Knowledge and attitudes of high school coaches concerning nutritional ergogenics

The objective of this research is to determine coaches' knowledge and attitudes of nutritional ergogenics and to determine if a relationship exists between knowledge and attitudes. An original nutrition survey was developed and delivered to the participants via email and the Internet. The participants in the study included 36 Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) affiliated coaches. Descriptive statistics and frequencies were calculated for each question for demographic information. Attitudes were measured on Likert scale from very positive to very negative. Cross tabulations were used to assess coaches' knowledge and frequency of recommendation. Of the approximate 550 sports teams surveyed, 36 coaches responded. The average nutritional ergogenic knowledge score of the coaches as measured by the nutrition survey was eight of a possible 13.