When Liz Hoiberg was playing Division III field hockey at what was then Simmons College in Boston, she was the only one on her team whose major was nutrition and dietetics.

“By default, a lot of people started coming to me asking for nutrition advice,” Liz said.

She said she realized there was “this big gap in access to sports nutrition information” among high school and Division II and III college athletes. “It is really [only] at the elite levels where you are able to access sports nutrition, and that shouldn’t be the case,” Liz said. “And so that is where my desire to work in athletics comes from.”

This month she started working at Loomis Chaffee as the sports and wellness dietician. Liz will work with the Athletic Department, the wellness program, and other campus groups. She also will support seminar classes, helping students develop lifelong habits for health and performance.

Liz has a bachelor's degree in nutrition and dietetics from Simmons University and a master’s of public health in nutritional sciences from the University of Michigan. Before joining Loomis, Liz worked as a nutrition fellow in the Kansas City Royals baseball organization, with the men’s ice hockey and women’s field hockey teams at Michigan as a graduate student, and in the private sector in Massachusetts.

“Loomis has a great reputation for strong athletics and academics and that stood out for me,” Liz said. What also impressed her was the school’s willingness to have such a position — rare, she said, for a high school. “The fact the school is willing to invest in this meant a lot to me,” Liz said, “and showed that the school values nutrition for athletes and the student population in general.”

Before classes began, Liz met with fall sports teams.

“The overall message was learning the basics of fueling the body, getting enough energy in your day, and having the appropriate amount of protein, carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables based off your training load as well as thinking about how we can time our food to best support our performance,” Liz said. “Many factors can impact performance. How we train, how we sleep ... and nutrition is another thing. If we don't have enough energy or fuel in our gas tank, then we are not able to perform at our best.”

There is a huge difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian. Liz is a dietitian. The term “nutritionist” gets thrown around loosely. Many states do not regulate the use of the term, meaning anyone can claim to be a nutritionist regardless of qualifications. Liz’s qualifications as a dietitian: two degrees, 1,000 hours of supervised training, and passing an exam to become a registered dietitian.

One of Liz’s goals is “empowering students to be able to make more informed nutrition choices on their own.”

“While I want to be physically here on campus to help them make those choices,” she continued, “it is so much more powerful when they have the knowledge to start making those choices without me as a reference point.”

That might require a bit of myth-busting along the way. One of those myths or stereotypes, Liz said, is that dietitians are “the food police.”

“I am a big proponent that all foods can fit into a healthy diet, and to be a strong athlete doesn't mean you can’t have the more fun foods,” Liz said. “I think it always surprises people when I am offering a Rice Krispie treat before practice, but that actually can help fuel us and give us a quick sort of energy.”

At the University of Michigan, Liz was the fueling station manager for the school’s Performance Nutrition Department. The concept of fueling stations is now coming to Loomis.

“As part of my role, we are working to develop three refueling stations on campus. These are snack stations that will be open briefly after school to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner, fueling the entire Loomis student body as they head into afternoon activities,” Liz said.

The locations are still being determined, though one will be in the Athletics Center.

“These refueling stations will be accessible to all students on campus, not just athletes; however, the snack options available at the Athletics Center's refueling station will be intentionally curated with foods that optimize athletic performance,” Liz said.

Liz and her husband, Christian, live in Massachusetts. She is a big coffee fan, specifically iced coffee, virtually any time of the year. Maybe if it’s cloudy and cool a hot latte will sneak in there. She also is a fan of beaches, stemming from when her great grandmother and great aunt had a time-share at Water’s Edge, a resort in Westbrook, Conn. It is a big wedding spot, and when Liz was young, she and her great grandmother and great aunt would watch the wedding processions from the balcony.  Her great grandmother died in 2011 and her great aunt in 2015. Liz and Christian got married at Water’s Edge in 2024. “It was a nice way to honor them, and I felt like they were there, too,” Liz said.