Advocating for Sports Dietitians
- allygallop
- 14 hours ago
- 10 min read
Are sports dietitians underpaid?
I’ve seen this argument play out in the workplace and more regularly on LinkedIn, with health professionals calling out low-paying job postings and their hiring organizations. I’ve also seen health professionals flag these job postings to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), asking them to "do something" about the low wages. Others advise dietitians to neither apply for nor accept these roles.
However, both of those recommendations pass the torch of responsibility for advocacy. Yet there’s more that the dietitian advocating for these roles in their workplace can do. There are also calls to action for those dietitians wanting to apply to roles in the sports field.
In this blog, I will review:
AND's data on dietetic program graduation rates and the declining number of dietitians entering the profession.
How the hiring dietitian can find additional money, be ready to make concessions, and build-out opportunities for non-dietitians to manage non-dietitian tasks.
Considerations the dietitian applicant can integrate into their job-seeking process.
Here are a few terms I'll use throughout this article:
The dietitian hiring and overseeing dietitians is the “hiring manager.”
When referring to a fellow, know that this is typically a newly-credentialed dietitian wanting to work full-time in sports, but lacks the resume experience. Fellowships are often full-time, temporary roles where they receive mentorship from more senior dietitians. Read more about fellowships here.
I'll also refer to dietitians with sport experience seeking entry-level roles beyond a fellowship.
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
For starters, the sports dietetics field is nothing without those who built it. Plenty of the founders of the American Sports & Performance Dietitians Association (ASPDA) were the reason that this field exists in the USA. Whether it’s from one-on-one conversations I’ve had with these veteran sport dietitians or being in the crowd of an ASPDA conference panel highlighting these vets and their experiences, I’ve learned how much advocacy they were responsible for, the long hours, and the low pay they accepted simply to get their foot in the door when the role of a sports dietitian was a rarity. I’m extremely grateful for those dietitians and the sacrifices they made for us all.
Yet with any industry, progress is desired. The sacrifices these vets made over 20 years ago are not the same ones dietitians should be making today.
Is the Dietetics Profession Growing?
As of January 1, 2024, AND mandated that new dietetics graduates must have a master’s degree prior to sitting for the national CDR exam.
AND’s own data shows a progressive decline in graduates from dietetic programs, despite increases in enrollment and the number of programs offered in the USA. From 2023 to 2024 alone, there were 1,689 fewer graduates from didactic programs, coordinated programs, dietetic internships, and graduate programs. From 2017 through 2024, this number averaged a decline in 600 students annually.
The declining trend in graduates and ultimately new dietitians entering the field may be related to the master’s requirement, the calculation of one’s student debt against future salary, and the seemingly unregulated nutritionist sphere of influence (areas where AND does play a major role in policy advocacy). With a progressively smaller pool of dietetics applicants who can work across several different industries (e.g., public relations, consulting, food industry, public health, government, private practice, research, clinical, sport), it’s going to take more money to woo dietitians into sport—and keep them there.
A major responsibility of all hiring managers is to then competitively recruit, train, and retain future sports dietitians.
Leave it Better Than You Found It
After having been a dietitian for five years, having practiced both clinically and been involved in multiple research groups, and having earned a master’s degree (well before it was required by AND), I couldn’t get a full-time job in sports. To break into the field, I accepted a lower-paying, part-time fellowship that resulted in a massive pay cut from the full-time job I left to pursue sports. However, to balance my paycheque, I worked two days per week in a hospital. The fellowship was advertised as being part-time, so I paired it with another paid part-time role to make ends meet while I chipped away at student loans.
When I moved into full-time sport roles, it was then my turn to either (1) perpetuate onto others what I experienced or (2) be the agent of change. Keep in mind that change can simply be progress and not always result in creating an ideal scenario overnight.
Keep in mind that the hiring manager rarely controls their staffing budget. Their role is often providing their boss with competitive pay ranges for dietitians based on their current market value. However, dietitians still have power in other ways. A few examples.
If the salary isn’t what you as the hiring manager wanted, find other ways to provide actual pay (not simply comped tickets or gear): This could include a housing, parking, or transit stipend or community connections that result in paid opportunities for team talks or athlete referrals.
Be transparent in pay and hours: If you as the hiring manager need 40 hours per week covered, but can only reasonably budget for 20 hours of competitive pay, make the concession as a hiring manager. Advertise 20 hours and manage the dietitian’s weekly hours to hit 20 hours (further in this article I’ll mention how to account for those missing hours).
If you as the hiring manager need 40 hours, but the pay is too low and you know the role is reasonably 50-60 hours per week, keep the role to 40 hours.
Your future staff will likely need to supplement their job with outside employment to afford rent, groceries, and their student loan payments. Clarity in hours and pay—and sticking to it—helps dietitians manage their workload, carve in time for a part-time job elsewhere, and foster a more positive outlook on a future working in sport. Burnout doesn't improve staffing.
Improve the experiences of others: No one needs to “pay their dues” the way you may have had to. Teach them how to advocate for and value themselves as a licensed medical professional. Seek out their feedback about the role and where changes can be made (e.g., delegating non-dietitian tasks, which I refer to later in this article).
For newer dietitians, be crystal clear on the job you’re taking. Will you be expected to work early mornings, nights, weekends, and holidays? Is having Thanksgiving off an option or will you be assigned football, volleyball, or basketball and need to be present for competition? As much as the hiring manager can work to improve the status quo, the dietitian needs to fully understand what they’re agreeing to. Working in sports is a grind, and that part is likely to remain the case.
Advocate for the Profession and Be Ready to Make Concessions
Be Ready to Shield Your Staff from Bosses and Coaches
Fellows and entry-level dietitians crave exposure. Hiring managers should learn how to harvest this energy.
When I used to oversee fellows, whom had agreed to a 40-hour weekly role, I was adamant that once they hit those hours they went home for the week. Typically, they would mention wanting to stay longer for more exposure, a team or coach may be requesting more from them, or the dietitian themselves sees an unfulfilled need that they want to pursue (e.g., starting or adding more hydration testing sessions, being present at all home or away competitions to better support their teams).
However, if there’s no perceived gap in services from the athletic department, it’s often harder to advocate for more staff or salary improvements.
When there’s a gap, or a coach complains about a lack of time dedicated to their team, this is a hiring manager’s tinder for the staff-building fire. That gap in services and an appetite for more support (especially when coming from a coach) is where the demand for more dietitian positions and/or increases in pay can flourish.
One kickback I would hear as a hiring manager is how other members of the medical team, specifically athletic trainers, may be similarly priced in salary and are a profession that also requires a master's degree. I relied on building the picture for my boss regarding where else dietitians can work. Unlike athletic training, the profession of dietetics is not "sport dietetics." We're registered dietitians first, and can work in variety of environments. Pay should then be better aligned with those other industries.
It’s an uncomfortable dance that a hiring manager needs to make. Dietitians are health care providers and we want to help everyone—but we shouldn’t be doing so at the detriment to the responsible and sustainable growth of our profession.
Do the Math with Salaries
In the past, I was given a budget for a seasonal dietitian role. Rather than immediately aiming to hire someone full-time, I researched the competitive salary range for dietitians in the city where I was doing the hiring, figured out the hourly rate, and then applied it to the budget I was provided.
For instance, if a full-time dietitian job in X city paid $70,000, that’s ~$33.65 per hour. If the hiring budget allowed for $40,000, that meant one could fulfill ~23 hours per week.
In this example, the hiring manager would then hold the dietitian and organization to those 23 weekly hours. If the new hire genuinely needed to work longer weekly hours, how would they formally record this for human resources to guarantee additional pay?
Better understanding the dietitian's market value in a city is extremely helpful in communicating back to your boss--especially when the numbers aren't aligning. If a dietitian can walk across the street to the university hospital and make more money for a comparable experience-level position, what talent are you then committing to onboard and pair with the athletic department's athletes and high-risk medical cases?
Additionally, compare the hourly rate to other non-dietitians you’re overseeing. In Seattle, and as of this writing, the hourly minimum wage is $21.30. Depending on the staffing budget a hiring manager is allotted and how many hours they’re trying to fulfill, does it make sense to pay a dietitian less than a student worker stocking protein shakes in the fueling station?
These are all examples when painting the picture for an organization who is asking for X hours from a dietitian at X budget.
Does the Entirety of the Job Description Need to be Fulfilled by a Dietitian?
Often, no.
Learning from other sports dietitians, Becky Lindberg Schroeder, the former Senior Director of Sports Nutrition at the University of Louisville, presented at an ASPDA conference regarding her hiring of a non-dietitian to manage the fueling station operations, along with other administrative tasks. Now the hiring manager is placed in a position to maximize the work that can only be done by a sports dietitian—and to highlight those specific skills back to your boss as the value-add specifically of a dietitian.
For instance, your new hire could be responsible for reviewing the literature on efficacious supplements and choosing what brands will be ordered, accounting for the supplement budget—yet the fueling station operations person can manage the supplement inventory, order, manage deliveries, and submit receipts or invoices. Without the weekly clerical work, the sports dietitian can now dedicate more time to counseling athletes on sport and medical nutrition therapy concerns, attending meetings with the healthcare team, reviewing blood work, or conducting body composition sessions.
Another example is practice prep: A fueling station student volunteer can prep snacks and beverages for a team’s practice, make and deliver smoothies, and clean up the snack station once practice finishes. The dietitian can then attend practice to focus on hydration education, conduct athlete weigh ins, and meet with the head coach.
The dietitian doesn’t have to do every single task. Utilize student volunteers and paid workers, academic hour swaps for real world experience (i.e., the student receives class credit for a semester-long internship), and dietetic interns who must fulfill community, food service, and experiential learning hours. To do so, the hiring manager needs to create and maintain relationships with often several academic programs.
This can also play into the staffing budget you're allotted from your boss: Maybe those 23 hours are doable if restricted to purely dietitian tasks.
Other Considerations for the Hiring Manager
Hiring managers must also recognize the shifting world of college athletics, the staffing choices they make, and the risk they're taking on.
For instance, what is the medical malpractice risk to a department with the rise in pay-for-play athletes demanding higher levels of thorough nutrition care? If a hiring manager is having to make concessions on who they’re able to recruit due to low pay, they are likely unable to hire a dietitian with rich experiences in eating disorder management, performance nutrition, and behaviour change. Will high-risk athletes fall through the cracks in part due to the lessened experiences of an entry-level dietitian?
And consider the burden on the hiring manager and the longevity in their own role. If having to hire dietitians for low pay or rely on temporary fellowships, evaluate the turnover rate. Staff turnover adds to the hiring manager’s workload with repeat rounds of resume review, interviews, onboarding, and training; starting from scratch when gaining the trust of coaches and athletes with the new hire; and then running the risk of teams, upset with frequent turnover, choosing to work with outside nutrition consultants or turning to a longer-tenured non-dietitian staff member who simply takes an interest in nutrition. Teams crave continuity, relationships, and trust.
Calls to Action: Hiring Managers and Aspiring Dietitians
Publicly shaming jobs and their pay isn’t it. Neither is anticipating your first full-time role in sport is going to bring in $80-90k with free nights and weekends and the ability to take vacation in the middle of a sport's season.
If you’re genuinely interested in pursuing a position in sports, ask plenty of questions to the hiring manager upfront about hours, overtime, and other monetary benefits, like free parking. Inquire about staffing levels throughout the nutrition department, better understanding the current utilization of students or other hourly staff members to allow for task delegation. If the pay isn’t what you desire, does the job have flexibility to pursue a side dietitian role where you can continue to develop your dietetic skills and knowledge? What’s the upward mobility in the organization you’re applying to (i.e., are there higher-paying roles to grow into)? Are there any roles to grow into?
For hiring managers, continue to advocate to your boss with data to strengthen the objectivity of your argument. Additionally, be ready with the following:
Possible turnover rates of dietitians in your organization (if available) to highlight the lack of continuity of care with a team.
The market value of dietitians in your city and through the ASPDA Salary Survey. If you're affiliated with a university hospital, how much are they offering dietitians?
For state colleges and universities, is there a salary minimum for overtime exempt employees?
Feedback from coaches regarding what commitments they need filled from the dietitians that are not currently being met.
Waitlist times for consults with athletes.
