Comments on: Tournament Fuel – Are You Prepared?

By: Softball nutrition

Softball nutrition — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:58:25 +0000

food is like fuel to our body as well as liquids. It’s very important that we refuel and recharge ourselves throughout the day especially if we have 3 games for that day. What we put to practice might be put to waste because we don’t have energy to perform.

Nice article! This is what we sometimes neglect and forget to look into

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:31:13 +0000

This is our daughters year playing 12u travel ball so we were pretty new to this. I’ve coached many times at the recreational level and she has played since she was 8 but had never played this much within a 2-3 day span. We knew the team we joined from playing with most of the girls in our rec league. Being an established team they already have a system in place that seems to work well. Each players parents bring snacks for the players as well as their families. We bring such things fresh fruit, nuts, granola, and any other energy foods that may be easy to carry. We also plan ahead for meals. Often we will grill out back at the team tent. Several of the fathers get together and starting grilling out during the last game we play before a break so that the girls amnd families can eat without having to during their break in games. We grill anything from chicken breast to shrimp. The parents bring in sides that can be kept easily in coolers. This gives the team as well as the familes time to sit back relax, enjoy a lite nutrituos meal without being in a rush. Not only is this a convenient economical way to handle meals it is also a good team building activity for the team members and the different families.

By: DonnaM

DonnaM — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:11:33 +0000

We make sure our daughter begins fueling her body 2 days in advance of a tournament. Lots of water, protein, good carbs, fruits, absolutely no heavy, fried, or super starchy foods. Then for game day this is example of what we pack: water, gatorade, pedialyte (clear), watermelon, melon, bananas, grapes, whole grain pita pockets stuffed with lean turkey, 1/2 slice sharp cheddar, spinach leaves, thin slices of cucumber, almonds, sm. pretzels, jerkey, veggie chips, protein bars, cherub tomatoes, tiny dill pickles, sometimes we do turkey wraps instead of the pita pockets. We do try to change it up some from weekend to weekend so it doesn’t get boring. There is a big difference between the way our daughter performs all the way to the end of tournament day compared to the girls who eat concession stand food or bring greasy chips, cookies, cold drinks, etc. At the end of day one of tourney we make sure our daughter again starts drinking water on the way home to replenish herself, we will then go home and eat a light dinner. You never want anything heavy on their stomach.

After 3 years of doing this, it shows in her performance. We just completed 2 weekends in a row of 100+ degrees. She never fell in a slump, never felt sick, never had any muscle cramping.

Hope this helps.