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Oklahoma working on ‘mobile’ solution for athletes’ nutritional needs

Oklahoma v Alabama

NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 2: Athletic Director Joe Castiglione of the Oklahoma Sooners walks the field before their win against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS Sugar Bowl on January 2, 2014 at Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jackson Laizure/Getty Images)

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August 1 marked the first day that schools are allowed, per NCAA rules, to feed their athletes whenever they wish. Prior to the change, with legislation beginning well before former UConn guard Shabazz Napier made remarks about going to bed hungry at times, schools were limited in the amount of food they were allowed to provide scholarship athletes with walk-ons being even more restrained in what they could receive.

Now all athletes can be taken care of as a result of the rule change, resulting in some schools looking for ways in which to make sure athletes have ample access to meals and snacks.

One such school is Oklahoma, and according to ESPN.com athletic director Joe Castiglione has a plan for making sure his school’s athletes get the food they need: a food truck. Castiglione’s reasoning for the move: at present time Oklahoma lacks the facilities needed to make sure all of their athletes are taken care of with regards to the new rules on meals and snacks.

Sooners athletic director Joe Castiglione told ESPN.com that the vehicle the school is in the process of purchasing will serve as a solution to make sure athletes can get what they want when they want it.

“We don’t have facilities in all the places they would need to be, so the idea is to have a mobile fueling station and perhaps some additional trailers that have refrigeration capabilities that can operate as a prep kitchen of sorts,” Castiglione said.


Will other schools look for similar solutions when looking to follow the new rule? That’s definitely a possibility, but one question to ask is whether or not a school would be allowed to be sponsored by a company that makes snacks. If so, that could be a good way for a program to keep the costs down some when it comes to making sure their athletes have all the food they need.

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