The Characteristics of Nutritional Habits of Junior Wrestlers in the National Teams Participating in African Nations Championship Qualifying for the 2014 Olympics in China

Abstract

Nutritional programs for athletes are not less important than the training programs. In a certain stage sounds nutritional programs maybe more important than the training programs, especially in some sports which require specific weights such as wrestling. Importance of nutritional programs is also obvious for athletes in camps and before, during and after competitions. It also helps contribute to overcome stresses and recover whether from overload or injuries. Nutritional habits and practices must therefore be introduced as an element of training program. Nutrition awareness of athletes affects the development of eating habits because they play an important role in determining their health condition. It also guides the planning process to feed athletes during the training season. It can be a scientific foundation complementing the training process in wrestling and organizing and guiding the training programs developed for wrestlers. Through this study, the researchers seek to identify the main determinants through which the food habits can be identified for junior wrestlers in National teams participating in the African Nations championship because they have an effective role to play in guiding the training process, and especially the food habits of wrestlers of the national teams winning the first three positions. The sample consisted of 54 wrestlers distributed as follows:29 wrestlers from national teams winning the first to third positions in the African Nations Championship of junior wrestlers qualifying for the China Olympics of 2014 and 25 wrestlers from national teams winning the fourth to the last positions. The main results showed excellence of players of the teams winning the top positions (the first three) in most food habits. Axes of food habits came in this order: habits related to supplementary foods, habits related to nutrition, sport injuries and training environment, habits related to nutrition for recovery after physical effort, habits related to the general concepts of nutrition, habits related to nutrients, habits related to balanced food and nutritional needs and habits related to planning meals. Recommendations included using the determinants of food habits found by this study as an important and useful factor in guiding the training process and upgrading the achievement level; Providing the scientific committee of the international and Egyptian Wrestling Federation with the results of this study for use and application; putting food education programmes in place for wrestlers and wrestling trainers.