Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

High school athletes--Nutrition--Iowa; High school athletes--Nutrition; Iowa; Academic theses

Abstract

High school athletes are becoming more involved in nutritional supplementation and including foods in their diet high in fat and sugar through increased consumption of "convenience foods" and fast-food. These poor eating behaviors and use of supplementation are reasons why it is becoming increasingly important to bring sport nutrition education to the high school level. It is imperative these athletes receive appropriate education needed to make educated choices about food selections to meet nutritional needs for their sport and development. The purpose of this study is to determine the status of sport nutrition education among Mississippi Valley Conference high school athletic programs in the state of Iowa.

Subjects used for this study are Division 4A, Mississippi Valley Conference high school athletic directors. All fourteen high school athletic directors in the conference participated in this study. The athletic directors were contacted via a phone interview. The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire designed to assess the utilization of sport nutrition education at the high school level.

Based on the results derived from descriptive statistics, it was found that additional sport nutrition education would be beneficial for both student-athletes and the athletic staff for the Mississippi Valley Conference high school athletic programs. Education would be beneficial for the athletic staff as coaches, athletic trainers, and health/ physical education teachers were indicated to be the biggest role in providing sport nutrition education to the athletes in this study and were informational sources to others on sport nutrition knowledge.

More studies involving sport nutrition education at the high school level are recommended. It is also recommended future studies include different divisions of athletics or different size of schools and larger sample sizes. Future research looking at the benefits of sport nutrition education should include both the athletes and the athletic staff or other professionals directly involved in educating the athletes.

Year of Submission

2004

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Larry Hensley

Second Advisor

Forrest Dolgener

Third Advisor

Kevin Finn

Comments

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Date Original

2004

Object Description

1 PDF file (67 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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