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.
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