Michigan Ag Today is announcing a new series, Conversations with Dairy Checkoff.
Kicking off the series is Sandy Sellers, youth wellness and sports nutrition manager with the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.
Q: Chocolate milk might not be typically thought of as a sports drink for student athletes. Why is this a great refueling option?
Sellers: We call it nature’s sports drink. Chocolate milk has the perfect mix of carbs, protein, electrolytes, and fluids. The athletes need to refuel post-exercise and the bonus for teens is it has that bone-building calcium that our teen audience is often not getting enough.
Q: Talk about the role Michigan dairy farmers play in helping schools get greater access to chocolate milk.
Sellers: Michigan’s dairy farmers are really passionate about offering chocolate milk grants three times a year so they go along with the MHSAA sports season. We know many athletic departments have super tight budgets, and our grant helps support that team nutrition to purchase chocolate milk for their recovery drink without putting additional strain on those school and athletic budgets.
Q: While we’re talking about these dairy farmers, why are these grants important to them?
Sellers: They help build that lifelong dairy consumer. We want that Gen Z audience, those high schoolers, to understand the why of not only chocolate milk, but dairy as a part of that whole nutrition picture. Once they get that educational piece and they understand the why, we will ensure they have diary in their fridge for the rest of their lives.
Q: What are some specifics about these chocolate milk grants?
Sellers: The grants range from a monetary check from $1,000 to $2,000, depending on the size of the team. They receive a kit that includes a banner, nutrition education materials, and chocolate milk swag they can have fun with. They select to do either nutrition education they can share with their communities or peers, or they can raise money to donate to a local food bank or food pantry.
Q: At the end of the season, you survey coaches. What’s bene some feedback you’ve heard about the impacts of the grants on students?
Sellers: The thing that sticks out to me every season is that we have a lot of students across the state who come from food insecure households. While we promote this grant as sports nutrition, at the end of the day for a lot of kids, it’s just nutrition. That’s somewhere these kinds can count on having quality nutrition—those 13 essential nutrients their bodies need after practice or after a game every day. This past season, the Ann Arbor Skyline boys swim and dive team won the state title, so they partially attributed that to refueling with chocolate milk. That was amazing feedback and wonderful to hear.
To learn more about the chocolate milk grant, visit milkmeansmore.org/chocolate-milk-grant.
