Nutritional and performance comparisons between British and American football players

Abstract

To date there are no published studies which have researched British American football athletes, nor are there any studies comparing them against National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football athletes. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare performance variables and nutritional knowledge between NCAA Division I and British Universities American Football League (BUAFL) athletes. METHODS: NCAA Division I and BUAFL head coaches were contacted to gain approval to recruit volunteers for the study. Subjects consisted of 27 BUAFL (20.0+1.3yrs) and 99 NCAA (20.0+1.4yrs) athletes. Data was collected from the following; body composition, vertical jump, 1 Repetition Maximum (1RM) bench press, 1RM back squat and nutritional knowledge questionnaire. RESULTS: From a total of 70 comparisons made, significance was observed in 47, of which 92% was in favour of the NCAA Division I athletes. Body mass, fat free mass and the body mass indexes of the BUAFL athletes were found to be significantly (p<0.05) lower than those of the NCAA athletes. BUAFL athletes were significantly (p<0.05) outperformed by the NCAA athletes in the vertical jump, 1RM bench press, and 1RM back squat by averages of 24%, 40% and 43% respectively. The BUAFL athletes, however, scored significantly (p<0.05) higher than the NCAA athletes in the nutritional knowledge questionnaire. CONCLUSION: The differences observed made clear the vast diversity that exists between British and American collegiate football athletes competing respectively at the highest level. The data reported serves as a reference point for coaches in the NCAA, BUAFL and other international leagues. It also acts to raise awareness of the nutritional misconceptions that exist amongst collegiate football athletes.