What Top Athletes Know About Health & Performance (with Jessie Diggins & Gus Schumacher)

When it comes to youth sports, it’s easy to believe that better performance comes from pushing harder, training longer, or being more disciplined. But athletes who compete at the highest levels know something important: health is not separate from performance. It’s the foundation of it.

This guide brings together key insights shared by Olympic skiers Jessie Diggins and Gus Schumacher in a conversation with WithAll Executive Director Lisa Radzak, translated into practical guidance for everyday sports environments.

Whether you’re a young athlete, a coach, or a parent, these principles can help protect both well-being and long-term performance.

Watch the Full Interview with Jessie Diggins & Gus Schumacher

Olympic skiers Jessie Diggins and Gus Schumacher share their perspectives on fueling, recovery, body image, and the role adults play in shaping healthy sports environments in this interview with WithAll Executive Director Lisa Radzak.

Why This Conversation Matters for Young Athletes, Coaches, & Parents of Athletes

The messages young athletes hear about food, bodies, effort, and success do not come from one place. They come from many directions at once.

They come from coaches during practice, parents at the dinner table, teammates in the locker room, and role models they admire. Over time, these messages shape how athletes view their bodies, their worth, and what they believe is required to succeed.

The goal of this guide is not to give perfect rules or one right way to support athletes. It is to help adults and athletes pause and ask better questions.

Are our words helping athletes trust their bodies or doubt them? Are we reinforcing health as a priority or unintentionally rewarding harm?

The principles below are meant to be used as a lens. Not as a checklist, but as a way to build environments where performance and well-being can grow together.

Principle 1: Health Comes Before Results

“I got sick early in the winter and then because I wanted to make the Olympics, I kept racing while I was sick and I never really got back to my normal fitness and that’s just another reminder of why you need to be just basically healthy before anything else…That’s what I’ve learned is even if I don’t make the Olympics, it would be better to make sure I stay healthy and race fast out of the Olympics and set myself up for long-term success.” – Gus Schumacher

Athletes cannot perform at their best when they are sick, injured, under-fueled, or burned out. Yet sports culture often rewards pushing through discomfort and treats rest as optional.

The reality is simpler: performance depends on a healthy body and mind. Training adaptations happen during recovery, not just during effort.

For coaches and parents, this means valuing rest and recovery as part of training, supporting athletes when they need to step back, and reinforcing that long-term health matters more than short-term outcomes.

For athletes, it means learning early that taking care of your body is not a weakness. It is a skill.

Principle 2: Keep Food Neutral & Supportive

“The one thing I would tell coaches is to remove emotions and labels from food whenever possible. I try to remove clean or junk or good or bad or reward. You don’t have to earn this food. You don’t have good athlete foods or bad athlete foods so that you don’t start attaching strong emotions and fear and shame to food. That was very helpful for me.” – Jessie Diggins

Food works best when it’s simple. Problems often begin when food becomes loaded with labels like good, bad, clean, or junk, or when it is tied to ideas of earning, restricting, or compensating. Over time, those messages can quietly turn eating from a source of fuel and enjoyment into a source of stress.

A healthier approach focuses on:

• Fueling for energy, recovery, and growth
• Avoiding moral language around eating
• Letting food be food, not a measure of discipline or worth

Coaches do not need to manage what athletes eat. Parents do not need to be perfect, but they should avoid diet talk. What matters most is reducing judgment and fear around food so athletes can listen to their bodies and meet their needs.

Principle 3: Model a Positive Environment

“I looked up to the older athletes to show me how to do everything right. I started looking to them for unspoken advice by following their example and it turns out that was a pivotal moment…

It was a good reminder for me now of how important it is to model in yourself the relationship to food that you want a young person to see because they do see it whether or not you’re explaining why you’re doing what you’re doing. They see what you’re doing.” – Jessie Diggins

Young athletes are always watching and listening. They learn not just from instructions, but from what is modeled around them, especially by other athletes and trusted adults.

This includes how adults talk about their own bodies, how food is handled after practice or competition, and whether weight, size, or appearance are discussed at all.

Creating a healthier culture often starts quietly. It can be as simple as choosing not to comment on bodies and choosing instead to normalize fueling, rest, and care.

Principle 4: Don’t Comment on Bodies

“It’s really important to remember if you’re considering telling someone what you think about their size or shape, don’t. It never helps….even if it’s just a casual thing, those sentences and those words can hold a lot of gravity, especially because you are in a position of power. You may control playing time as a coach. You may control who makes the varsity team. The athlete may decide to really interpret it in a harmful way.” – Jessie Diggins

Comments about body size or shape rarely improve performance and often create pressure or shame, even when meant as encouragement.

What actually supports athletes are messages about things they can control:

• Effort and consistency
• Skill development and technique
• Teamwork, leadership, and attitude
• Recovery habits and self-care

Bodies change naturally during growth, puberty, illness, and injury. Leaving space for those changes—without commentary—reduces stress and supports confidence.

What to Say to Support Health & Performance in Young Athletes

“My rule of thumb is if it’s a comment about body shape or size just keep it to yourself and if it’s a comment about work ethic, or teamwork, things that the athlete really can control, definitely that that’s the time to say it.” – Jessie Diggins

For coaches and parents:

• “Your health comes first. We don’t build performance without it.”
• “Recovery is part of training. Fuel, rest, and care matter.”
• “Bodies change as you grow. That’s normal and expected.”
• “I’m proud of your effort and how you showed up today.”

For young athletes:

• “A tough race doesn’t define me.”
• “My body deserves fuel and care.”
• “Progress isn’t always linear, and that’s okay.”
• “I can focus on what I can control.”

For more useful language swaps, check out What to Say Instead.

Supporting young athletes doesn’t require perfect words or rigid rules. It requires awareness, consistency, and a shared commitment to health over pressure.

When adults model that mindset, athletes are more likely to thrive. Not just in sport, but beyond it.

Want more ways to support young athletes? Take our free Coach’s Challenge for simple tools that help create healthier sports environments for everyone.