Assessment of nutrition knowledge of elite athletes and their coaches in Punjab

Research study for the assessment of nutrition knowledge of 120 (16-25 years) elite athletes and their coaches, selected from 5 universities and participating in 4 sports viz. hockey, athletics, badminton and lawn tennis was carried out. The knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) score of athletes along with the KAP score of coaches regarding sports nutrition was assessed. A statistically significant difference was observed in the KAP score of male and female athletes of hockey and lawn tennis. However, the KAP score of overall male and female athletes was observed to be statistically non-significant. Majority of coaches (96.7%) had no formal training in sports nutrition and 90% of them had no access to registered dietician. KAP score data of the coaches revealed that 10% had excellent KAP score; 53% had a very good score; 30% had good KAP and 6.7% had average to poor score. A positive significant (p0.05) correlation between KAP score of coaches and their years of experience was observed. KAP score of athletes had a significantly positive correlation with the KAP score of coaches.