The Female Athlete Triad is a series of interrelated medical problems found in women who are physically active, including eating disorders,an absence of menstruation, and osteoporosis.
Tennis players are particularly vulnerable. In 1999, an NCAA study reported that 8% of female tennis players at collegiate level have eating disorders, and 50-60% are at risk of one due to poor body image, a desire to be thin and experimentation with eating disorders. They are mostly uneducated about the dangers of this, which include dehydration, low blood sugar, mood swings, loss of muscle mass, and decreased athletic performance. They also may hide their behaviour and deny that they are fighting against their body image and weight issues.
Tennis star Andre Agassi said, Image is everything. Body image is a powerful factor in how people perceive themselves. It often leads to difficulties, ranging from low self-esteem to bulimia and anorexia.
Females are more dissatisfied than males about their body image. However, we cannot assume that males do not have the same body image issues . Health care professionals are increasingly starting to account for this.
Teenage Americans are not the only ones focusing on body image. In the European Union (Europe) a study of 15,239 teenage subjects was conducted. The results are as follows:
Only 39% of respondents were satisfied with their weight.
Males (46%) were more likely satisfied than females.
Finnish subjects were the least content (29%) with their weight.
Belgium (47%) and Luxemburg (49%) were the most satisfied.
The highest percentage of subjects content with their body weight was underweight females (58%).
However, 20% of underweight females wished to be lighter compared to only 5% of males. Males who were normal weight (66%) also seemed to be the most satisfied.
US soccer player Brandi Chastain recalls the teasing she received from her father during her teenage years. My dad had a cute nickname for meChubby Cheeks. It never really bothered me. That was, until my freshman year in high school. I knew that Dad loved me. And Mom would try to get him to quit teasing me. I would just blow it offbut inside it began to hurt.
However, the most negative comments came from her coach. Okay, I was chunky. But sports had always been the place where I felt accepted. On this soccer team, we had to wear these small uniforms that werent exactly flattering to my teenage body. The coach would tell me that I was too fat for soccer. I started to become totally uncomfortable about my body. I thought that something was wrong with me. For the first time, I didnt like myself. So did I go on some crazy diet? Nope. I just ate more junk. It was an awful feeling. It was so stressful to always be worrying about my weight. In my mind, it was such a huge problem.
Dutch cyclist Leontien Zijlaard won her second Tour de France, the most gruelling road race on the cycling program, when she weighed 45kg, not much more than her bike. Zijlaard said she had lost 20kg because I had to pull every kilo up the hills during the Tour de France. I thought the lighter I was the better. It was stupid.
Zijlaard was one of the 20% who eventually recover from anorexia, and she went on to win two gold medals at the Sydney Olympics. Im just lucky that I can eat what I want and not put on weight. I know what is being said, but I just focus on my game and on my preparation and dont think too much about that other stuff, she said.
Wimbledon, and womens tennis overall, is often more about looks and marketability than the actual tennis. Daniela Hantuchova is a now a different woman to the youngster whose career took a turn for the worse after reaching the worlds top four amid concerns over her stick-thin figure.
She has never made a secret of her love for modeling. Her coach has gone as far as to suggest it was her desire to be part of the fashion to be thin that affected her. She rejects suggestions that she suffered from anorexia or indeed any form of eating disorder, saying that she merely burned off more calories than I have taken in. I have to eat a bit more.
Athletic women can often lose sight of the fact that the best weight for appearances is not necessarily the best for performance. This can be made worse by pressure from coaches, parents, siblings, agents, or the media in an attempt to reach a conflicting image of being strong and dainty. If the issue is not resolved the athlete may consequently develop an eating disorder.
