I had no knowledge of eating disorders until I learned that a close teammate was being treated for a food-related disorder. This event made me realize how easily one with such a condition can go about their daily routine as a student athlete undetected and untreated.
This event made me question others who I felt demonstrated similar types of behaviour, even if they may not fit the classic medical definition of a sufferer of such a condition. Many of my friends and I, once made aware of this matter, could easily recall witnessing instances where an athlete displayed symptoms of what could easily have been an eating disorder.
It is precisely at this moment that I felt a plan of care at the institutional level should be in place and should be easily accessible to all student athletes. I started to do some digging and did not like what I found.
U of T does not have a program in place to treat athletes with eating disorders, nor does it have a program to educate staff or students about how to avoid this dreadful condition.
I quickly learned that there was not a plan of care in place that was specific to student athletes except for a few paragraphs in some Faculty of Physical Education and health handbooks. I found that the faculty and the intercollegiate sport program invested most of their resources to areas concerning competition preparation, and to promoting inclusive spaces for athletes instead of treatment centres.
The FPEH has made important innovations in several key areas, especially in addressing equity concerns in athletic spaces. Gender-neutral athletic facilities are a welcome and positive innovation at U of T, but they do not address health concerns.
It is also apparent that while health, in the general sense, is included in the mission statement of the faculty, it is evident that very little, if any, practical results have been achieved. There isn’t much in the way of support, advancing, or disseminating knowledge of eating issues in comparison to other areas mentioned in the mission statement.
After much consultation with professionals outside the faculty-psychiatric doctors, counseling centers, triad clinic professionals and hospitals that specialize in eating disorder prevention education-I believe it is clear that U of T athletics must confront the issue of eating disorders in sport head-on.
The men and women that I spoke to all agreed that the faculty and intercollegiate program does not have an adequate plan of care in place. All also agreed that the number of female student athletes participating in sports has been steadily increasing and that there needs to be programs targeting their specific needs. Female athletes are more likely to develop eating disorders than their male counterparts.
All whom I have consulted with have at some point known of a student athlete from the University of Toronto using outside health resources or inquiring about services not provided by the university. Also, all of the professionals are very familiar with the lack of resources here and agree that more can be done to decrease the likelihood of such competitors suffering from an eating disorder.
My next step was to meet with FPEH representatives.
I received a warm reception from faculty members and they cleary intended to address my concerns. The feeling among everyone I spoke to was that my worries were valid, that more needed to be done to address the problem of eating disorders, and that they were interested in working to improve this area of the FPEH program.
I then became involved in assisting with recommendations, consultations, and liaised with faculty members and program staff on proposed initiatives. Several meetings took place where options were discussed, and everyone was committed to working to improve the quality of support programs available for athletes at U of T.
Sadly, the ideas generated from our discussions were rarely put into practice.
Several months later I revisited this topic. I joined the same faculty members and program staff and was told that they were still looking into the matter and that other matters took priority.
When I continued to show interest in discussing these matters shortly after this period I was made aware that the faculty was now taking a different position. It was at this stage that I learned there was hesitation by the faculty to become involved in any preventative care initiative.
When I asked why there was a sudden change in attitude I received a generic response: “It is difficult to get students to attend drug seminars and getting them go to a seminar on nutrition, body image or healthy training would be unlikely to happen.”
I learned that the program staff had reconsidered their degree of involvement and now-two years after our initial discussions-they wished to “study” the issue further. It was my understanding from the initial stages of the proposed initiative that all agreed that more needs to be done to educate and treat athletes, and that there was a genuine need for action. Apparently I was wrong.
My fear is that further examination of an already apparent concern only delays the action required to address the problem. Presently there is no treatment or education plan in place-not even an interim one.
Prevention through the education of U of T’s coaches, athletes, and junior development participants continues to be unaddressed by any of the programming offered at this institution. The faculty remains silent on this issue, while athletes at this school continue to be at risk of developing eating disorders without even realizing it in most cases.
I believe that further delays and having no interim plan to address my concerns denies the basic fundamental principle outlined in the mission statement of the FPEH and causes me to have serious concerns with respect to meeting the health needs of the student athlete.
