CREATINE USAGE AND EDUCATION OF TRACK AND FIELD THROWERS AT NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION DIVISION IUNIVERSITIES LAWRENCE W. JUDGE, 1 JEFFREY C. PETERSEN, 2 BRUCE W. CRAIG, 1 DONALD L. HOOVER, 3 KARA A. HOLTZCLAW, 1 BRIANNA N. LEITZELAR, 1 REBECCA M.R. TYNER, 4 AMY S. BLAKE, 5 OMAR S. HINDAWI, 6 AND DAVID M. BELLAR 7 1 School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana; 2 Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation, School of Education, Waco, Texas; 3 Department of Physical Therapy, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky; 4 Advancing Knowledge in Health Care, Chicago, Illinois; 5 New Castle School Corporation, New Castle, Indiana; 6 Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan; and 7 School of Kinesiology, University of Louisiana Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana ABSTRACT Judge, LW, Petersen, JC, Craig, BW, Hoover, DL, Holtzclaw, KA, Leitzelar, BN, Tyner, RMR, Blake, AS, Hindawi, OS, and Bellar, DM. Creatine usage and education of track and field throwers at National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I universities. J Strength Cond Res 29(7): 2034–2040, 2015— The purpose of this study was to analyze the level of creatine use along with the perceived benefits and barriers of creatine use among collegiate athletes who participate in throwing events within the sport of track and field. A total of 258 throwers from National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institutions completed an online survey regarding creatine. The results provided baseline levels of creatine use and allowed for the analysis of factors related to athletic conference affiliation. Results indicate that creatine use remains to be a common (32.7%) practice among throwers with significantly higher levels of use among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference athletes (44.6%) than Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conference athletes (28.8%), x 2 = 5.505, p = 0.019. The most common reasons for using creatine included a desire to improve/increase: strength (83.3%), recovery time (69.0%), and performance (60.7%). The most common perceived obstacles included contamination/quality control (39.5%), cost (33.3%), inconvenience (16.7%), and cramping (14.3%). A desire for additional education and training was noted through an expression of interest (55.6%) with significantly higher levels of interest from FBS athletes (65.6%) than FCS athletes (52.2%), x 2 = 6.425, p = 0.039. However, the athletic departments provide nutritional supple- ment counseling at only 26.6% of the schools. Although the access to full-time nutritionist counsel was available at 57.3% of the schools, there was a significant difference (x 2 = 9.096, p = 0.003) between FBS schools (73.7%) and FCS schools (51.7%). KEY WORDS supplements, ergogenic aids, performance INTRODUCTION T hrowing events in track and field require maximal strength and power to be competitive and demand training regimens that are designed to maximize these qualities (16). These training regimens extended into nutritional content and insuring the optimal type and amount of intake for best performance (6). In an effort to further maximize strength and power, some athletes use creatine as a nutritional supplement; and documentation showed that creatine enhanced training of athletes in sports that require strength and power, such as track and field throwing events (3,26). Reports of creatine use in previous research of collegiate athletes has ranged between a low of 13.3% to a high of 78.0% (8,9,10,12,17,33). A variety of pro- tocols have been used to assess the effects of creatine sup- plementation upon brief, intermittent, and high-intensity exercise. For example, creatine with resistance training has been shown to improve performance indices associated with muscular strength, muscular endurance, and anaerobic power production (1,2,14,15,19,31,32,36). However, no spe- cific studies have detailed the use or knowledge of creatine in track and field throw athletes at the collegiate level. The efficacious use of creatine as a nutritional supple- ment for athletic performance is related to proper levels of use, and creatine dosing is generally broken up into a loading phase and maintenance phase. Recommended Address correspondence to Lawrence W. Judge, lwjudge@bsu.edu. 29(7)/2034–2040 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Ó 2015 National Strength and Conditioning Association 2034 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research the TM Copyright © National Strength and Conditioning Association Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.