Nutrition For Soccer Players and The Importance of Proper Hydration
This is a subject that is important when playing any sport no matter if it is the coldest or hottest time of year . I felt that I should share this information for the safety of all our team members.
The importance of drinking enough water in order to ensure proper hydration during a practice/game cannot be emphasized enough. Proper nutrition and hydration for soccer players is what separates the winners from losers.
A soccer practice or game can be an extremely demanding situation. One of the key points in order to perform well is to ensure proper hydration of your body. This simply means that you are consuming enough of healthy fluids while minimizing the amount of fluids you lose. Proper hydration is one of the key points of nutrition for soccer players.
When a practice session occurs, the weather will usually be warm. With other words, your body will start to lose fluid. The loss of fluid occurs when your body starts to sweat. Your body is using sweat to keep you cool and the sweat comes from the hydrates you consume.
While sweat is a good thing it can also cause you problems if you are not hydrated properly. If you want to perform well on the soccer field, it will be crucial to drink enough fluids. It is also equally important to take in proper fluids during your practice/game and also after your training session/game as well.
The U.S. Soccer Federation provides these guidelines to help parents, players and coaches prevent dehydration and heat illness in young athletes who are active in the heat:
1) Weigh each player before and after activity to determine how much fluid he or she loses during activity.9 If a player is lighter after activity then encourage a little more fluid consumption during the next practice/game. If the player is heavier after activity then encourage a little less fluid during the next practice/game.
2) According to the American Academy of Pediatrics:
Before prolonged physical activity, the child should be well hydrated. During the activity, periodic drinking should be enforced even if the child does not feel thirsty and each 20 minutes the child or adolescent should consume:
-5 ounces of fluid for a player
weighing 90 lbs or less
-9 ounces of fluid for a player
weighing more than 90 lbs.
To ensure that the child is not dehydrated before the start of the practice session or game, the child should drink 12-16 ounces of fluid approximately 30 minutes before getting to the field.
Once the activity is over, players should drink water or a sports drink every 20 minutes for an hour
3) Teach the youth soccer player to monitor his/her own hydration status with the following tip: If their urine (as it flows, not when diluted in the bowl) is a pale yellow like lemonade then they are likely pretty well hydrated. If their urine is dark yellow like apple juice then they are likely dehydrated. This is an easy and accurate way to assess hydration status and it gets the kids involved on a personal level.
4) Kids need to drink enough of the right fluids to replenish fluid losses during activity. Flavored beverages that contain sodium (sports drinks) are preferable because the child may drink more of them.
5) In addition to replacing fluid, children also need to replace the electrolytes, such as sodium, lost through sweat. Electrolyte replacement is important to stimulate an adequate thirst mechanism,15 help the body hold on to fluid,16 help prevent muscle cramps17 and to maintain sodium levels in the blood.
6) Fluids children should avoid immediately before and during activity include fruit juices, carbonated beverages, caffeinated beverages and energy drinks. These will impact negatively on your performance as they will actually dehydrate your body.
Fruit juices have a high sugar content, which can slow fluid absorption and cause upset stomach,19 may also lack sodium.
Carbonated beverages, such as soft drinks, can reduce voluntary drinking due to stomach fullness and throat burn when gulping (20) and lack sodium.
Energy drinks should be avoided because many contain caffeine and have high carbohydrate concentrations, which slows the emptying of fluids from the stomach.
7) Be sure that each child has his/her own beverage container and that they have the opportunity to keep it cool during the practice. An individual container will allow them to monitor fluid consumption more accurately, can be filled with beverage of personal preference, will help avoid the spread of germs and viruses and the cool fluid will be replenished at a better rate than a container that sits
out in the sun.
There are many types of fluids that will help you keep proper hydration and increase your performance as well. However, the best, cheapest and the most tasteful fluid is water. There are also sport drinks that have been scientifically proved to provide good hydrate. One of these sport drinks is the well known Gatorade. You should also keep in mind that there are food kinds that will help your body to replenish lost fluids. These foods should be a part of your regular diet(watermelon, oranges and bananas).
I hope everyone will do there part in helping ensure the safety of these players.
Thank you,
Coach Victor Garcia