Effects of Different Nutrition on the Performance of Athletes. A Comparative Study between the Football Clubs of Hawassa Ketema and Southern Police from Ethiopia

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Sport - Sport Medicine, Therapy, Nutrition, grade: A+, Haramaya University, language: English, abstract: The reason why the researcher selected these two clubs is that both clubs are found in Hawassa, they enjoy the same environment, they play their home game on the same pitch, and the only difference that exists between the two clubs is the way how they feed. South Police feeds in the camp while Hawassa Ketema feeds in the hotel. So the researcher wants to know how it affects them. Hence, this study was attempted to answer the following basic research questions. First: What are the daily calorie intakes of the players? Second: What are the major types of diets consumed? Third: Is there a balance between caloric intake and caloric expenditure? Fourth: Do age and body weight of the players is taken in to consideration in the dietary intake? So far no Ethiopian research on the diet and performance of Ethiopian premier league clubs particularly regarded the aspects of nutrition. In Ethiopian premier league history a number of clubs struggled hardly to stay on the league, unfortunately they relegated to the super league on the same year due to different reasons. Majority of the players and coaches are heard when blaming the referee, pitch, training strategy, game tactics, individual technics and weather conditions to lose the game. No one cared about the effect of diet on the outcome of the game. However, like physical training program, if each and every club intended to follow appropriate nutrition program for their players, the expected result would be remarkable. It is clear that nutrition has an effect on sports performance. Sport nutrition is a rapidly growing field and is the science of improving sporting performance by tailoring specific food and fluid recommendations to an athlete. It is known that factors such as dehydration and a lack of energy supply can limit performance. As expressed in Foundation Soccer Coaching Manual, nutrition is an important part of any successful training program. Food is the fuel of athletic performance. Though the coach cannot control his/her athlete's food, rather he/she can guide them toward healthy eating. For this purpose, the coach should be acquainted with the basic of proper nutrition.