As the Director of Sports Nutrition, Paul Eom’s role involves being a health professional, dietitian and educator with a focus on fine-tuning nutrition to optimize athletic performance. Eom wears many hats, ensuring that all 17 athletic programs perform at their peak while maintaining their well-being.
“In terms of my role, it is all-encompassing,” Eom describes. “I have to be a clinician and a dietitian when I’m working with student athletes face-to-face every day. I also have to be a food service manager because of our fueling station. A large part of my day is making sure that’s never dry, in the sense that our athletes are continuing to have the resources to fuel themselves and perform at their best. I think of myself as an educator; that is my most important role out of all the things I do.”
When Eom first stepped into his role, he had specific goals in mind and got started right away. Before getting the job, he said that UTSA was upfront and was even rooting for him during the interview. Reflecting on his early days in the position, he explained how he focused on building the structure of the department.
“When I first walked in here and saw my fueling station, there was a freezer in the middle of my storage unit, and I’m like, ‘What is this? What have I gotten myself into?’” Eom recalled. “My first goal was getting this fueling station to the most efficient way possible. From day one, I was moving fridges. My goal is to build this department to the point where even if I’m not here in a couple of years, it would run without me.
“We’re talking with different vendors so that the dietician doesn’t have to go out and get food. That might not seem important, but it is. All those hours we spend outside the facility, that’s time we don’t spend with athletes. Anything that takes away from time with student athletes is not good from a dietician’s point of view,” he said.
The work Eom does, combined with the other departments, focuses on teaching and sharing expertise. From an outsider’s perspective, it may appear like everyone is working on the same tasks, but internally, each person has a different role, and they are all distinct.
The job is intense with hours some may not expect in a week. During the week, Eom holds one-on-one meetings and team consults as needed; he usually does a lot of prep before going into them, like looking at someone’s medical history. Each sport has a unique set of needs for its players, and while there are common aspects that all athletes share, the requirements vary based on an athlete’s size, medical history, role and specific demands. One of the most recent team consults was with the women’s basketball team.
“The other week, I did a talk with the women’s basketball team,” Eom used as an example. “They’re in season and killing it, but our coach felt like they weren’t fueling well enough to sustain that winning streak, so we sat down and talked about competition fueling.”
One of the more challenging tasks Eom has faced is being the only nutritionist on staff, but he has said that the job is incredibly rewarding, especially as he continues to build the program.
“Taking care of 17 teams hasn’t been the easiest,” Eom explains. “I’m trying to service everybody the same. It’s challenging but rewarding. Our population of student athletes are very hungry for nutritionification. They want to learn. I wish I could sit down with all 400 of my students and give them an in-depth consultation of what they need to do and how to better themselves, but it’s just not possible.”
Eom’s hands-on approach and direct interaction with student-athletes differs from his past roles but has proven to be successful. In the past, most of his work would be telling teams what to do, but at UTSA, he fosters a more personal connection with athletes. During consults, Eom can walk over to the fueling station and give food to students or show them different strategies they can implement. Not only does this approach get better results, it also resonates with athletes.
“I don’t believe in throwing numbers at an athlete, like ‘Oh, eat 1,500 calories.’ That will not mean anything to the athlete. I think physically showing them is the best way to do it,” Eom says. “For example, when I explain hydration, I bring in a fully cooked spaghetti noodle and a dry spaghetti noodle. Then, I ask one of our athletes to flick it as hard as they can. The hydrated one will sustain the damage, whereas the dry one will break — just visually being able to show why hydration is important.”
While the funding and support is a work-in-progress, sports nutrition is a growing department, and that’s what Eom looks forward to most this year. Despite the challenges, Eom remains humble and credits his student workers and the athletic trainers for aiding and supporting him. Eom hopes to facilitate growth and train athletes to be able to become their own dieticians.
“They’re wonderful. They’ve all been very diligent with their time management and the amount of effort they’ve put into the nutrition department. I’m learning from them,” Eom said about the student workers. “The thing I really appreciate about UTSA Athletics in general is there’s no egos — it’s all-hands-on-deck. I’ve had a tremendous amount of help, and it’s definitely a team-based community. We all have the same goals in terms of making our student athletes the best they can possibly be.”
As Eom continues to establish the sports nutrition department at UTSA, his commitment to his role and his student-athletes is undeniable. Despite the challenges of being the sole nutritionist and juggling the needs of 17 teams, his dedication to creating a lasting and sustainable system is clear.
Eom’s hands-on approach coupled with his ability to connect with athletes on a personal level has laid the foundation for a program that prioritizes the performance and well-being of the student-athletes. As the department continues to grow, Eom is optimistic about its future, knowing that with support from the athletic department and the help of the athletes, he’s on the path to making a lasting impact bigger than himself.
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