IU's Amy Freel Honored by Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association

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IU Athletics Release

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA) held its annual conference last week in Kansas City and IU’s Amy Freel, senior assistant athletic director for sports medicine and sports performance services, was honored with the CSPDA Excellence Award during the event.

The award, which has been given annually since 2011, is in recognition of individuals that show the highest quality of care to athletes and for extraordinary dedication to the profession and to CPSDA. 

“Congratulations to Amy Freel on this much deserved award,” IU Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass said. “She has long been a trailblazer and leader in her field, and is a central part of our groundbreaking Excellence Academy. We are very fortunate to have a person of Amy's experience and expertise working on behalf of our students.” 

Freel has been part of IU Athletics since 2011 when she was hired as the Director of Sports Performance Nutrition before being elevated to Senior Assistant AD in 2014.  At the time of her arrival in Bloomington, Indiana was one of only a few schools nationally that included a full-time sport dietitian on staff.  She has been responsible for developing a comprehensive nutrition program geared toward improving the training, performance and recovery of IU student-athletes.

Freel was a founding board member of the CPSDA.  More information on the CPSDA is below.

About CPSDA

The Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA) represents the vast majority of advanced practice registered dietitians in the United States who work full-time with athletes in colleges, professional sports, Olympic training centers, the U.S. Military and in law enforcement. CPSDA’s member-driven national not-for-profit organization speaks with one voice on behalf of America’s leading sports dietitians and is founded on the fundamental “food first” principle that “whole foods are the best fuel,” and that athletic programs operating at every level of competition will best serve their athletes when employing the full-time services of a sports dietitian.

CPSDA is dedicated to providing continuing education programs to keep sports dietitians apprised of new developments in the rapidly-evolving global food and dietary supplement supply; developing new education programs to prepare associate and student CPSDA members to become sports dietitians; and to partner with education-based organizations to restore and advance the firm belief that a varied balance of healthy whole foods is the optimal method of fueling athletic performance.

Quantifying these contributions and conveying findings to key decision-makers in athletic programs throughout the U.S. is one of the primary reasons CPSDA was formed, along with our commitment to mentor the next generation of sports dietitians.

Quantifying Contributions Made by Sports Dietitians

The Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association is a member-driven national not-for-profit organization chartered in 2010 and led by ten Board of Directors who execute and manage organizational goals through specific roles and responsibilities.

CPSDA’s vision is to position nutrition as an essential element to optimizing human performance.

Mission Statement

CPSDA leads the way in applied performance nutrition, advocates for the advancement of performance nutrition infrastructure, drives job growth and provides members with tools to support their full career development.

 CPSDA members are performance nutrition professionals who:

  • help enhance the performance of athletes
  • aid in recovery after exercise
  • direct food and dietary supplement cost-containment programs
  • play an active role in the recruiting process

 Guiding Principles

  • We are support service directors who treat everyone with respect and promote the value of character and education.
  • We are ethical advisors who track outcome-based research, maintain transparency in our professional relationships and fully support anti-doping initiatives.
  • We are passionate about the character-building process cultivated by athletics, and as a result, we are valuable recruiting assets for our organization.
  • We are unrelenting “food-first” advocates to help ensure athletes’ health and safety. We develop partnerships with other safety-driven organizations to ensure fueling solutions are sustainable.
  • We are credible practitioners who stay ahead of the curve on banned substances, performance and recovery topics, and on body composition assessment.
  • We are committed to mentoring athletes and sharing insights and educational resources.
  • We are dedicated to community outreach with young people who represent the next generation of college, Olympic, professional and tactical (military) athletes