The heat will be on in West Chester University’s (WCU) high-tech Food Lab when six teams of WCU athletes are served a mystery box of ingredients and the challenge to flex their culinary skills as they make a delicious meal in just 30 minutes. A total of 24 student-athletes will compete, and the rule for the competition is that all creations must be nutritious.

A special panel of VIP judges will determine the winning dish based on creativity, taste, and presentation. Coordinated by the Student-Athlete Success (SAS) program and the Sports Nutrition Education and Fueling Program, the 1^st “Chopped: Get Your Cooking On” competition will be held on Mar. 4 at 6:00 PM. in the Sciences & Engineering Center and The Commons, Food Lab (Room #201), located at 155 University Avenue. The event, based on the Food Networks’ popular reality-based television series featuring dueling chefs, is open to the public free of charge.

In addition to whipping up a winning meal, “Chopped: Get Your Cooking On” is designed to teach the University’s student-athletes that a healthy, balanced diet is essential to high performance — on the field and in the classroom.

“Every semester, those in my Student-Athlete Sports Nutrition Education and Fueling Program do a few cooking demonstrations for our University’s athletes, and we decided to kick it up a level this year with a “Chopped-like” competition,” said Chair of the Nutrition Department and Professor of Nutrition, Christine Karpinski.

It’s easy to see why the program is so popular among WCU student-athletes. It incorporates everything that they need to be successful, even “fueling stations.” Each semester, “fueling stations” are staffed by sports nutrition majors who distribute healthy snacks to more than 400 student-athletes at practices, games, and/or in locker rooms. The fueling stations provide healthy snacks at key times during the day.

A typical fueling station may include fruit, vegetables, trail mix, whole-grain snack chips, pretzels, popcorn, cheese sticks, yogurt, and chocolate milk. Graduate assistants manage the fueling stations and provide experiential opportunities for undergraduate students and dietetic interns to work with the student-athletes.

While it would cost nearly $75,000 to establish a more centralized fueling station for all in-season student-athletes, the Student-Athlete Sports Nutrition Education and Fueling Program depends on generous donations to provide the healthy snacks that the University’s student-athletes depend upon. The much-needed program thanks its longstanding partners: Aramark, Enterprise Holdings, First Bank, and the WCU Alumni Association.

From team talks about nutrition to grocery store tours to Bod Pod testing/interpretation to one-on-one nutrition coaching and everything in between, the University’s Sports Nutrition Program provides a food-first, evidence-based approach to guide WCU’s student-athletes in making daily healthy decisions.

“The University’s Sports Nutrition Program works actively and creatively with WCU student-athletes throughout the year to help them make healthy food choices that will ultimately fuel them properly for their sport and their lives,” said Karpinski.

Learn about West Chester University (WCU), the largest member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, and its comprehensive public institution offering a diverse range of more than 180 academic opportunities in 40 fields of study across undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels.