Nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice among elite tennis athletes. Azhar Yaacob, Ahmad Termizi Ahmad Kamil, Zawin Nadjah Mohamad Hatta, Siti Zubaidah Nur Marthuan,
Sport Academy, University Putra Malaysia
Abstract
Nutrition is an important element for sport performance in athletes. A part from providing energy for athletic performance, sport nutrition also play important role in muscle development, recovery process, general health maintenance and other function. Thus, it is crucial for every athletes to know and practice sports nutrition knowledge for their own benefit. This research was aimed to study the nutrition knowledge, practice and attitude towards sports nutrition among tennis elite athletes in Malaysia. A self-administered knowledge, attitude and practice of sports nutrition were distributed to tennis athletes. 20 completed survey form were returned but only 15 were categorized into elite category and analyzed for this study. All respondents have moderate knowledge on sport nutrition (mean= 17) with the highest score is 18 and the lowest is 16. For food choice and eating habit, the mean value is also moderate (30.93) with only one respondent score High (40) and the rest score is moderate. Attitude towards sports nutrition also show that athletes moderates attitudes regarding sports nutrition (54.13). In this study, higher score represents higher knowledge, positive food choice, eating habit and good attitudes towards sports nutrition practice. From this study, it was shown that these elite athletes only show moderate value in all tested criteria.
