By Hogan LePore
On Monday, November 12, George Mason University's athletic department hosted the Taylor Hooton Foundation sponsored by Nordic Naturals to discuss awareness involving dietary supplements and other performance-based substances to Mason student-athletes.
The Taylor Hooton Foundation has been to Mason a previous time, however the foundation spends a lot of their time partnering with Major League Baseball in order to help players make sure their dietary intake is as clean as possible. The group has also presented to the U.S. Olympic Committee athletes and board of directors, along with working with a number of NFL locations.
The presenter, Brian Parker, relayed that the meaning of this presentation is to simply inform students of supplements and other substances that can impact not only their collegiate playing career, but also their entire life moving forward.
"This is a combined effort to get info to them to make healthy choices, that's the end goal," Parker said. "We travel the country, we educate people and student-athletes about dangers and realities of the whole substance world. …Our vision is not to push students away from supplements or be anti-supplement, we want the student-athletes to be aware of the issues involving supplements and how to safely navigate the world of substances. We want to give them information. We can't dictate what they do, but we can inform them to help make the right decision."
Deanna Busteed, the Sports Dietitian at Mason, talked about how Mason Athletics is committed to improving the student-athlete's well-being and how this event is very beneficial to the them and how it can help answer any questions that otherwise go unanswered.
"I am here as a resource for athletes, however I am only one person and may not be able to hear every student athlete," Busteed said. "With this presentation, we reach every athlete in one sitting to help them identity certain dangers of certain supplements."
Parker went through the night talking with Mason student-athletes about supplements and substances, along with reminiscing on personal stories that involved certain substances in order to give student-athletes real life examples and how they can combat situations that can arise and involve certain harmful substances.
Mason student-athletes had many takeaways from the presentation, including the fact that Parker discussed a lot of things many student-athletes do not think about when buying a product. Junior, Sydnee Wells, a member of the softball team, talked about how a common mistake in sports is not looking thoroughly enough at certain products when shopping for performance-based supplements.
"After listening to the presentation, it makes you think before you consume a product because you don't know how your body will react to it," Wells said.
Senior, Kyle Barnes, also shared his takeaways from the presentation and how some products are similar to others.
"We learned a lot about pre-workouts and how a lot of them are similar to energy drinks," the senior men's volleyball player said. "How some pre-workout supplements are not good for your body. …It was very informative and valuable for all student-athletes."
