science behind it.”

Locksley also explained the benefits of integrating the campus health center into his football program. He used Dr. Yvette Rooks, who works part-time at the health center and in Maryland’s Jones-Hill House, as an example. 

“The more we can integrate into campus as athletes, as coaches, that helps us because we can learn so much from the normal student who deals with some of the same things that our guys do,” Locksley explained.

Locksley even explained that his team experiments with unique nutrition initiatives. The team hosts culture-specific nights where specific cuisines inspire the food. For instance, when Taulia Tagovailoa joined the team a few years ago, he introduced the team to Hawaiian foods. With several African players on the team, they also hosted nights where African cuisines were present. 

Using nutrition in this way has brought diversity to the football team. 

“The cool thing is that kids, this younger generation, they are foodies,” Bauer said. “They're massive foodies. So I love the idea, even in the cafeterias, different theme nights, so that they get to experience all the different cuisines.” 

The event began as a discussion and transitioned into a game show. The audience learned about health, nutrition and wellness-related trivia during the game show. Locksley then participated in a live cooking demo with Bauer, and the audience sampled the tasty treats they made.