Anorexic Teams?

You'll probably be able to tell when you go on official visits.

every collegiate women's team has girls with eating issues.

Every high school and college in this country has young women with eating disorders. Just worry about yourself.

I agree, but also look at what the coaches are doing. do they overlook eating disorders? make weight a big issue? put a lot of pressure on runners to stay thin? allow severely emaciated runners to race?

Yes, eating disorders exist on college teams. So, if i were looking at picking a school, I would not eliminate a school just b/c 1-2 runners on the team have eating disorders. But, I would pick one where the coaches do not support this.

An important question to get answered is which coaches allow the severely underweight athlete to continue to race.

While a coach cannot control eating disorders, he/she can control who races. If the coach is willing to race an athlete who is struggling with a severe eating disorder, then you have reason to give that program a wide berth.

This is an issue that is almost impossible to get information about until you are competing for the program. Every coach in the country will say that if a runner has an eating disorder they won't race, there is no way to tell if they follow through with that until you get there.

Most coaches promote and atmosphere of general health, in that they won't poke or prod anyone toward developing an eating disorder, but I would say the majority of the programs in this country are ill-equipped to deal with an ED if it should occur.

There is simply no way to know upfront what the atmosphere of the team is when it comes to healthy eating. That likely won't become apparent in one visit either, you just need to pick the school you think is right for you.

Calibabe7687 wrote:

I've heard Duke ...

AKA "Puke."

Calibabe7687 wrote:

I've been told that a lot of school have big amount of girls with eating disorders.

Sorry I couldn't get past this.

Most coaches encourage it, by doing nothing about it.