the right nutrition
Good nutrition is key to player performance when learning and competing. If you want to play your best, that means eating well every day, not just during the tournament.
The following information provide some tips and insights into how the right nutrition can keep you performing at your best come game day.
BEFORE THE GAME
When preparing for a tournament or game, players should eat plenty of carbohydrates in the days leading up to and during the event. If they don't have enough glycogen built up in their muscles before the game starts it can affect their play, particularly in the second half of a game or a second game in a day. Research has shown that players can deplete nearly all of their glycogen during the course of a game, causing fatigue and reducing running speed. The energy your body uses comes from glucose, a simple type of sugar. Glucose is stored in the body as glycogen. Carbohydrates are the easiest way for the body to get quick energy, although proteins and fats provide energy as well.
Carb-load, don't fat-load. Carbohydrate-rich foods include cereals, fruits, juices, breads, rice, plain baked potatoes and pasta with tomato sauce. Lower carbohydrate choices include donuts, cookies, buttery potatoes, ice cream, cheesy lasagna and pizza.
Timing is everything. When you eat is just as important as what you eat. Your body needs two to three hours to digest a regular meal such as breakfast or lunch before an athletic event, while a small snack such as a granola bar can be eaten 30 minutes to an hour in advance. Load up at meals but don't overeat, and keep snacks light as you get closer to game time.
ON GAME DAY
Plan ahead. Arrive at the tournament with a cooler stocked with healthy and quick-digesting snacks. Freezing plastic containers or bags filled with water in advance, (creating large blocks of ice), will keep the contents of the cooler cold.
A player's stomach can become upset if it's filled with slow-to digest foods during a game, especially if it's hot food.
Peanut butter and jam sandwiches are a game-day staple. Pack a jar of peanut butter, jam, a loaf of bread, plastic knives, and paper plates to be prepared.
Other good high-carb, easily digested foods include hard pretzels, cold cereal, yogurt, raw vegetables like carrot or celery sticks, and granola or energy bars.
Don't forget fruit. Oranges, watermelon, cantaloupe (melons), pineapple, grapes, peaches, and plums all provide quick energy and some hydration. Dried fruits, such as dried cranberries or raisins, and individual snack packs of fruit store well. Bananas are particularly important to have on hand as the potassium they contain can help prevent cramps.
Use caution with fatty foods. Fatty foods and meat are slow to digest, which is not ideal for an athlete facing a competition. Greasy, fried foods and fatty desserts are filling and may leave your kid feeling tired and sluggish. Skip the fries or pizza during the tournament, and keep fat content on the light side.
Strictly no meat or sausages during/between games - meat usually takes about 3-4 hours to digest.
Eat with food safety in mind. Nothing will slow down your athlete more than food poisoning - having stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea after eating. Ensure you store snacks at proper temperatures to prevent spoilage. Keep cheese, yogurt, meat, eggs and salads made with mayonnaise in a refrigerator or cooler. Shelf stable items such as nuts, granola bars and whole fruit can be tossed into a sports bag without a problem.
stay hydrated!
Dehydration can be a problem, especially on hot, sunny days, so take plenty of water. Flow with fluids. Good hydration should begin early in the day before kids even set foot on the playing field. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water during the day leading up to a game, especially in the two to three hours before game time. Continue to drink during the game (about 1/2 cup every 15 minutes) and afterward to rehydrate after sweat loss. Water should still be kids' go-to drink for exercise that's under 60 minutes. Games over an hour may require a sports drink to replace electrolytes lost through heavy sweating. Topping it off with milk. In addition to water, fat-free and low-fat milk also are smart ways to help young athletes meet their fluid needs. But that's not all. Just one cup of milk packs 15 to 24 percent of the protein most school-aged kids need in a day. It also delivers important nutrients of which most young athletes don't get enough, such as calcium, which is critical for building strong bones, transmitting nerve impulses, and helping muscles contract, as well as potassium for fluid balance.
· Drink extra fluids. You can tell if you are drinking enough fluids by monitoring your urine. You should be urinating frequently (every 2 to 4 hours); the urine should be clear coloured and significant in volume. Juices are a good fluid choice because they provide not only water and carbohydrates but also nutritional value. Save the sports drinks for during the event.
· Limit or eliminate soft drinks intake during the tournament and for several days leading up to the event. While soft drinks, contains plenty of sugar, they provide "empty” calories, meaning they provide no nutrition except energy. While it's important to take in plenty of carbs, soft drink is a poor way to do it. And while it might seem obvious, soft drinks can cause dehydration.
Rest & Recovery
Rest between games is critical. Get those lights out early, put away the phones and sleep. Eight to nine hours is a minimum for youth athletes. Sleep is when our bodies recover and regenerate. Between two games in a day, rest quietly with the legs up. If there is a long period between games, a short nap may be beneficial, but not longer than 30 minutes. I know it's hard with 8 year olds but this where we need you guys to help out as we want the boys to rest.
Ensure players make the most of game downtime as possible so that they can properly recuperate. We can't stress enough how important this is for the kids, as coaches it is in our best interest to get the boys as far as we can in the tournament & if we feel the boys are too tired & not co-operating before/during the games, we will have to sit them out until they are rested & have restored their energy levels to play.