Considering nutrition education interventions have been frequently implemented in team sport athletes and have shown promising results, this study aimed to summarize the effects of nutrition education interventions on eating habits, nutrition knowledge, body composition, and physical performance in team sport athletes. A systematic review was conducted using the following databases: PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science and SPORTDiscus. A total of 14 studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. The methodological quality of included studies was evaluated, and each study was assessed according to the analyzed variables (i.e., eating habits, nutrition knowledge, body composition, and physical performance). Most studies showed improvements in or maintenance of variables used to indicate eating habits, nutrition knowledge, and body composition. However, limited studies examined the effect of nutrition education interventions on physical performance, with existing studies demonstrating disparate results. These findings suggest implementation of nutrition education interventions in team sport athletes could be an effective strategy to improve their eating habits, nutrition knowledge, and body composition. Due to the heterogeneity across the included studies regarding sport modality, competition level, age, and sex of the athletes investigated, as well as the intervention type adopted (i.e., online or face-to-face), it is difficult to establish optimal nutrition education interventions for each analyzed variable.

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Background: Limited evidence exists comprehensively assessing physical fitness attributes, physical activity behaviors, nutritional habits, and nutritional knowledge according to sex in basketball players during early adolescence. Insight of this nature could be used to optimize the training process and lifestyles in young basketball players.Objective: To compare physical fitness attributes, physical activity levels, nutritional habits, and nutritional knowledge between elite male and female basketball players under 14 years of age (U-14).Methods: Twenty-three U-14 basketball players (male, n = 13 and female, n = 10) from the same elite basketball academy (Spanish Asociación de Clubes de Baloncesto [ACB] League) participated in this study. Physical fitness attributes were assessed using a basketball-specific test battery (countermovement jump, drop jump, linear sprint, Lane Agility Drill, 505 change-of-direction, and repeated-change-of-direction tests), while physical activity levels (Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents, PAQ-A), nutritional habits (Turconi questionnaire), and nutritional knowledge (Turconi questionnaire) were assessed using questionnaires.Results: Male players exhibited better physical fitness in all tests (p <0.001 to 0.036, effect size = −0.44 to −0.76, intermediate to strong) compared to female players. Male players also performed more physical activity in their leisure time (p = 0.036) than females. No significant differences in nutritional habits and nutritional knowledge were evident between sexes (p > 0.05). Of note, a high proportion of players declared never or only sometimes eating fruit (males: 23%; females: 40%) and vegetables (males: 46%; females: 70%). In addition, relatively poor nutritional knowledge was evident in all players with the group correctly answering <50% of nutritional questions overall (4.57 ± 1.88 out of 11 points, 42%) and according to sex (males: 4.07 ± 2.10, 37%; females: 5.20 ± 1.40, 47%).Conclusion: These findings emphasize the necessity to perform individualized prescription of training stimuli across sexes to optimize the physical preparedness and development of youth basketball players. Additionally, strategies such as nutrition-focused education interventions may be necessary in this population given the low consumption of fruits and vegetables, as well as the poor nutritional knowledge observed in players.

The aim of this study was twofold: 1) To compare players’ physical performance and small-sided game (SSG) external responses among three young soccer age categories (i.e., under 14 (U14), under 16 (U16), and under 18 (U18)); and 2) to examine their relationships among physical performance and SSG external responses in each age category. Players’ physical performance was evaluated via several tests and external responses were collected during a four vs. four plus goalkeepers SSG. Main results showed that while older players presented better linear straight sprinting tests (LSSTs) (U18 and U16 vs. U14, p < 0.01), repeated sprint ability (RSA) (U18 vs. U16 and U14 p < 0.01), and change of direction ability (CODA) (U18 and U16 vs. U14, p < 0.01, ES = 2.34−2.72) performances, these differences were not consistent with their SSG external responses (U16 vs. U14, p < 0.01; U18 vs. U16, p < 0.01). Conversely, higher number of associations between players’ physical performance and SSG external responses were found in younger players in comparison to the older ones. These results suggest that while greater physical performance in younger players (i.e., U14) could allow them to exhibit higher external responses, greater physical performance did not influence older players’ (i.e., U18) SSG external responses.

This study was performed aimed at comparing multidirectional bilateral and unilateral jump performance and passive range of motion (ROM) of lower limbs between soccer and basketball young players and evaluating associations between inter-limb ROM asymmetry and bilateral jump performance. A total of 67 young male athletes participated in this study, who were classified as soccer (n = 40; 15.55 ± 1.5 y; 1.76 ± 0.12 m; 58.15 ± 10.82 kg; 19.84 ± 2.98 kg·m2) and basketball (n = 27; 15.7 ± 1.66 y; 1.76 ± 0.12 m; 62.33 ± 16.57 kg; 19.84 ± 2.98 kg·m2) players. Participants were asked to perform bilateral and unilateral multidirectional jumps, and passive ROM of hip (flexion, extension and abduction), knee (flexion) and ankle (dorsiflexion) joints was also assessed. Significant between-group differences were observed for hip extension with flexed knee ROM in dominant (soccer: 142.43 ± 7.74°; basketball: 148.63 ± 8.10°) and non-dominant (soccer: 144.38 ± 8.36°; basketball: 148.63 ± 6.45°) legs; hip flexion with flexed knee ROM in dominant (soccer: 13.26 ± 4.71°; basketball: 9.96 ± 3.42°) and non-dominant (soccer: 12.86 ± 4.55°; basketball: 9.70 ± 3.62°) legs; and for the ratio of hip abduction (soccer: 1.02 ± 0.08; basketball: 0.97 ± 0.11). However, no significant between-group differences were observed for bilateral and unilateral jump capacity, or for inter-limb asymmetries (dominant vs. non-dominant leg). Finally, no associations were observed between ROM ratio (dominant vs. non-dominant leg) and bilateral jump performance. These findings lead to the suggestion that differences on passive ROM values in young male athletes may be sport-specific. Additionally, there seems to be need for the implementation of training strategies specifically aimed at improving bilateral or unilateral jump ability, or at diminishing inter limb passive ROM differences in order to improve multidirectional jump performance for neither soccer nor basketball youth male players.