Promotion Of Healthy Eating In Clubs With Junior Teams In Australia: A Cross-Sectional Study Of Club Representatives And Parents

Issues addressed To: (i) describe the prevalence of policies and practices promoting healthy eating implemented by sports clubs with junior teams; (ii) examine differences in such practices across geographic and operational characteristics of clubs; and (iii) describe the attitudes of club representatives and parents regarding the acceptability of sports clubs implementing policies and practices to promote healthy eating. Methods Cross-sectional telephone surveys of junior community football club management representatives and parents/carers of junior players were conducted in the states of New South Wales and Victoria, Australia in 2016. Results Seventy-nine of the 89 club representatives approached to participate completed the telephone survey. All clubs (100%; 95%CI96.2-100.0) reported recommending fruit or water be provided to players after games or at half-time, 24% (95%CI14.4-33.7) reported promoting healthy food options through prominent positioning at point of sale and only 8% (95%CI1.6-13.6) of clubs had a written healthy eating policy. There were no significant differences between the mean number of healthy eating policies and practices implemented by club socio-economic or geographic characteristics. Club representatives and parents/carers were supportive of clubs promoting healthy eating for junior players. Conclusions While there is strong support within sporting clubs with junior teams for policies and practices to promote healthy eating, their implementation is highly variable. So what? A considerable opportunity remains for health promotion policy and practice improvement in clubs with junior teams, particularly regarding policies related to nutrition.