SSESSMENT OF NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND DIETARY HABIT OF SOMESELECTED U-20 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Good nutritional status and nutritional practice are essential for athletic success by improving the quality of training, maximizing performance and speeding recovery time. The main purpose of this Research was to assess the nutritional status and dietary behavior of some selected U-20league football players in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. In Addis Ababa City Administration, there areabout eight (8) U-20 male premier league football club Licensed and structurally lead by theEthiopian Football Federation. Only four of them (namely Addis Ababa football club, EthiopiaBuna football club, Ethiopia Youth Sport Academy, Mekelakeya Football Club) were targeted bythe researcher for the study due to its easily manageable during the period of the study andsituation to the regular work. About 100 players, 10 coaches and 4 managers were selectedavailably and descriptive survey research method was employed. Necessary data were collectedthrough primary source like Questionnaire, Interview, FGD and Observation. SPSS Version 22was used for analyzing gathered data and descriptive statistics such as mean, mode, median andstandard deviation were used for all variables. The Elaborateness of the result was moredescription method and as the finding of this research revealed that the study subjects or theplayers do not have good dietary habits. Finally the result of these findings was concluded thatpoor nutritional status was practiced in the selected study area. Based on these,Recommendations, any concerned bodies (Addis Ababa City Administration FootballFederation, the Ethiopian Football Federation and the Clubs should have to have their stand inorder to improve the players Nutritional Status and Dietary behavior.