eating during tourney season - YUM YUM!!!!

[DanMaz]

Ok, i dont have a written formula or weekly plan but i know what they should and should not eat during tourney season especially Summer tourney season!! I am looking for a more planned out weekly eating guideline i can share with my team.
(hoping someone has something already made i can steal and use instead of writing up my own...
i am lazy i guess) lol.

Any help greatly appreciated!

I will start with a list of no no's and some good things to eat... please ad to it!

1) no soda no pop - and i mean all week long no pop EVER!!! one of the worse things to drink during the week and during between games.
2) during hot hot weeks you must start drinking extra water hydrating days before the weekend... like start Tuesday drinking extra water daily thru the weekend.
3) cut out the candy and sweets.... instead fruits and more fruits & vegey's
4) no Coffee - maybe one cup for the older girls but put that fancy stuff down during the games, between games and all weekend. give it up!
5) hope you already do this... take your vitamins everyday
6) Pickles and pickle juice are great energy boosters too
7) wear lots of sunscreen and lip balm -
8) NO ENERGY DRINKS - EVA

please ad...............

 

[DanMaz]

one of the fun things we do is get a mom to be in charge of the food list and every family shares and brings a separate dish to share like a buffet type set up. Make the master list of good foods to eat and then everyone bring in something off the list. a lot of work but saves money in the long run and don't have to live off the concession stand food.

 

[HITTER23]

What age group are you talking? Even tho its alot of common sense, lot of that isnt going to fly when you start telling 17-18 yr old "women' what to do.

 

[DanMaz]

What age group are you talking? Even tho its alot of common sense, lot of that isnt going to fly when you start telling 17-18 yr old "women' what to do.

mainly the young ones..... 16u and under for sure.

 

[Stedman00]

my personal favorite is on the NOT list. between games on saturday afternoon. Hot as blazes, brownies and chocolate milk. had 12U players on the field hurling like pledge week. head coach was not happy.

 

[HITTER23]

Ive personally made the mistake of hot wings and blue cheese on a 3 hr break in the hot sun before.

 

[DanMaz]

lol funny stuff you guys!
On a Coaching note - no walking tacos until after your last game of the day!

 

[AnotherSoftballDad]

So no box of Timbits before the 1st game of the day?

 

[CARDS]

Honestly; I would give guidance on the (why / what not to eat consession stand) but when it comes to female nutrition its is not close to males in order to maintain a healthy balance for them.

Parents and the players need to make sure they seek competent medical advice if they are looking for weight loss, weight gain or, muscle development or, playing day since it will be unique to each individual.


I would share with my parents the BEAT plan my DD was on. It included a bi weekly finger prick to see where she was and what plan would be for the upcoming 2 week period. Why box, bag or, can food is not good. How cell development happens and the quality of cells depends on the fuel available to make them. I had a PPT we used for softball school and would have Mr. Franklin come in to give a little talk on the importance of a healthy diet and the big one with youth...The pitfalls of energy drinks and how quickly they can reverse what you worked for....


Tournament naturally a lot of nuts, fruit and power bars but they also need some quality fat as a performance athlete. When to get it , carbs etc. will depend on each individual lifestyle work out plan etc.…

 

[yocoach]

Funny stuff on what not to eat.

Now, what to eat:

Proteins and foods high in protein such as peanut butter are good foods. They stay with and fill the tummy longer.
As mentioned before, pickles and pickle juice are both high in electrolytes and will help even out the body on hot, sweaty days.
Any type of fresh fruit (except pineapple) or fresh veggies and dip is a far better alternative than chips. Fruits high in water such as watermelon, grapes, citrus, etc. will help not only with nutrition, but hydration as well. Stay away from pineapple as it's a natural diuretic and will dehydrate.
Crackers, cheese, a lunchmeat assortment to go with, and a veggie tray with blue cheese dressing are great things to snack on. Ranch is okay but has more sugar than BC dressing. At least most do.
If doing sandwiches of any kind, go with wheat or a whole grain bread when possible. Again Protein intensive versus white bread.
When drinking Gatorade and like products, these are for after and between games only! They were designed to replace electrolytes lost during a sporting event and NOT meant to be drunk during the game. When drinking sports drinks between or after games, either cut it by 50% with water or drink twice the amount of water than sports drink consumed. I've had several players pass out and end up in the ER due to only drinking sports drinks all day.
NO POP/ENERGY DRINKS EVER DURING SEASON!! Limit caffeine intake when possible.

 

[Passion4theGame]

I provide our team with water and Gatorade every weekend. Last summer was a challenge with the shenanigans of the virus but we did the best we could to provide them hydration.

Our recruiting coordinator gets a ton of donations from companies for healthy snacks for the girls. Protein bar, sun flower seeds, cookies, etc.

eat a lot of fruit and drink a lot of water.

 

[DanMaz]

"Mr. Franklin come in to give a little talk on the importance of a healthy diet and the big one with youth...The pitfalls of energy drinks and how quickly they can reverse what you worked for...."

CARDS - how do i get Mr Franklin come speak to my team?
Or better yet... set up a zoom meeting for anyone and everyone to join in. ??
This is really important stuff and I think it is important to tell families how important it is for health and performance.

 

[tjsmize3]

Interesting comments!

Couple things to add:
1. Do not confuse optimal game-day nutrition with the nutrition during the rest of your weekly training/recovery cycle.
2. Softball athletes ARE NOT distance athletes. Most athletes playing sports that do not require a CONSTANT energy expenditure > 1 hr, DO NOT benefit from a lot of extra nutrition on game day.

Nutrition for training and recovery involve understanding how and when to time your workouts with meals. i.e. How to optimize sufficient high quality protein, high fiber/low glycemic index carbs, healthy fats BOTH in timing and quantity to support your training. That can make a big difference and most of the science regarding nutritional optimization for athletes is concerned with the period of training and recovering.

In regards to games:
Less is more. Your body should already have everything it needs to play optimally on game day. Any food that you put in your gut on game day will generally take away from your athletic performance as it will stimulate the "rest and digest" functions of your body. That will decrease your performance substantially. Therefore, ALL of the good things that you eat during the week to PREPARE for competition (i.e. high fiber foods, high quality protein, healthy fat) should be avoided DURING competition. 99.9% of all softball athletes come to the games with plenty of fat and muscle glycogen stores to power them through their type of athletic performance. On days where it's hot and you have multiple games you want to consume all of the stuff you would regularly avoid like the plague during the week (i.e. low fiber/high glycemic index carbs, minimal to no fat, minimal to no protein) and stay well hydrated. During competition (if you think you need to consume calories) you want to optimize quick absorption of sugar with little to nothing in the gut... i.e. sports drinks, gels, some nutrition bars formulated for that purpose. If you have at least 2 hrs between games you can eat a very small meal... emphasis on small.

Lastly, Gatorade and Powerade ARE formulated for DURING games. Gatorade was formulated and provided to university of FL football players to maintain optimal blood glucose during games in the intense heat and humidity. The issue here is that it contains sugar and the majority of healthy athletes playing in relatively short non-continuous sports do not need to consume sugar during their competition. If you provide this for your athletes in softball... DILUTE it!

Also, caffeine in small amounts has been uniformly shown to enhance athletic performance. I would not want my athlete trying it for the first time on game day or over consuming it on game day, however, 1/2 - 1 cup of coffee before competition is likely to give you small performance boost.

 

[CARDS]

"Mr. Franklin come in to give a little talk on the importance of a healthy diet and the big one with youth...The pitfalls of energy drinks and how quickly they can reverse what you worked for...."

CARDS - how do i get Mr Franklin come speak to my team?
Or better yet... set up a zoom meeting for anyone and everyone to join in. ??
This is really important stuff and I think it is important to tell families how important it is for health and performance.

Send me an email at hogeld@greatoaks.com and I will send you his contact information and the lesson plan and power point we used in softball school.

Here is a good read on overall athlete nutrition, sleep, recovery times etc.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0759-2

 

[DanMaz]

Interesting comments!

Couple things to add:
1. Do not confuse optimal game-day nutrition with the nutrition during the rest of your weekly training/recovery cycle.
2. Softball athletes ARE NOT distance athletes. Most athletes playing sports that do not require a CONSTANT energy expenditure > 1 hr, DO NOT benefit from a lot of extra nutrition on game day.

Nutrition for training and recovery involve understanding how and when to time your workouts with meals. i.e. How to optimize sufficient high quality protein, high fiber/low glycemic index carbs, healthy fats BOTH in timing and quantity to support your training. That can make a big difference and most of the science regarding nutritional optimization for athletes is concerned with the period of training and recovering.

In regards to games:
Less is more. Your body should already have everything it needs to play optimally on game day. Any food that you put in your gut on game day will generally take away from your athletic performance as it will stimulate the "rest and digest" functions of your body. That will decrease your performance substantially. Therefore, ALL of the good things that you eat during the week to PREPARE for competition (i.e. high fiber foods, high quality protein, healthy fat) should be avoided DURING competition. 99.9% of all softball athletes come to the games with plenty of fat and muscle glycogen stores to power them through their type of athletic performance. On days where it's hot and you have multiple games you want to consume all of the stuff you would regularly avoid like the plague during the week (i.e. low fiber/high glycemic index carbs, minimal to no fat, minimal to no protein) and stay well hydrated. During competition (if you think you need to consume calories) you want to optimize quick absorption of sugar with little to nothing in the gut... i.e. sports drinks, gels, some nutrition bars formulated for that purpose. If you have at least 2 hrs between games you can eat a very small meal... emphasis on small.

Lastly, Gatorade and Powerade ARE formulated for DURING games. Gatorade was formulated and provided to university of FL football players to maintain optimal blood glucose during games in the intense heat and humidity. The issue here is that it contains sugar and the majority of healthy athletes playing in relatively short non-continuous sports do not need to consume sugar during their competition. If you provide this for your athletes in softball... DILUTE it!

Also, caffeine in small amounts has been uniformly shown to enhance athletic performance. I would not want my athlete trying it for the first time on game day or over consuming it on game day, however, 1/2 - 1 cup of coffee before competition is likely to give you small performance boost.

like the reply!
please simplify it for us all and list some of the light foods to eat during tourney weekend. I want to pass this on to my parents and players.

thanks!

 

[tjsmize3]

please simplify it for us...

thanks!

Dan,
At your age group, game day and game weekend nutrition is not going to contribute nearly as much as when girls bodies mature and the game itself demands much more of them to play at a high level. At that level (older, elite competition) there are some very specific situations where it might make sense to consume calories. At any level however, consuming enough water is key! Otherwise, the body generally has enough glycogen and fat stores to handle the energy demands of a softball game.
AS A RULE OF THUMB, game day nutrition should either consist of water only, or if you really think you need those calories when playing, water plus sugar (think Gatorade/Powerade or water + rice crispy bar/granola bar, etc..). If you eat harder to digest meals before games (i.e. high fiber carbs, high protein, fats, large amount of food...) these things take time and work to digest. Your body is not equipped to digest food and perform at the same time. So you have 3 options: digest optimally, perform optimally or do both sub-optimally.
As you look at your schedule and see games stacked on top of each other as in most travel softball tournaments, kids generally will feel they eventually need to eat or they will become uncomfortable (more so psychologically then physically). The best strategy for them is to graze throughout the day on Gatorade, branched chain amino acid drinks (without other added stuff like stimulants), fruits and fruit juices, bars (with low protein and low fat). Next best strategy is to eat smaller amounts of regular food (brought from home or fast food) during at least a 2-3 hr break... light on the meats and light on the fats (fried foods, cheese/dairy, processed meats like sausage).
Now, after the games and during the week of training... here is the time to optimize nutrition and reap the benefits. There are books on this that you can purchase, or as CARDS has suggested you can ask an expert to put a basic presentation together. For your team it should be directed toward YOUNG - FEMALE - SOFTBALL ATHLETES! Following basic nutritional advice to optimize an Ironman performance or to increase longevity is not going to help you much.
Kudos to you for making an effort to start good habits at an early age!