Lead with the Jobs the School Can Verify
- Show the 12-week playbook, parent messages, and referral tools.
- Name the rollout owner, the first-week action, and the proof it was done.
Aspire Program Growth
Athletic Director Pitch
Show the school the exact staff jobs, family handoff, scope boundaries, and annual cost.
Sell a defined operating system: staff playbooks, coach-safe tools, parent handoffs, household access, and a documented referral boundary for one school’s XC and track programs.
Bottom line
Be specific: annual scope, named staff jobs, a clinical boundary, a rollout owner.
What a team fueling program is for
- Your coaches plan snack time, water, and who to call when something is wrong.
- Your family and your doctor decide what you eat and what gets checked.
- The program gives every coach and family the same plan, so nobody guesses.
Do this:
- Use the snack time and water breaks your coaches set up.
- Take the family sheets home and hand them over.
- Feel off? Tell a coach or parent, not the group chat.
Try this week: Ask your coach one question about the fueling plan and bring the answer home.
Not true: coaches see your food logs or body numbers. They never do. That stays with your family.
Familiar products to recognize
Start with the food category. Tap a package for one recognizable brand example, then swap within the category for access, tolerance, culture, budget, and allergens.
Put it into practice
Explain the Operational Value
- Staff get one place for setup, scripts, access, and referrals.
- Households get a private workspace; coaches never see weight or meal logs.
State the Boundary the School Is Buying
- Coaches own schedules, storage, water, and escalation.
- Families and clinicians own health data, nutrition, testing, and clearance.
Hand Over a One-Page Ask
- State the request, athletes served, problem, solution, annual cost.
- Aspire provides playbooks, coach tools, parent handoffs, referrals.
Funding & Approval
3min
Pitch Window
Athletic Director Pitch
Show the 12-week playbook, parent messages, and referral tools.
Staff get one place for setup, scripts, access, and referrals.
Households get a private workspace; coaches never see weight or meal logs.
Coaches own schedules, storage, water, and escalation.
Do not promise health, performance, legal, or financial outcomes.
*Be specific: annual scope, named staff jobs, a clinical boundary, a rollout owner.
@AspirePerformanceRD
Athletic Director Pitch
3 min
Pitch Window
Print & Share
aspireperformancerd.com
Sell a defined operating system: staff playbooks, coach-safe tools, parent handoffs, household access, and a documented referral boundary for one school’s XC and track programs. Be specific: annual scope, named staff jobs, a clinical boundary, a rollout owner.
Real product examples
Familiar packages, easier choices
Start with the food category. Brands are recognizable examples, not required choices; swap within the category for access, tolerance, culture, budget, and allergens.
Cheese crackers
Packaged fig bars
Bottled water
Packages are examples, not endorsements. Image sources and rights notice.
Use this when
1
A budget cycle, booster meeting, or preseason review where the ask has to land in three minutes.
2
You are paying for team snacks or resources out of pocket and want the program to carry the cost.
3
Repeated bone stress injuries have the training room asking what the program does about fueling.
Cheese crackers: Goldfish Cheddar crackers
Packaged fig bars: Nature's Bakery fig bars
Bottled water: smartwater Original
Applesauce pouch: GoGo squeeZ applesauce
String cheese: Sargento Light String Cheese
Granola bar: Nature Valley granola bars
Carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drink: Gatorade Thirst Quencher
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich: Uncrustables PB&J
$250
Annual Ask
XC + Track
School Scope
Coach Prompt
If your AD says no today, what is the exact next channel - booster club, formal budget cycle, or principal review - and when will you resubmit?
QUICK START PLAN
Argument 1
Lead with the Jobs the School Can Verify
Show the 12-week playbook, parent messages, and referral tools · Name the rollout owner, the first-week action, and the proof it was done
Argument 2
Explain the Operational Value
Staff get one place for setup, scripts, access, and referrals · Households get a private workspace; coaches never see weight or meal logs
Argument 3
State the Boundary the School Is Buying
Coaches own schedules, storage, water, and escalation · Families and clinicians own health data, nutrition, testing, and clearance
Proposal Page
Hand Over a One-Page Ask
State the request, athletes served, problem, solution, annual cost · Aspire provides playbooks, coach tools, parent handoffs, referrals
COACH REFERENCE
What the School Buys, and What It Does Not
The Program Owns
Families and Clinicians Own
Schedules and Access
Snack time, storage, water, refill points
What each athlete actually eats
Communication
Staff scripts and one parent message
Private household workspace
Observation
Notice, document, escalate
Diagnosis, testing, treatment, clearance
Data
Published logistics only
Height, weight, meal logs, results
Coach Reminder
Bring These Numbers
Annual cost · One-school XC and track scope
Avoid These Mistakes
Do not promise health, performance, legal, or financial outcomes · Do not walk in without a written proposal
Best Next Step
Stop after the line: Can I send you a one-page proposal · Leave behind the one-page proposal even if the meeting is short
Built by an RD who coaches · Luke Rodriguez, MS, RDN · Palmer Ridge HS XC
The lesson · one sheet, three readers
Athletic Director Pitch
Page 3 of 3Runner, family, and coach read the same idea at their own level. Reviewed · Luke Rodriguez, MS, RDN
For the runner
What a team fueling program is for
- Your coaches plan snack time, water, and who to call when something is wrong.
- Your family and your doctor decide what you eat and what gets checked.
- The program gives every coach and family the same plan, so nobody guesses.
- 1Use the snack time and water breaks your coaches set up.
- 2Take the family sheets home and hand them over.
- 3Feel off? Tell a coach or parent, not the group chat.
Try this week: Ask your coach one question about the fueling plan and bring the answer home.
Not true: coaches see your food logs or body numbers. They never do. That stays with your family.
Coach: say this
- I am asking for one budget line for one school, cross country and track, for one year. Here is the one-page proposal.
- What you are buying is jobs you can verify: a 12-week staff playbook, parent messages, referral tools, a rollout owner, and a first-week action with proof.
- I will not promise fewer injuries or faster times. Coaches own schedules, storage, water, and escalation; families and clinicians own everything medical.
- Have counsel and the athletic trainer read the boundary page. Then: can I send you the one-page proposal?
Why it works
Administrators tend to fund what they can verify and defend; named staff jobs, a rollout owner, and completion evidence are auditable, while promised outcomes are not.
The clinical boundary is the substance of the ask: under-fueling in distance runners can surface as bone stress injuries, and the school's job is to notice and refer, not treat.
One consistent message across staff and families is what makes early referral normal instead of shameful, which is the operational value the sheet is selling.
Don't say
- “This will prevent stress fractures.” Nobody can promise that; unmeasured outcomes are the fastest way to lose an administrator's trust.
- “It will save the district money.” Invented savings are not on the proposal; the annual cost and the scope are.
- “Whatever you think is best.” Walk in with the written proposal; do not ask the administrator to invent the program for you.
Refer whenAD says no: name the next channel and a date, booster club, formal budget cycle, or principal review, and leave the one-page proposal behind. A specific athlete raised in the meeting moves to the family privately and the athletic trainer, never the pitch.
Ask themIf the answer is no today, which channel do we resubmit through, and when?
For families
What your household gets, and what stays private
- You get one consistent message from the coaching staff: snack windows, water and refill points, storage on trips, and who calls whom when something looks off.
- You get a private household workspace and the parent handouts. Coaches never see weight, meal logs, or health details; those stay with you and your clinician.
- The boundary is written down: coaches own schedules, storage, water, and escalation. Families and clinicians own nutrition decisions, testing, treatment, and clearance.
- Nobody promises fewer injuries or faster times. The program commits to defined staff jobs, a family handoff, and a documented referral path a school can verify.
Watch for · Body comments, requests for weight, meal logging, or an assigned diet from the team are outside scope: raise it with the coach and athletic director. A tired, injured, or under-eating runner goes to the coach privately and the pediatrician.
Built by an RD who coaches · Luke Rodriguez, MS, RDN · Palmer Ridge HS XCBuilt forCoachTeam-share ready
When to use this
The weeks before a budget decision, when you need the athletic director to fund nutrition education.
- A budget cycle, booster meeting, or preseason review where the ask has to land in three minutes.
- You are paying for team snacks or resources out of pocket and want the program to carry the cost.
- Repeated bone stress injuries have the training room asking what the program does about fueling.
Finish before you close this page
Turn the sheet into one physical commitment.
Assign one owner, one due date, and one visible completion check for the team task.
Done looks like: The task is assigned and staff know how they will verify it happened.
Where to go next
MoreSend the AD the program pageProgram Access lays out what the school gets and what it costs, in the AD's language.
TopicShow the rollout planGive the administrator a mapped first month with named owners and completion evidence.
TopicClose the communication loopParent night shows the AD that families hear one consistent message.
From one handout to a repeatable team system
You can use this handout today. Program Access installs it into your season.
Free
- Print this handout
- Share it with athletes or families
- Use the coach prompt and written commitment
Program Access adds
- The exact week to use it
- A parent email already written
- A two-minute team talk
- A staff-owner checklist
- The matching planning tool
- Family portal access
Coach: Open the matching week, deliver the team talk, assign the staff owner, and verify the written action.
Family: Send the editable family message, share the handout, and keep the same next action visible in the family portal.
Content version: 2026.08.26Content pass: August 26, 2026Next source review due: February 26, 2027