Nutritional and anthropometric profile of adolescent volleyball athletes*

Volleyball was created in 1895 by William Morgan. Women started to play it only in 1928. In 1916, volleyball gets to Brazil, brought by the Youth Men Christian Association, and in 1944 the First Brazilian Championship was held1. Volleyball is a sport that alternates aerobic and anaerobic activity, thus requiring muscular strength and power capability. The athlete must possess flexibility, strength, power, agility and aerobic fitness to practice it2. During adolescence, individuals undergo significant growth and maturation, and unique changes take place in the body, thus causing an increase of nutritional needs. As adolescent athletes have energetic needs that are different from the needs of adult athletes, one should pay heed not only to energetic suitability, but also to the intake of protein and fluids before, during and after the exercise3. Few are the studies3-9 that assess nutritional profile of young female volleyball athletes, with their anthropometric features and checking nutritional suitability of macro and micronutrients, according to the recommended guidelines. The purpose of this research was, therefore, to assess dietary and anthropometric profiles of adolescent athletes from two clubs in the city of Rio de Janeiro.