The Impact of Brief One-time Education and Coach Encouragement on Hydration Status in Child Judo Athletes

Due to the lack of any comparative study related to effect of different hydration processes, this study aimed to compare the effectiveness of coach encouragement and hydration education in maintaining hydration status in child judo athletes

Forty-seven athletes participated in a four-day training camp, during which hydration status was assessed before and after training sessions under three different conditions: no intervention (control), coach-guided fluid intake encouragement, and pre-training brief one-time hydration education. Athletes were unaware of the intervention conditions assigned to each day, and the educational session was delivered without emphasizing its experimental nature. To minimize potential carryover effects, the sequence of interventions was fixed. Hydration status was objectively monitored using urine specific gravity (USG) and urine color (UC) measurements.