Objective:To evaluate participant recruitment, enrollment, assessment, and retention in a 2‐year intervention designed to prevent excess weight gain among high school (HS) soccer players ages 14‐19.Method:Five soccer teams in 2 school districts were recruited through soccer coaches. Prior to enrollment, parents, coaches and youth all received a printed information packet. Participants were then enrolled into an intervention/control group; non‐randomized by stratified by HS and soccer teams. At baseline, youth and parent's demographics were collected. Youth also had height, weight, and body composition measured and completed questionnaires related to sport nutrition knowledge, eating behavior, bowel health, physical activity, and sleep.Result:Overall 44% (n=54) of available athletes were enrolled (intervention: 16F, 11M; control: 21F, 6M). We identified the following approaches to help us to be successful in future intervention: 1) Engage coaches early in the process; 2) have coaches sign an ‘agreement' statement regarding their role and deliverables including: attend all sessions, help to collect forms/documents, and etc.; 3) engage school districts; and 4) use computers/tablets for data collection through Qualtrics instead of paper/pencil forms.ConclusionBased on this approach, soccer coaches, athletic directors, and parent coordinators were pivotal to the success of a longer‐term obesity prevention intervention.Sponsor: NIFA AFRI Award No. 2013‐67001‐20418
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