How to Talk (Not Talk) to Athletes About Weight

The final webinar in this spring’s HSS series of “Thirty Minute Thursday” sports webinars for student athletes covered the topic of “How to Talk (and Not to Talk) to Athletes About Weight.” The June 25th session provided guidance to coaches and parents about how to avoid weight discussions with athletes and instead emphasize functional goals to help improve performance.

The webinar participants included:

• Heidi Skolnik, MS, CDN, FACSM, senior nutritionist with the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at HSS and the founder of Nutrition Consulting L.L.C.
• Jo Hannafin, MD, PhD, an orthopedic surgeon in sports medicine at HSS and Orthopedic Director at the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at HSS
• Angela Mercurio. an elite triple jumper at the University of Nebraska and the recipient of the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award

Framing the Conversation

Heidi said it is important for coaches to reframe discussions with athletes to focus on metrics such as strength, effort and skills. She noted that “fat-shaming” carries many risks, which can lead to inappropriate dieting, distrust between coaches and athletes, and distractions for young athletes.

Coaches need to create a culture of support on their team, focused on developing foundational skills to improve athletic performance such as speed, strength, stamina and flexibility. Heidi emphasized that each athlete has her/his own body type, so it’s important not to project a certain target or desired body type onto all athletes.

Take it Slow

The pandemic has made it even more imperative for coaches to ask and listen to athletes about their conditioning and skills development. Given the lack of organized workouts for many athletes over the past few months, it may take longer for some to return to their ideal playing weight and performance levels. This return to play process may even extend into next season.

Create a Broader Conversation

Heidi noted that many athletes experiment with diets. Female athletes in particular are constantly bombarded with dieting messages and there’s a tendency to jump on the latest food fad. She believes that athletes put undue pressure on themselves about what they eat, saying things like, “I was bad today, I ate a cookie.”

She says it’s important for parents and coaches to take a broader approach to their discussions with athletes. If you notice an athlete's weight change, try to ask how they’re feeling and get a sense of what else is going on in their lives. This can foster conversations built more around “curiosity rather than condemnation.”

Dr. Hannafin explains that every female athlete grows and develops differently. Some take on weight at certain phases in their development. These gains become less noticeable as their bodies stretch out. She echoes Heidi’s view that parents need to be supportive, not critical during these growth stages.

Build Team of Experts

Depending on the level of competition, coaches can create their own teams of experts to help athletes including a sports psychologist and a nutritionist. Dr. Hannafin says that athletes are more likely to follow guidance from a nutritionist than from parents or coaches.

Heidi recommends that weigh-ins among athletes should be kept confidential and not shared publicly with teammates. Body comps can be a useful tool, but need to be used and understood in the proper context based on the stage of an athlete’s physical development.

Front-Line Experience

As an elite college athlete, Angela shared some of her experiences about nutrition and athletic performance, which track with the sentiments of the HSS experts.

When asked to recall an example from her own past, Angela acknowledged that her performance at the NCAA Championships fell short of what she hoped to achieve. She became distracted by how much stronger her competitors seemed than she was, rather than remain focused on her own abilities and achievements.

More HSS “Thirty Minute Thursday” webinars for student athletes are available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDps2oOp60a6qPiqVzz5MEGZAk7wKCihU

For more information on HSS (www.hss.edu) patient education programs, please visit: https://www.hss.edu/public-patient-education.asp