Community helps keep players slim

In an insightful article (see link below) in last Sunday’s Austin American-Statesman, staff writers Eric Dexheimer and John Maher trace the super-sizing of high school football players.

The numbers bandied about don’t come as a surprise to anyone who has watched teen behemoths grapple in the trenches. According to the article, the average weight of the preseason all-state offensive line in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine has increased almost 70 pounds in the past four decades. Locally, Cedar Park and McNeil have at least half of their starters on the offensive line topping 300 pounds. Austin High’s offensive linemen have upped their weight by an average of more than 50 pounds per player in the past 20 years.

And then there’s Westlake, whose football players have remained relatively slim and trim in a big-and-hefty world.

As stated in the article, the Chaps’ offensive line has only increased by an average of 20 pounds per player on the offensive line in the past two decades. Such a number comes as no surprise to the legions of Westlake fans who annually bemoan the lack of girth up front, but it also testifies to a mindset peculiar to the Chap football community.

Speed traditionally matters more than size, mobility means more than mass, and, perhaps most significantly, a health consciousness percolates throughout the community.

Kids at Westlake don’t gorge on fast food like most teenagers; read the Meet the Chaps feature on page B2 of any Picayune, and you’ll see that a turkey sandwich from Thundercloud’s tops a cheese burger as a favorite meal.

The reasons for such healthy choices – even among football players who are duly encouraged to inhale calories – can be traced to the community itself. Austin consistently ranks as one of the fittest cities in the U.S., coming in ninth in this year’s American College of Sports Medicine American Fitness Index.

Additionally, the demographics of Westlake hint at a healthier life. A variety of studies prove the link between poverty and obesity. Seven of the 10 states with the highest poverty levels in the U.S. are also among the 10 states with the highest obesity rates, based on data for 2005 through 2009 gathered by state health departments with the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In an affluent and educated community such as Westlake, a knowledge of nutrition begins early, and folks can take a quick trip to Whole Foods without checking their bank accounts in the parking lot. The higher digits on food receipts mean lower numbers on the scales.

And such figures haven’t slowed the pace of wins for a Westlake program that has made 20 consecutive trips to the playoffs. Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to high school football.

For the Austin American-Statesman story, click here.