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NEDA TOOLKIT for Coaches and Trainers Introduction The benefits of sport are well recognized: organized athletics builds self-esteem, promotes physical conditioning, enhances skills, teaches the value of teamwork and sets a foundation for lifelong physical activity. Athletic competition, however, can also cause severe psychological and physical stress that is amplified in individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, and perfectionism. When the pressures of sport competition are added to cultural ideals that emphasize thinness or a certain body type, the risks increase for athletes to develop disordered eating (irregularities in eating patterns and behaviors that may or may not develop into an eating disorder). Body image problems, disordered eating and full-blown eating disorders are common among athletes, a fact that only in recent years has become more widely recognized. A study of Division 1 NCAA athletes found that more than one-third of female athletes reported attitudes and symptoms placing them at risk for anorexia nervosa. Athletes who engage in disordered eating but fall short of the diagnosis of a full-blown eating disorder are still at risk for serious health consequences, and disordered eating itself is a risk factor for a full-blown eating disorder. Though most athletes with eating disorders are female, male athletes are also at risk — especially those competing in sports that tend to emphasize diet, appearance, size and weight. In weight-class sports (wrestling, rowing, horseracing) and aesthetic sports (bodybuilding, gymnastics, swimming, diving) about 33% of male athletes are affected. In female athletes in weight class and aesthetic sports, disordered eating occurs at estimates of up to 62%. These risks and consequences, however, should in no way be misconstrued to suggest that girls and women, or any susceptible person, for that matter, should avoid sport participation. Because the many and varied benefits of sport listed above outweigh its risks, it is not sport participation that should be avoided, but rather the risks to disordered eating that are too often a part of the sport environment. As coaches and trainers, you play a pivotal and influential role in the lives of young athletes and are ideally positioned, along with their families, to detect these risks — or an eating problem in its early stages— and serve as positive influences in turning around such a situation. It’s important to remember that eating disorders can happen to athletes with the best of coaches. Rather than worrying and blaming yourself, focus on helping the athlete return to health. Eating disorders are challenging and difficult enough for trained professionals to deal with, so we know how important it is to provide you with resources to help you to handle disordered-eating situations that may arise. Experts in the field have contributed to the Coach and Trainer Toolkit, which we hope will provide the information and resources you need to confidently face any situation involving disordered eating or an eating disorder in your sport environment. Page  | 3