Eating Disorders In Athletes In Selected Sport

3 Pages 806 Words

Eating Disorders in Athletes in Selected Sport

Imagine that you have been participating in gymnastics your whole life. To be a top competitor in this sport, you have to maintain a certain weight and body image. You get so caught up in your body image and weight you become anorexic. Now, you are one of the top gymnasts in the world. But what really is important, your health or the sport you have been competing in since you were three year old. What would you do? Many athletes would pick to continue participating in their sport. These athletes do not realize how they are abusing their body’s. Why is it that the issue of eating disorders in sport is so taboo? Eating disorders in athletes is an issue that needs to be address to young athletes, teachers, coaches and families.
The sports industry is gaining popularity everyday. Americans pay hundreds to thousands of dollars to be spectators at different sporting events. Athletes are practicing dangerous eating patterns in an attempt to look the way society wants them to look which is thin.
Quinn (2004) reported:
Athletes tend to be highly competitive, high achieving, and self disciplined individuals who go to great lengths to excel in their sports. This personality type combined with the expectations of teammates and coaches as well as the spectators may make them at a higher risk of developing an eating disorder.
Athletes eating behaviors can be different because of their training goals and exercise regimens. This is one of the reasons why it can be difficult to identify an athlete with an eating disorder. When questioned, athletes usually deny having an eating disorder because of the fear of not being able to participate in their sport. Athletes have many reasons why their eating behavior is not normal they are; training schedule, practice sessions, traveling, eating before competition makes them sick and they compete better if they do not eat (Bryant, 1999)....