You’ve seen it before. Your team has been balling out all morning. Everything is going in your favor- line calls, referee judgments, even timely “ball-on!”s. You finish top in your pool and are waiting around for the other teams to finish in order to start the playoffs.
You finally get more than 15 minutes to eat something, so you grab a sandwich, macaroni salad, a few chips and maybe a small cookie that one of the parents is passing around. Forty minutes or so later the pools have all finished, and it’s time to start warming up. This time you feel a little different. Just an hour ago you were bouncing about, but now you feel heavy, tired and frankly, unmotivated to do anything. It’s not that you don’t want to play, it’s just that you want to sit around a little longer before you play. It’s the same feeling you have when your mom or dad wakes you up for school, “5 more minutes, PLEASE!”.
After an unenthusiastic warm-up, you start your match, feeling confident that you’ll get it all together by the time the match starts. Wrong. You call your first timeout at 1-5 and it’s an uphill battle to the end. Even though you were the favored team to win, you find yourself packing up your things after a brutal, albeit boring, elimination match.
This situation I just described is a common problem among many players and most teams. The problem lies in that fact that many coaches, parents and athletes are uneducated in sports performance nutrition. Eating for health is not that same as eating for optimal performance.
With having up to 5 or 6 matches in a day, an athletes body will require appropriate fuel to perform at a high level for each and every match. Having 5 or 6 matches in a day across multiple days can be very taxing on the body. In both these circumstances, proper nutrition is of paramount importance to ensure the athlete is both fueled and recovered.
Below you will find a few guidelines that will help you, your child or your team perform at an optimal level more consistently. If you think about it, this could make the difference between your team qualifying for nationals or not.
Tournament Day Guidelines:
Emphasize Hydration
- Fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates are essential. Proteins and fats are secondary.
Eat as much as necessary, not as much as possible.
- This amount may vary from person to person, so take some time to figure out what amount and food types work best for you.
During the Tournament choose smaller meals.
- Consider not having a very large lunch meal. This may leave you lethargic.
Emphasize protein and fiber AFTER the matches are done for the day.
- Protein shakes can be supplemented for easily digested protein during or between matches.
Hydration is paramount during these single or multi-day tournaments. Personally I prefer sipping on something with electrolytes instead of plain water. When I competed I used LMNT electrolyte packs during practices and competition, however there are many commercial electrolyte products that can be used. Be advised, some products contain over 30 grams of sugar per serving. Drinking several of these high sugar drinks over a course of one day may be unnecessary and potentially cause an energy crash.
For more information, book a consultation with Traci Callahan here
