Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham Athletics, in conjunction with Fordham's Office of Counseling and Psychological Services, kicked off a program last night entitled: The Athletic Ideal: Identity, Performance, and Health.
 
This workshop is structured as an open conversation for student-athletes to explore their relationship with food, health, and their bodies. It is organized around four main ideas: person-student-athlete identity, discipline in sports, health in the athletic ideal, and internalizing messaging. Through these lenses, facilitators will ask questions to engage participants to think critically about their behaviors and thought processes around food, exercise, and body image. The workshops will be tailored to the unique demands and challenges of each sport and the different pressures that male and female athletes may face on and off the field. We aim to introduce a process-oriented approach to self-improvement and success as an athlete while encouraging student-athletes to think critically about how they prioritize health to attain sustainable peak performance. The program will also provide an overview of disordered eating, eating disorders, and body/muscle dysmorphia, for which athletes are at a high risk.
 

Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Performance Joe Gilfedder and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach Brittany VanderGroef will be leading the charge for the Athletic Department. They plan on sharing their experiences with the student-athletes, hoping that by being vulnerable it will encourage the student-athletes to share their thoughts on the topics.
 
The workshop started on Wednesday night with the rowing program. Based on how the workshops progress, the Strength and Conditioning office will begin reaching out to sport coaches for training in regards to early identification of struggling athletes, proper communication strategies, and resource availability in regards body image, body dysmorphia, and identity.
 
VanderGroef, the strength and conditioning coach for rowing, and Dina Stella, M.Ed, LMSW, a staff member in the University's Office of Counseling and Psychological Services, led the discussion. VanderGroef opened the night by telling her story as a former student-athlete and how she over trained and under fueled, trying in vain to attain the expected body type, and how that affected her emotional well-being.
 
"As I tell all of you all the time, you're a human before you are a student-athlete," VanderGroef said to the team. "Your life after being a student-athlete is much more important than anything you'll do in college. I hope the things we're talking about tonight help you navigate that next chapter of your life."