1. Nutrition Within the Athlete Program Description and Theory Base
Eat Good Feel Good
Nutrition Within the Athlete
Objectives:
1. To increase the knowledge and inform players of the benefits that a healthy diet provides.
2. To inspire the Haddon Heights baseball players to make changes to their diet that will be beneficial for them.
3. To have at least 60% of players keep a nutritional journal of what they consume on a daily basis.
Program Description and Theory Base
The theory that I have chosen for this program is the Transtheoretical Model. This model explains how people change their behaviors, and breaks them down into stages of change. This model is intrapersonal as it focuses on the stages of change within each individual. It is the best theory for this specific program because it assesses behavior change over time. The progression of each individual is determined by the stage in which they are in. My target population consists of 30 players on the Haddon Heights baseball team who have completed the needs assessment. They range from ages years old, and they have little prior knowledge to nutrition within the athlete. During a 1-hour seminar in the Spring of 2016, which will take place in the Haddon Heights gymnasium, players will be informed upon nutrition within the athlete. The Transtheoretical Model is broken up into five stages including:
1. Pre-contemplation – This is the stage where people are not thinking of making a change within 6 months. Consciousness raising can help a person in the pre-contemplation stage.
2. Contemplation – In this stage, people plan to make a change within the next 6 months. Self-reevaluation can help a person in the contemplation stage.
3. Preparation – People are planning on making a change within the next month and have begun preparing for change. Helping relationships can help a person in preparation.
4. Action – In this stage, people have begun making changes. Social liberation can help a person in the action phase.
5. Maintenance – People have been successful in their changes, which have lasted for 6 months. Stimulus control can help a person in the maintenance stage.
Abstract
The obesity rate in America has steadily increased over the years. Obesity increases the risk for many chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, sleep apnea, and eventually death (Gagnon and Stevens 2015). The main causes for obesity are lack of exercise and poor nutrition. Not only is this a serious issue for the health of Americans, but financially it has had a drastic impact. Medical costs due to obesity have reached a point of $150 billion each year (Gagnon and Stevens 2015). Obesity rates have skyrocketed in the past few decades, and childhood obesity has been the most alarming. Two out of every three Americans exceed the recommended weight standards, and childhood obesity rates have increased dramatically to 17% in the past decade (Gagnon and Stevens 2015). America is known for having high obesity rates. This especially applies to childhood obesity, which is at an all-time high. Lack of exercise and a healthy diet lead to obesity. Nutrition is often overlooked when considering one’s overall health. From my experiences as a student athlete in high school, I was never taught a proper nutrition. Having a healthy diet can have many positive effects for each individual, especially athletes. It is important to be knowledgeable when it comes to nutrition. One must understand the basics of a healthy diet, how it effects their everyday life, and then apply it to their lives.
It is vital to educate the youth about the benefits of a healthy diet. The organization that I will be proposing a program for is the Haddon Heights High School baseball team. Haddon Heights High School serves the students from the Barrington, Lawnside, and Haddon Heights communities, with an enrollment of 800 students. The target audience will be 30 male baseball players on the team ranging from ages All 30 members of the team will be given a pretest to test their knowledge on nutrition. They will then attend an hour long seminar, followed by a discussion group, in which they will be provided information on nutrition. They will learn what a healthy diet consists of, how it can affect their athletic performance, and how to apply it to their lives.
Following the hour long seminar and the discussion group, the players will then take a survey to see what new information they have learned, and if they planned on making any changes to their current diet. I will compare their answers to the survey with the pretest that they took before the seminar. This survey will evaluate the program, as I will be able to see what the players were able to learn, and how effective the program truly was. At the end of the season, the players will take another survey to test the long-term effects of the program. In this survey I will be able to evaluate if the players retained their knowledge throughout the season, and if they made changes to their diets. I will be able to measure the knowledge that they kept throughout the season, how many players made changes to their diets, and how many players began taking a nutritional journal from the two survey’s that I hand out. During the seminar each player will be given a nutritional journal for which they can begin to use throughout their season. This journal allows them to track their calories along with carbs, fats, and proteins. From the survey that follows the end of the season I will be able to evaluate how many players made changes to their diet and if 60% of the players kept a journal throughout the season.
Results:
• All 30 players on the Haddon Heights baseball team attended the hour-long seminar in the pre-season, and the meeting that took place at the seasons end.
• 100% of the players improved their scores from the pretest taken before the hour-long seminar/discussion group and the post-test taken after the hour-long seminar/discussion group.
• 24 of the 30 (80%) players on the Haddon Heights baseball team made changes to their diet that were beneficial for them.
• 20 of the 30 (67%) players on the Haddon Heights baseball team kept a nutritional journal of what they consumed daily by the season’s end.
Discussion
After reviewing the results from my pretest, post-test, and final survey I concluded that my program was a success. My three objectives were as follows: 1. To increase the knowledge and inform players of the benefits that a healthy diet provides; 2. To inspire the Haddon Heights baseball players to make changes to their diet that will be beneficial for them; 3. To have at least 60% of players keep a nutritional journal of what they consume on a daily basis. After evaluating the scores from the pretest and post-test, all 30 players improved their test scores after attending the seminar and discussion group. At the final meeting, after the season had ended, 24 of the 30 players had made changes to their diet that was beneficial for them. Also, at the final meeting I was able to conclude that 67% of the players had kept a nutritional journal of what they consumed on a daily basis throughout the season.
All three of my program’s objectives were met. The main goal of my program was to educate the Haddon Heights baseball team on the dangers of a poor nutrition, and how a healthy diet is vital in young athletes. Overall, I believe my program was successful as the players were educated on nutrition and the results show beneficial progression among the players.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Coach Eric Newell for the generous time that he allowed for my program to take place. I would also like to thank the Haddon Heights High School and the study participants on the Haddon Heights baseball team who attended the sessions and took part in the program.
Reference List
Gagnon, M., & Stephens, M. B. (2015). Obesity and National Defense: Will America Be Too Heavy to Fight?. Military Medicine, 180(4), doi: /MILMED-D