The next time you have a player who seems to lack endurance and doesn’t improve with the rest of the team as the season progresses – ask about their eating habits. While it may not be as extreme as the example cited in the article, you’re sure to have a few junk food junkies. I’ve had players show up at practice with Burger King value meals in their hands and then they wondered why they felt so bad during practice!
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July 13th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Fully agree with this one Mike. Unfortunately convenience food (i.e junk) is very handy for the soccer mom or dad on the go.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
It sure is and I’ll admit we eat worse during soccer season on the weekends than during the offseason. But any fast food is usually had AFTER a match or tournament. But we still eat out too much during soccer. I think with things going so badly economy wise, we may really start to try and pack meals to take with us. I try to convince my players not to eat junk between tournament matches, with varying success.
One thing my U12 parents have started doing is a lunch pot luck. We started to all bring lunches during tournaments – easier than flying out for food and flying back for the 2nd match that day. Well, the kids all layed musical coolers and we ended up sharing anyway – so we decided to just pot luck. We bring a portable table and everyone puts their contribution on the table. Works out quite nicely and they tend to eat healthier. We’ll see how it goes this season!
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I try and get my players to eat food with great nutritional value beteween games or before games, and have found that banannas are are a great fruit for kids. For complete fitness, included nutrition, see my review on soccer fitness