The comparison of the level of training, nutrition and physical activity of age group swimmers in TWO different countries

The purpose of our study is to compare the differences between the nutrition, physical activity habits and performances of youth swimmers in America and Turkey. 41 Turkish swimmers with the average age of 11,34 ± 0.57 and 32 American swimmers with the average age of 11,40 ± 0,71 have attended this study. All of the swimmers who have attended the study are active and licenced swimmers who participate in swimming competitions. A survey has been applied to the swimmers who took part in the study as a means of collecting data. The survey is formed of three parts with questions which are related to the general facilities of swimmers such as their ages, heights and weights, nutrition habits and the physical activity exercises that they perform apart from their swimming trainings. The average of the highest FINA points that the swimmers achieved in the swimming competitions in the 2015-2016 winter olympics in their own countries have been considered as the performance criterion. The FINA point will be explained later on. Definitve statistics and percentage calculations have been analyzed by using SPSS 15 package programme and have been demonstrated demographically in our study. When anthropometric measurements are evaluated, the average height of Turkish swimmers is 153,85 ± 6,72cm and the average height of American swimmers is 153,75 ± 8.62cm; the average weight of Turkish swimmers is 40,97 ± 5,57kg and the average weight of American swimmers is 41,07 ± 6,7kg. 80,5 % of Turkish swimmers have an adequate and a well-balanced diet and 81,3 % of American swimmers have an adequate and a well-balanced diet. Also, it has been mentioned that 63,4 % of Turkish swimmers and 93,7 % of American swimmers do physical activities regularly apart from their swimming trainings. The average FINA point of Turkish swimmers has been confirmed to be 376,4 ± 85,91 and the average FINA point of American swimmers has been confirmed to be 409,4 ± 108,02. As a result, a significant difference between the anthropometric measurements and nutrition habits of swimmers has not been observed. However, differences between the level of their physical activities and performances have been observed. Key Words; Nutrition Habits; Physical Activites; FINA Points; Anthropometric Measurements.