Master of Science / Department of Human Nutrition / Mark Haub / Sports nutrition is a blossoming profession and continues to grow. Within the daily functions of a sports nutrition department, working as a sports dietitian is more than providing food and hydration sources. Sports nutrition includes educating athletes about the benefits of food and teaching them life-long skills such as, cooking and grocery shopping that they may use for the rest of their lives. Being successful in the sports nutrition profession requires excellent communication, organization, dedication, and hard work. Nutrition can help an athlete in creating an advantage for improving performance and recovery. Within sports nutrition, sports dietitians are being called on to provide appropriate education for athletes. The purpose of this review is to examine the various aspects of a sports nutrition department and the skills necessary for a sports dietitian to be successful at the Division I Collegiate level. This review will cover the regulatory, financial, staffing, athlete, environmental, and technological aspects of sports nutrition. The following review may be beneficial for those who are interested in pursuing sports nutrition as a career, as it aims to elucidate expectations regarding the day to day job requirements.

The objective of conducting this research was to assess the impact of Black collegiate fraternities upon Atlanta city politics. Although Black collegiate fraternities were conceived to enrich the social and intellectual aspects of collegiate life, Black collegiate fraternities are emerging as a political force. This thesis will attempt to assess, for the first time, the actual role in which Black collegiate fraternities have engaged from a political perspective. The primary sources of information for this study were obtained from personal interviews of fraternity members, Atlanta City Clerk's Office, Fulton County Board of Elections and from fraternal journals and publications.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1982. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 558-562). Also available via the Internet.

A Thesis submitted to The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine. / Sports-related mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) have become an increasingly popular topic. Cognitive and physical rest are the mainstays of management, but effective evidence-based therapies do not exist. Very few studies report mean recovery times from mTBI and even less for intercollegiate athletes. The primary aim is to retrospectively compare the recovery time in athletes from a large Division I University that suffered a sports-related mTBI during 2010 - 2012 to published data for quality assessment and improvement. Since the institution's concussion management follows current guidelines, no significant difference was expected. Secondary aims included comparing recovery times between gender, sport, and league. As reported in current literature, no significant gender differences were expected. 53 athletes with sports-related mTBI (27 male and 26 female) showed a mean recovery time of 10.11 days (95 % confidence interval [CI] = 8.58 - 11.65 days), statistically different than the time reported in 1 study of 7 days, but not in another of 7 - 10 days. Mean recovery time in males and females was 9.74 days (95 % CI = 7.38 - 12.1 days) and 10.5 days (95 % CI = 8.4 - 12.6 days), respectively. Mean recovery time in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and non-NCAA (club) athletes was 9.91 days (95 % CI = 8.27 - 11.55) and 11.25 days (95 % CI = 5.87 - 16.63), respectively. A nonparametric Wilcoxon rank-sum test showed no significant variation between genders and between NCAA and non-NCAA athletes. Subgroup statistics of 13 sports were inconclusive due to inadequate power. However, the subgroup of male football athletes showed a mean recovery time of 6.5 days (95 % CI = 4.86 - 8.14 days), which was not significantly different than published rates. Multiple confounding variables were not well controlled for including: sport, gender, concussion severity, multiple concussions, etc. However, this study did highlight areas for quality improvement in the institution's concussion management plan. Further investigation with increased power and confounding variable control is indicated for a more definitive mean time to recovery. This study is the first to detail the mean time to recovery from sports-related mTBI in an intercollegiate athletic program. Similar studies should be done at other institutions for quality assessment and improvement of 4 concussion management. Such data will be useful in establishing a baseline for measure of efficacy in future investigations of therapeutic interventions.

Background: Past studies have shown that optimal nutrition can enhance physical activity, athletic performance, and recovery from exercise. It is important for college athletes to incorporate positive eating behaviors into their daily lives, such as consuming breakfast, eating frequently throughout the day, and not skipping meals in order to maintain energy levels and reach their sports performance potential. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the eating behaviors and dietary supplement use of underclassmen and upperclassmen student athletes at Georgia State University. Methods: Underclassmen (freshmen, sophomores) and upperclassmen (juniors, seniors, fifth-year seniors) athletes (n=255) completed a nutrition screening questionnaire. Chi-square analysis was used to assess group differences in eating behaviors and supplement use. Results: Underclassmen student athletes were significantly more likely than upperclassmen to consume breakfast most days of the week (p=0.008). The underclassmen also reported significantly more eating occasions during the day than upperclassmen (p=0.012). The majority of both groups reported skipping meals, and breakfast was the meal most frequently missed. No significant difference was found for supplement use between the classes, but over half of the underclassmen (53%) and upperclassmen (59%) have taken or currently take protein supplements. Conclusions: The underclassmen athletes at Georgia State University displayed better eating habits than the upperclassmen, but dietary supplement use was the same in both groups. The findings indicate that all student athletes at the university could benefit from learning about ways to improve their eating habits and obtain peak performance through diet, without supplements.

Collegiate athletes have been an overlooked and vulnerable population regarding mental health concerns. Across the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and Division II, many athletes have taken on the mindset of “shake it off” or “get over it”, when dealing with physical or emotional pain (López and Levy, 2013). Additionally, collegiate athletes face barriers when considering treating pain, including the limited availability of time to use services, the stigma of being perceived as weak by coaches or other teammates, and the lack of counselors that have knowledge or experience with sports. Given these disparities, the current study attempted to understand the impact of injury, support, and emotional distress on current collegiate athletes. The researchers hypothesized that greater collegiate sports-related injuries, reduced team and coach support (Perceived Available Support in Sport Questionnaire), greater perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale), and reduced readiness to return to sport following injury (Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport Scale) would be associated with reduced measures of psychological wellbeing (Student-Athlete Wellbeing Scale) and increases in athletic burnout (Athlete Burnout Scale). Participants included student-athletes from a private, liberal arts university, who completed an online survey. Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant association between number of collegiate injuries (NCI: β=.533, p<.027) and perceived stress (PSS: β=.716, p<.012) on the Athlete Burnout subscale, sports devaluation (r2 = .903, F(3,7) = 12.397, p < .017). Furthermore, perceived stress was also significantly associated with athletic burnout subscales: reduced accomplishments (r2 = .942, F(3,7) = 21.555, p < .006; β=.750, p<.004) and emotional & physical exhaustion (r2 = .883, F(3,7) = 10.100, p < .024; β=.943, p<.006), as well as, psychological wellbeing (SAWS: r2 = .919, F(3,7) = 15.120, p < .012; β=-.922, p<.004). Measures of support in sport and psychological readiness to return to sport after injury were not significant predictors of either athlete burnout or student-athlete wellbeing. This data suggests that perceived stress is a primary predictor of burnout and psychological wellbeing in student-athletes and may help to identify those athletes in need of additional support. However, further studies need to investigate this relationship as this fairly homogenous athlete population may not fully identify specific vulnerabilities of the larger collegiate athlete population.

This study explored NCAA athletic departments' mental health screening practices, including the mental health concerns assessed for by the mental health screening, personnel responsible for administering and reviewing screeners, and resources available for athletes identified as "at risk." Participants were athletic department staff who had knowledge of their school's mental health screening processes. Frequencies and chi-square analyses were used to assess trends across divisional levels (DI vs. DII/DIII). Analyses show that significantly more DI than DII/DDIII institutions have a formal mental health screening program. Institutions' coverage of mental health topics in their screening did not vary significantly by Divisional level, with one exception: a larger percentage of DI institutions assessed whether student athletes had worked with a mental health practitioner than DII/DIII schools. DII/III were significantly more likely to have athletic trainers both administer and review mental health screeners and DI institutions were significantly more likely to have a sport psychologist employed within their athletic department than. DI schools were significantly more likely to have had a student athlete attempt suicide and participate in inpatient treatment than DII/III schools. Implications of the findings, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Introduction: Research has increasingly looked at the effects of sleep on athletic performance. Although there is currently a plethora of data expressing the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on athletic performance, fewer studies have assessed the effects of sleep extension. Of those studies that have been done, all have been with field or team sport athletes and all have been conducted with athletes who traditionally have practice times later in the day. Rowing is a sport with traditionally early practice times and represents an under examined population. Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback has been an increasingly utilized tool in monitoring athletes through training programs and allowing coaches a better picture of the effects of an athlete’s training regimen. Members of the Temple Men’s Rowing Team participated in an eight-week sleep extension study to observe any performance benefits gained from the increased amount of sleep. Methods: Nineteen members of the Temple University’s men’s rowing team were asked to increase their sleep to nine to ten hours a night for four weeks, following a two-week baseline period. A two-week post-intervention phase followed the sleep extension period. Three sport specific assessments (Open rate 1-minute, Rate-capped 1-minute, and Interval tests) and daily HRV recordings were captured each week. Results: Subjects were unable to obtain the amount of sleep for sleep extension, averaging 392.07 ± 53.69 and 374.11 ± 41.53 minutes of total sleep time during baseline and the intervention respectively (p = .137). Significant variation was found in the Interval test and OR1-Min test in a week to week comparison. Conclusion: Athletes failed to increase their time asleep, limiting our ability to assess the impact of sleep on performance. Performance did suffer over the course of the study, suggesting participants were below he minimal amount of sleep necessary to maintain performance. Better athlete education by coaches might prove beneficial for athletes to develop the habits necessary for sufficient sleep and improved performance. / Kinesiology

Treatise (Ed. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This paper explores the value of attending college to Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball players in terms of future success in the NBA. Future success is measured by both salary and minutes played per game. A dataset of 660 athletes from the 2006 through 2016 drafts was collected from Basketball-Reference. An empirical model is estimated using this data in order to identify the determinant factors in a player’s success in the NBA. It is found that college is not a determinant of success in the NBA.