Fueling Fall Camp: Nutritionist Ali VandenBerghe breaks down first preseason at Alabama

Alison VandenBerghe was on a Zoom call with several other dietitians and was asked how she felt going into her first camp at Alabama. For the first time in her career, VandenBerghe admitted she wasn’t worried about the preseason, despite starting over at a new program.

“I feel really satisfied with where we’re at,” VandenBerghe told BamaOnLine.

“I’ve done this before with DeBoer. I’ve done this as a dietitian before. I’m not stressed, and it makes me really at ease just thinking about fall camp and then going into the season.”

VandenBerghe followed head coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama this offseason to serve as the Crimson Tide’s director of football performance nutrition. She filled the same role for the last two years at Washington and is now in her third stint working for DeBoer. She landed her first job as Fresno State’s director of sports nutrition in 2021, DeBoer’s second year.

Making the move to Alabama, while different, has felt familiar as she enters another season.

“It’s definitely been a big transition, having a larger staff to oversee, a larger number of athletes to oversee, as well,” VandenBerghe said. “But it hasn’t stopped what we’ve been doing from an athlete standpoint, from management from Day 1.

“The transition has been really great, and I really, really like it down here.”

VandenBerghe’s expertise is in designing personalized nutrition programs tailored to the unique goals of each athlete within the program. That has been the case at every stop.

After discovering the absence of a dietitian on the staff at Washington, VandenBerghe had an opportunity to shape the program. At Alabama, nutrition was an aspect not overlooked by former head coach Nick Saban . In 2018, a new, $15 million dining hall was added to the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility to help better serve the Crimson Tide’s football players.

It didn’t take long for VandenBerghe to notice a distinct difference in her more recent jobs.

“That is one of the biggest resources any program can have – being able to have a football-only dining hall to feed our athletes three-, four-plus times a day versus Washington, not have a dining hall and having to cater out a bunch of food,” VandenBerghe said.

“We’re able to really individualize every single player’s meal plans and really diving into how are they going to get to their performance goals from like weights, height, frame, speed and things like that. We can really individualize everything down to the types of food someone likes to eat, the amounts that they can eat, how often throughout the day they might be eating for their specific position.

“I think that’s the biggest difference, which allows me to do my job at a much faster and more pronounced way.”

VandenBerghe spoke with BOL about a number of topics regarding her role at Alabama and how she is helping the Tide maneuver through fall camp and prepare for the 2024 season.

Pillar of the program

A graduate of North Dakota State University, VandenBerghe interned at her alma mater as well as at Oregon in 2019. She worked as a sports nutrition fellow and grad assistant at Oklahoma from 2020-21 before being hired at Fresno State in DeBoer’s second season.

She’s been a part of his staff ever since.

“He’s like family. Seriously,” VandenBerghe said. “Him and his whole family are my second family. He treats his staff unlike any other. I think that’s why if it was any other program and he’d asked me to go with him, coming from Washington, I think I still would have.

“We’ve seen that continued success, and I wanted to continue that with him. We have such a great bond, great family environment. I think it’s a no-brainer why all the staff that did follow him said yes in a heartbeat. I think that goes to show his character of who he is.”

DeBoer also sees the importance nutrition plays in fielding a high-level football team.

“He’s told me to my face that nutrition is a pillar of his program,” VandenBerghe said. “In any of his pillars in his programs, he is going to emphasize and he’s going to make sure it is always something that is mentioned in a team meeting or a staff meeting.

“Making sure that I can speak up whenever I want, asking me if I want to do education with the guys, letting me handle all of the menus and all the input on that end. But I also think that it goes to show not only the staff and the players but the fan base, too, that he not only trusts me but emphasizes nutrition enough to make sure that his dietitian follows him at each of his stops.”

Nutrition is one of three key pieces to the off-field puzzle for Alabama, along with strength and conditioning and athletic training. Like VandenBerghe, David Ballou and Jeff Allen are the faces of the other program pillars, and all three must be a cohesive trinity. Just seven months into her stint in Tuscaloosa, the relationship between the trio is as strong as ever.

“The three of us work really well together,” VandenBerghe said. “There’s no egos in what we do. We’re all here to not only make our players healthy and stronger but to make them better players and men on and off the field.

“We have created a sports performance staff off the field to make sure what the guys and athletes do on the field on Saturdays is replicable of what we do as a staff. The three of us work hand in hand every single day. There’s no drop in communication. We’re always talking about weights, injury reports, mental health, behavioral health things about our athletes.

“There is no drop in care, whether that’s on the field stuff or off the field, in the classroom, things like that.”

Breakfast of champions

With classes starting in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday, Alabama’s fall camp is nearing its end. The Tide only has five more practices before the first game week of the 2024 season, but the path to this point has been difficult with 15 practices over 18 days in the scorching heat.

Proper fuel is always important but especially so this time of year with so many practices crammed into a finite amount of time. During the preseason, Alabama’s athletes are eating at least four or five times per day with breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a late-night snack and a fueling station bar that is open to them if they need something for meetings.

It isn’t the same thing every day either. A lot of planning goes into the meal preparation.

“It comes down to me and my staff of six other full-time dietitians kind of picking out what the menu is going to look like, getting feedback from our athletes and coaches,” VandenBerghe said. “Then working with our football chef on creating what those menus are going to look like and make sure that they not only have a nutritional value to them but they’re also presentable on the line.”

Vandenberghe gears her menus around the practice day itself, and it helps that she has been around DeBoer to understand what those are going to look like. When Alabama has a full-pad practice, she makes sure there are heavier carbs on the line. If it’s an especially hot practice, like the scrimmages at Bryant-Denny Stadium, she includes a refreshment of sorts – drink, popsicle, ice cream, etc. – to try to immediately cool down players’ bodies.

“It’s really making sure you understand what the schedule is going to look like, making sure that the nutritional value is going to be there and you have a different variety for every single position group and every single goal weight so everyone can meet the needs that they need to throughout the entirety of the fall camp,” VandenBerghe said.

Something she is used to but is new to Alabama’s players is morning practices. With the team hitting the field earlier than before, there is an added emphasis on having breakfast.

For some players, that is simple. For others, it’s more of a challenge eating that early. There are baby steps for that. Things like smoothies, oatmeal and grits are options. Or even having a bigger late-night snack. But the point is clear – breakfast is now a non-negotiable.

“Like everyone says, it’s the most important meal of the day,” VandenBerghe said. “You can’t physically go out and perform on an empty stomach to your best capability. Obviously, we’re going to run into some areas where guys may not be able to eat in the morning.

“So getting used to it in the summer, getting used to it now, trying new things, new amounts, different foods, getting them ready so for the season, they don’t even have to think about what they’re going to eat. They already know what works for their bodies when it comes to game day. And there are games that we play at 11 a.m. that we’re going to be eating at 7, 8 a.m.

“You have to eat breakfast. There’s no ifs, ands or buts.”

Class is in session

VandenBerghe and her team plan what Alabama’s players eat every day in the dining hall, but she also helps them prepare for when they are away from the Mal Moore Facility.

At Washington , VandenBerghe provided nutrition education for players, which included guidance on dietary choices, interactive cooking demonstrations and performance-oriented trips to the grocery store. That “absolutely” has continued in her time in Tuscaloosa as she looks to help Alabama’s draft hopefuls as well as those not destined for the league.

“I’ve taken a multitude of guys to the grocery store,” VandenBerghe said. “You catch those aha moments where they may not know a certain thing about a food product or that there were different items out there for them. It starts with the grocery store, showing them some things that they can and can’t eat or showing them, ‘Here’s what’s going to better help your performance.’

“And then it carries over into cooking demonstrations or cooking classes that we do in the dining facility that our chef puts on with myself and my staff. It’s really emphasizing easy things that they can carry over and cook at home. So now that they have the resources from doing stuff here with a professional and then going out to the grocery store with a professional, they can go home and try to replicate that same thing by themselves.”

Coaches are often asked about who is standing out during practice. But it’s not a common question posed to nutritionists. However, one star pupil came to mind for VandenBerghe.

“I have taken Justice Haynes to the grocery store more than any other player on our roster,” VandenBerghe said. “He really understands his role. He wants to be better. He wants to be the best running back on that field and in his room. So he is willing to do anything and everything possible to be that person.

“I think there’s just been a continued trust between the two of us. Him knowing that I’m gonna put the offers on the table, that they’re gonna better him, but he also knows that he can come to me for new recipes or different types of food that he can eat.

“He’s one that’s really stood out to me, just trying to do everything possible he can, to be not only the best on the field but also to be healthy to be able to be on that field and play each Saturday.”

Haynes first reached out to VandenBerghe before spring break, setting up some meal plans for himself and a few teammates before they trained on their own. His interest increased during the summer when he asked for help picking out the proper groceries to bring home.

“Ali’s been great for us, just teaching us about what we put in our body,” Haynes said. “I’m big on putting great things into my body, not just because I like it but fueling my body for performance so I can go out and be successful on the football field. That’s why I go to the grocery store with her. We look at healthy options, things that are gonna help me be a better football player. I’m all for it. Any way I can be a better football player, I’m trying to do that.”

Carrying on traditions

It was new to Alabama’s team – and the reporters who heard the music while interviewing the offensive players and coaches – but something VandenBerghe had done at previous stops was have an ice cream truck drive on the practice field. In the past, DeBoer’s teams held a turnover competition, and whichever side of the ball won by camp’s end earned a treat.

Well, in Year 1 in Tuscaloosa, and their first practicing in the South in August, the head coach and company decided that everyone on the UA roster would get to relish a cold dessert.

“DeBoer wanted something in the middle of it, and it happened to be on a really hot day,” VandenBerghe said. “Physically, we have to cool down their bodies immediately. Otherwise, we won’t be able to rehydrate, refuel, turn our bodies off in a sense and be able to get into that fast recovery mode. And so we had the ice cream truck.

“Primarily, it is a nutritional value to really cool down the body, and so that was kind of a double take in between DeBoer, (Ron) McKeefery and myself.”

That may be a new wrinkle, but there has also been some familiarity in the dining hall.

Both VandenBerghe and Alabama have kicked off previous preseasons with a crab leg feast for the players. Seeing the similarities in the past menus, the new dietitian saw no reason to break tradition in her first year with the Crimson Tide. That was what the players enjoyed on Night 1 of fall camp. But it isn’t the only tradition that has been upheld by the new staff.

Another is camp comforts, which allows players to indulge in familiar dishes. One example is oxtails from redshirt freshman Miles McVay ’s family – a fan favorite, VandenBerghe said. Having this adds new menu items while also, more importantly, bringing people together.

“No matter what recipe it is, everyone always wants to try it,” VandenBerghe said. “Our players’ faces light up when they see their name on the line or nana’s cooking or something like that.”

“I think the guys really like that. Day in and day out, it just gets monotonous. Our bodies get beat up, banged up. We want a little bit of a sense of home. So being able to bring in their families’ recipes and putting that on the menu or on the line, I think kind of goes for the show this is home, this is my family.

“Football is family. I can trust these people around me every day and I can come out and be the best version of me.”

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