Student Corner Interview

Nicole Hayes, RD
Clinical Dietitian
Professional Figure Skater

Nicole, tell us yourself, your background, and your education.

I recently graduated from a Coordinated Dietetic Internship/Master’s Degree program in Cleveland, Ohio. My dietetic internship was at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center and my graduate degree in Nutrition is from Case Western Reserve University. I successfully passed the RD exam on the first attempt, and currently I’m a Clinical Dietitian at a community-based hospital in the suburbs of Cleveland.

You have been a professional figure skater. Tell us about your experience.

Before I became interested in nutrition, my passion was figure skating. As a child and throughout my adolescent years I competed in several local, regional, and national figure skating competitions. I am a triple gold medalist (senior level) in United States Figure Skating tests (Freestyle, Dance, and Moves-in-the-Field). After completing high school, I toured for two years as a professional figure skater with Feld Entertainment’s “Disney on Ice”. Show skating gave me the opportunity to work with famous choreographers, skaters from around the world, and travel all across the United States (including Hawaii and Puerto Rico), Mexico, and Venezuela.

How did you become interested in nutrition in general and nutrition as a profession?

I first became interested in nutrition because of my athleticism and desire to stay fit for an aesthetically appealing sport such as figure skating. I grew up in a very small town in the Midwest, in a “meat and potatoes” type of household. When I was on tour skating, I enjoyed and
experienced different cuisines of all cultures and became interested in people’s different eating habits. Also, as a child I was also diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and I wanted to know more about the digestive system and how to manage my disease nutritionally.

Why did you choose Case Western Reserve University for a Masters degree?

I chose to apply for the Coordinated program because dietetics is a competitive field and I knew that if I entered the workforce right after completing the internship it would be difficult for me to go back to school later.

I graduated with my BS from Central Michigan University in three years (by taking a lot of summer classes and 18+ credit hours per semester). I was accustomed to being extremely busy because at that time I was also coaching private and group figure skating lessons. I was ready for the next challenge, and I’m very glad I was accepted into the VA/Case program because, not only did I finish the internship, pass the RD exam, and earn a Masters degree in 1.5 years, I also had the opportunity to work on my own pilot research project on body composition.

What research were you involved in for your thesis? What did you learn from this experience?

The purpose of my study was to obtain pilot data from a small sample of physically homogeneous individuals, females gymnasts, 12±2.4 yrs, in order to determine the reliability and validity of a new portable, cost effective, and user-friendly method of assessing body composition, bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS), versus traditional, well-established methods, such as air displacement plethysmography (e.g. BOD POD) and skinfold calipers.

No correlation was found between body composition variables, even when a suspected outlier was removed from the statistical analysis. There was no correlation between BIS and the BOD POD, nor was there a correlation between BIS and skinfolds. In conclusion, I found that there are inconsistencies between and within anthropometric, body density, and bioelectrical impedance derived assessments of body composition in children. Much of the variance may lie within the prediction equations provided to estimate percent body fat, especially in the simpler field methods.

What are your professional goals? Are you interested in becoming Board Certified as a Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD), the CDR specialty credential?

My entrepreneurial professional goal is to start my own sports nutrition seminar business for figure skaters. My seminars will be all inclusive; incorporating sports nutrition education, on-ice technical and theatrical instruction, and off-ice conditioning exercises specific for injury prevention
and avoiding overuse syndromes. When I am eligible, my goal is to obtain the new CSSD credential.

Is there anything else you would like to share with other students?

I would encourage other students and dietetic interns to have confidence in themselves and their abilities. You may feel intimidated by your professors or preceptors because of their depth of knowledge, but you have to realize how little the general public or even other health care providers really know about sound nutrition information. WE are the experts!

2/10/07