Newly-Added Sports Nutritionist Playing Key Role In Cougars' Performance
10/3/2017 4:00:00 PM | General
Photo Credit: Marquise Pointer / CofC Athletics Communications
CHARLESTON, S.C. – In an effort to continue to enhance support services for the 358 student-athletes at the College of Charleston, the athletics department hired a certified specialist in sports dietetics in July 2017 to help educate student-athletes and coaches fuel and enhance performance.
In just three short months, Charlotte Caperton-Kilburn, the program's new Director of Sports Nutrition, has made an immediate impact to each of the College's 19 varsity sports and its student-athletes, especially those currently in season this fall.
College of Charleston is now one of 30+ NCAA Division I schools – one of two in the Colonial Athletic Association next to Delaware – that employs a full-time sports nutrition specialist on staff for its student-athletes.
"Sports nutrition is such an important part of enhancing our student-athletes' health and well-being," Director of Athletics Matt Roberts said. "We felt it was an important area for our student-athletes that we were missing over the years. It is crucial in college athletics today as far as performance on-and-off the court and field."
The Value of Nutrition
Director of Sports Performance Marc Proto and Director of Sports Medicine Chris Horschel work hand-in-hand with Caperton-Kilburn. More and more, colleges and universities at the Power 5 and mid-major levels are valuing the importance that nutrition plays in student-athlete performance, their well-being and injury prevention.
"It is a huge piece," said Proto, who has served in his strength & conditioning role at College of Charleston the last five years. "I would say it is just as important as sports performance."
Student-athletes may come into the weight room to workout for an hour, but Proto says the most important part is, "what are they doing for the remaining 23 hours of the day to get the recovery process going? How do they start to rebuild and start to prepare themselves for the next workout or next practice?"
"What Charlotte brings to the table – and the education she provides for our student-athletes – has a major impact on how they perform on the court and field," he said. "It also aids in how well they do in our sports performance area, how they recover and seeing their numbers go up."
Day In The Life of A Sports Nutritionist
Since joining the Cougars in July, Caperton-Kilburn has held several individual sessions with student-athletes and presented at team meetings. Her calendar fills up very quickly with a priority to current in-season teams. In a typical week, she may see up to 18 student-athletes individually in addition to those stopping by the weight room to seek her advice.
"Every student-athlete on campus before the end of the year will have an individual consult," she said. "Right now, we are trying to work through everyone currently in sport, so we can be sure that they are fueling for their performance and not under fueling, so we have less injuries and less illnesses. Every day is different."
With the city of Charleston known for its culinary scene and so many food choices for student-athletes to choose from on King Street, she also educates them on best choices.
"We work with young people and there are some things they are still going to eat," she said. "Versus saying, 'don't have wings,' I ask, 'if you have wings, what are you going to have with those wings and how many wings are you going to have?' I am here to help them understand what works with their performance which is an important piece of this, too."
New Product & New Goals
The Cougars are benefiting with new product at the sports performance refueling station. Different flavor varieties of Core Power are available to each student-athlete post-workout as well as traditional chocolate milk.
Proto also raves about some of the creative ideas Caperton-Kilburn has come up with for post-workout nutrition including her signature, "Cougar Juice" for hydration and her famous peanut butter balls.
Caperton-Kilburn has also given cooking classes as part of the Student-Athlete Academic Services' Pathways 2 Success program – showing and demonstrating how to prepare meals and snacks. Additionally, how to grocery shop for the best choices and to take advantage of weekly sales.
"My goal this year is to have our student-athletes eat three meals a day with snacks as needed for recovery and to drink appropriate fluids for their sport," she said. "We live in Charleston and it's hot. Another thing I am also really excited about is helping our student-athletes learn how to shop for groceries and to cook food wherever they are."
Caperton-Kilburn goes through the sales flyers in the local newspaper every Wednesday and picks out groceries that student-athletes can purchase weekly by viewing on OAKS (the College of Charleston's e-learning portal) or text.
For example, shrimp may be on sale at one of the local grocery stores with a buy one get two bags for free offer. That's three bags of shrimp that they can purchase for the price of one. Not only can it help them with their grocery shopping, but also save them some money, she said.
"It's been a big hit with our student-athletes," Caperton-Kilburn said. "It helps them see that I do have their best interest in mind. It's about their performance and that's what we are looking for."
An Immediate Impact
"Charlotte has had a major impact already," Proto said. "She came in and immediately started to meet with student-athletes to determine what their performance and body composition goals were. Many of them have walked away with individualized plans on how to get to the goals they want to accomplish."
Only three months in, Caperton-Kilburn's impact can also be measured by glowing testimonials from head coaches and student-athletes.
"First off, it's evident that Charlotte is passionate about helping student-athletes, both in their sport and in their everyday lives," CofC Softball Head Coach Linda Kalafatis said. "In her short time here, we have had quite a few players meet with her to develop better choices with the hopes that they will perform better and just feel better overall. Nutrition is such an important area in performance and recovery. Her addition to our athletics department now gives our student-athletes an additional resource that will mean healthier people and more success on the field."
On the student-athlete side, not only have the fall sports benefited, but also the out-of-season sports such as baseball and men's and women's basketball this summer.
"Last year, we relied on our own knowledge of how we should eat to accomplish our athletic fitness goals which was pretty tough – considering none of us athletes knew what we should be fueling our bodies with or how to go about it," said Riley Knudsen, a senior infielder on the baseball team. "So far this year, Charlotte has made her mark on bettering our athletics program at The College.
"In my opinion, the protein shakes after workouts benefit us greatly, because we need the protein to repair our muscles right after a good workout. Last year, we had to wait longer to get a source of protein and we had to do it on our own which was tough. Charlotte also knows how to educate an athlete on what he or she should be consuming on a day-to-day basis to reach personal goals for performance. Her knowledge will benefit our athletic performance in a positive way."
Sports Nutrition Beginnings
To look at the beginnings of sports nutrition, Caperton-Kilburn gives credit to the first full-time sports nutritionists on the college level – Rob Skinner, who was at Georgia Tech and is now with the USOC, and Dave Ellis, who was at Nebraska and is now with Sports Alliance.
Eighteen years ago, she began her career in sports nutrition with an internship specialty rotation at the University of Tennessee, while she made her rotations through her alma mater, the University of Memphis. At that time in 1999, UT had an eight-hour-a-week registered dietitian employed for sports nutrition working mainly with the Lady Vols women's basketball team and the football team.
In fact, she was one of the first 150 people in the country to be a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD). Caperton-Kilburn is also a certified eating disorder registered dietitian (CEDRD) and has been in private practice in Charleston the last 12 years before joining CofC.
Most interestingly, the importance placed on sports nutrition has only evolved within the last 10 years at both the college and pro level including in the National Football League. Caperton-Kilburn said most sports dietitians were consultants on a team-by-team basis, but as time has gone by, you are seeing more-and-more organizations and colleges buy-in to the concept of a full-time specialist.
"As you add nutrition to the picture, you have (college and professional) athletes who perform better, have less injury and are able to recover from injuries faster by the manipulation of nutrition for them."
Life After The College
Upon their graduation from The College, each student-athlete has an exit interview with their sports administrator. Former two-time all-conference first-team softball student-athlete Hope Klicker, who was a standout pitcher for the Cougars from 2012-15, enlisted Caperton-Kilburn's expertise to better perform in the circle during her career.
While she and her family hired Caperton-Kilburn as an outside consultant for nutrition, Klicker is excited about the direction the athletics department is headed and the opportunities student-athletes will have with the dietitian element as part of their success.
"It made me feel like my personal opinion was listened to and valued by the administration," said Klicker on her exit interview and championing the need for a full-time nutritionist on staff for student-athletes.
"From the moment we met, I knew Charlotte had my best interest in mind," Klicker said. "She is attentive and listens well to your needs. She has the ability to relate, because she has a heavy sports background. She is a great addition for the athletics department. Her one-on-one attention will hopefully help student-athletes during their career at The College as well as into the future."
The Future
Next fall, Proto and Caperton-Kilburn hope to add smoothies to the refueling station, which will be tailored to the student-athlete and what their specific nutrition needs are.
For now, the added benefits of a full-time sports nutritionist have been paying dividends and coaches and student-athletes are seeing the results.
"That's the fun part of my job – to see the results," she said. "It is exciting to have student-athletes walk down to the weight room and say, 'I want to talk to you about such-and-such, because this is what I am doing. How can I change it?' Nutrition can give them that extra edge and it is an important piece. You can have genetics and you can have all of the ability, but to take that to the next level, you have to fuel it."
CHARLESTON, S.C. – In an effort to continue to enhance support services for the 358 student-athletes at the College of Charleston, the athletics department hired a certified specialist in sports dietetics in July 2017 to help educate student-athletes and coaches fuel and enhance performance.
In just three short months, Charlotte Caperton-Kilburn, the program's new Director of Sports Nutrition, has made an immediate impact to each of the College's 19 varsity sports and its student-athletes, especially those currently in season this fall.
College of Charleston is now one of 30+ NCAA Division I schools – one of two in the Colonial Athletic Association next to Delaware – that employs a full-time sports nutrition specialist on staff for its student-athletes.
"Sports nutrition is such an important part of enhancing our student-athletes' health and well-being," Director of Athletics Matt Roberts said. "We felt it was an important area for our student-athletes that we were missing over the years. It is crucial in college athletics today as far as performance on-and-off the court and field."
The Value of Nutrition
Director of Sports Performance Marc Proto and Director of Sports Medicine Chris Horschel work hand-in-hand with Caperton-Kilburn. More and more, colleges and universities at the Power 5 and mid-major levels are valuing the importance that nutrition plays in student-athlete performance, their well-being and injury prevention.
"It is a huge piece," said Proto, who has served in his strength & conditioning role at College of Charleston the last five years. "I would say it is just as important as sports performance."
Student-athletes may come into the weight room to workout for an hour, but Proto says the most important part is, "what are they doing for the remaining 23 hours of the day to get the recovery process going? How do they start to rebuild and start to prepare themselves for the next workout or next practice?"
"What Charlotte brings to the table – and the education she provides for our student-athletes – has a major impact on how they perform on the court and field," he said. "It also aids in how well they do in our sports performance area, how they recover and seeing their numbers go up."
Day In The Life of A Sports Nutritionist
Since joining the Cougars in July, Caperton-Kilburn has held several individual sessions with student-athletes and presented at team meetings. Her calendar fills up very quickly with a priority to current in-season teams. In a typical week, she may see up to 18 student-athletes individually in addition to those stopping by the weight room to seek her advice.
"Every student-athlete on campus before the end of the year will have an individual consult," she said. "Right now, we are trying to work through everyone currently in sport, so we can be sure that they are fueling for their performance and not under fueling, so we have less injuries and less illnesses. Every day is different."
With the city of Charleston known for its culinary scene and so many food choices for student-athletes to choose from on King Street, she also educates them on best choices.
"We work with young people and there are some things they are still going to eat," she said. "Versus saying, 'don't have wings,' I ask, 'if you have wings, what are you going to have with those wings and how many wings are you going to have?' I am here to help them understand what works with their performance which is an important piece of this, too."
New Product & New Goals
The Cougars are benefiting with new product at the sports performance refueling station. Different flavor varieties of Core Power are available to each student-athlete post-workout as well as traditional chocolate milk.
Proto also raves about some of the creative ideas Caperton-Kilburn has come up with for post-workout nutrition including her signature, "Cougar Juice" for hydration and her famous peanut butter balls.
Caperton-Kilburn has also given cooking classes as part of the Student-Athlete Academic Services' Pathways 2 Success program – showing and demonstrating how to prepare meals and snacks. Additionally, how to grocery shop for the best choices and to take advantage of weekly sales.
"My goal this year is to have our student-athletes eat three meals a day with snacks as needed for recovery and to drink appropriate fluids for their sport," she said. "We live in Charleston and it's hot. Another thing I am also really excited about is helping our student-athletes learn how to shop for groceries and to cook food wherever they are."
Caperton-Kilburn goes through the sales flyers in the local newspaper every Wednesday and picks out groceries that student-athletes can purchase weekly by viewing on OAKS (the College of Charleston's e-learning portal) or text.
For example, shrimp may be on sale at one of the local grocery stores with a buy one get two bags for free offer. That's three bags of shrimp that they can purchase for the price of one. Not only can it help them with their grocery shopping, but also save them some money, she said.
"It's been a big hit with our student-athletes," Caperton-Kilburn said. "It helps them see that I do have their best interest in mind. It's about their performance and that's what we are looking for."
An Immediate Impact
"Charlotte has had a major impact already," Proto said. "She came in and immediately started to meet with student-athletes to determine what their performance and body composition goals were. Many of them have walked away with individualized plans on how to get to the goals they want to accomplish."
Only three months in, Caperton-Kilburn's impact can also be measured by glowing testimonials from head coaches and student-athletes.
"First off, it's evident that Charlotte is passionate about helping student-athletes, both in their sport and in their everyday lives," CofC Softball Head Coach Linda Kalafatis said. "In her short time here, we have had quite a few players meet with her to develop better choices with the hopes that they will perform better and just feel better overall. Nutrition is such an important area in performance and recovery. Her addition to our athletics department now gives our student-athletes an additional resource that will mean healthier people and more success on the field."
On the student-athlete side, not only have the fall sports benefited, but also the out-of-season sports such as baseball and men's and women's basketball this summer.
"Last year, we relied on our own knowledge of how we should eat to accomplish our athletic fitness goals which was pretty tough – considering none of us athletes knew what we should be fueling our bodies with or how to go about it," said Riley Knudsen, a senior infielder on the baseball team. "So far this year, Charlotte has made her mark on bettering our athletics program at The College.
"In my opinion, the protein shakes after workouts benefit us greatly, because we need the protein to repair our muscles right after a good workout. Last year, we had to wait longer to get a source of protein and we had to do it on our own which was tough. Charlotte also knows how to educate an athlete on what he or she should be consuming on a day-to-day basis to reach personal goals for performance. Her knowledge will benefit our athletic performance in a positive way."
Sports Nutrition Beginnings
To look at the beginnings of sports nutrition, Caperton-Kilburn gives credit to the first full-time sports nutritionists on the college level – Rob Skinner, who was at Georgia Tech and is now with the USOC, and Dave Ellis, who was at Nebraska and is now with Sports Alliance.Eighteen years ago, she began her career in sports nutrition with an internship specialty rotation at the University of Tennessee, while she made her rotations through her alma mater, the University of Memphis. At that time in 1999, UT had an eight-hour-a-week registered dietitian employed for sports nutrition working mainly with the Lady Vols women's basketball team and the football team.
In fact, she was one of the first 150 people in the country to be a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD). Caperton-Kilburn is also a certified eating disorder registered dietitian (CEDRD) and has been in private practice in Charleston the last 12 years before joining CofC.
Most interestingly, the importance placed on sports nutrition has only evolved within the last 10 years at both the college and pro level including in the National Football League. Caperton-Kilburn said most sports dietitians were consultants on a team-by-team basis, but as time has gone by, you are seeing more-and-more organizations and colleges buy-in to the concept of a full-time specialist.
"As you add nutrition to the picture, you have (college and professional) athletes who perform better, have less injury and are able to recover from injuries faster by the manipulation of nutrition for them."
Life After The College
Upon their graduation from The College, each student-athlete has an exit interview with their sports administrator. Former two-time all-conference first-team softball student-athlete Hope Klicker, who was a standout pitcher for the Cougars from 2012-15, enlisted Caperton-Kilburn's expertise to better perform in the circle during her career.
While she and her family hired Caperton-Kilburn as an outside consultant for nutrition, Klicker is excited about the direction the athletics department is headed and the opportunities student-athletes will have with the dietitian element as part of their success.
"It made me feel like my personal opinion was listened to and valued by the administration," said Klicker on her exit interview and championing the need for a full-time nutritionist on staff for student-athletes.
"From the moment we met, I knew Charlotte had my best interest in mind," Klicker said. "She is attentive and listens well to your needs. She has the ability to relate, because she has a heavy sports background. She is a great addition for the athletics department. Her one-on-one attention will hopefully help student-athletes during their career at The College as well as into the future."
The Future
Next fall, Proto and Caperton-Kilburn hope to add smoothies to the refueling station, which will be tailored to the student-athlete and what their specific nutrition needs are.
For now, the added benefits of a full-time sports nutritionist have been paying dividends and coaches and student-athletes are seeing the results.
"That's the fun part of my job – to see the results," she said. "It is exciting to have student-athletes walk down to the weight room and say, 'I want to talk to you about such-and-such, because this is what I am doing. How can I change it?' Nutrition can give them that extra edge and it is an important piece. You can have genetics and you can have all of the ability, but to take that to the next level, you have to fuel it."
Charleston Men's Basketball Post Game Press Conference vs. SC State (11/14/25)
Saturday, November 15
Charleston Women's Basketball Post Game Press Conference vs. Iona (11/14/25)
Saturday, November 15
Charleston Women's Basketball Post Game Press Conference vs. Charleston Southern (11/7/25)
Friday, November 07
Cougars Uncaged Episode 2: Chad Traylor
Thursday, November 06
