Finally got around to finishing that tournament checklist article. Take a look and let me know if anyone has any questions.

Hope this helps!

Coach Mike


Tourney Timing
How to get ready heading into a big tournament.
by Mike Mejia, CSCS


With the fall tournament season practically upon us, now is the perfect time make sure that your players have all the information and resources they need to compete at their best. Let's face it, the demands of playing multiple games over the course of a weekend can be daunting; especially for kids who've been spending more time acclimating to the school year, than honing their lacrosse skills. So, in addition to game planning and making sure all of their equipment needs are met, parents and coaches need to devote at least some time to addressing their athletes' physical preparation, as well as their nutrition and hydration status both leading up to, and during the event.

Realizing that you likely already have your hands full, I've put together the following "Tournament Checklist" that covers just about everything a young athlete needs to do heading into a big weekend competition. It doesn't matter if you're working with elite level high school players, or a bunch of little one's who are just learning the game, the information contained here on things such as proper warm-up strategies, pre-game meals, hydration guidelines and more, will definitely come in handy.

I've gone ahead and put these tips into chronological order, according to the way they would need to be addressed leading up to the tournament. Go through each one and see how your athletes stack up. Then simply make any necessary changes and note what happens. Chances are, both you and the athletes that you work with will have a much more productive and enjoyable experience.

1. Good nutritional habits should be followed as often as possible: Although this is more of a generic tip, I would be remiss if I didn't address it right off the top. While it's certainly important to eat a good breakfast the morning of the game (and I'll cover exactly what that entails in just a second), doing so isn't going to magically make up for any longstanding nutritional deficiencies. Kids need to eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, get lots of high quality, low-fat protein sources throughout the day, drink adequate amounts of water and consume predominantly complex carbohydrates in the form of whole grain breads, cereals, pastas, potatoes and brown rice- on a regular basis. Not that they have to be perfect about their nutritional intake; they are after all just kids. Try to get them following an 80/20 split- where they're making an effort to follow the guidelines listed above about 80% of the time and can have a little more freedom with the other 20% of their dietary intake.

2. Game Day breakfast: Assuming that they are doing the right thing from a nutritional standpoint, what they eat the morning of a game can indeed have a major impact on their performance. As a general rule, you want to keep them away from high fat foods that take a long time to digest (i.e. bacon, sausage, eggs with lots of cheese etc.). You should also have them avoid high sugar foods and other types of carbohydrates that break down into sugar very quickly in the bloodstream. These include things like doughnuts, muffins, sugary cereals, white flour waffles and pancakes loaded with syrup, as well as plain white breads and bagels. Instead try and stick with whole grain versions, topped with things like fresh fruit, peanut butter and low fat cream cheese.

Here's a listing of some other more acceptable game day breakfast choices:

Yogurts (preferably Greek- due to their higher protein content)
Oatmeal
Eggs
Low fat Turkey bacon/ sausage
Cottage cheese with fruit
Smoothies made with milk, yogurt and/ or fruit
Lean sandwich meats (sliced turkey, chicken) on whole grain breads
Nut butters
Granola or Muesli

3. ALWAYS have your athletes do a full dynamic warm-up prior to each game: Once you get them to the field (hopefully after allowing at least an hour for proper digestion), make sure that your athletes go through a full dynamic warm-up prior to each game that they play. You can find an example in the video embedded on page one of this post.

Dynamic warm-ups are important because they help to properly prepare the muscles, connective tissue and central nervous system for upcoming physical activity. This business where we have kids just do a couple of static stretches immediately prior to explosive athletic movements has simply got to stop! It doesn't prepare their bodies properly, and can in fact increase their likelihood of injury.

4. Hydration Guidelines: Being properly warmed up and adequately fueled is a good start, but you also need to ensure that your athletes are hydrated as well. Young athletes are notorious for not drinking enough water and it can be a major problem when playing several games over the course of a weekend. Exactly how much should they be drinking and when? The following chart should help clarify things:

Pre & Post Game Hydration Guidleines

When to Drink Amount
2 Hours before 16 oz.
10 to 20 minutes before 8 oz.
Every 10-15 minutes during activity 8 oz.
After 20 oz. for every pound lost to rehydrate


One final word on hydration, Sports drinks are fine for activities lasting one hour in duration and offer a good way for athletes to replace electrolytes lost through perspiration. And speaking of electrolytes, coconut water can also serve as an excellent option here, as it hydrates even better than many of today's more popular sports drinks. Just make sure to also have some good old H2O on hand as well and avoid giving kids too much in the way of fruit juice due to the extremely high sugar content. You'll also want to keep them away from soda and any type of carbonated and or caffeinated drinks, as the carbonation can cause stomach discomfort and caffeine acts as a diuretic.

5. Warming down is often just as important as a warming-up: Think about for a second. After sprinting all over the field, making lots of rapid direction changes, absorbing and dishing out checks and unleashing countless shots on goal, is it a good idea for your athletes to immediately go find a spot and sit down until their next game starts? Of course not! Their bodies (and minds for that matter) need a chance to get out of "competition mode" to allow them to adequately rest and refuel.

Having them do a slightly lower intensity version of their pre-game dynamic warm-up would be a great idea. Just five to ten minutes of some light jogging interspersed with a few dynamic flexibility drills is an excellent way to avoid cramping, by gradually allowing their muscles to cool down. This will also help redistribute blood flow away from the extremities (arms and legs) and back towards central circulation to aid in the digestion of any between game snacks, or meals.

5. Between game snack/ meal ideas: As far as what they should be eating between games, once again you want to keep the focus on healthier food options and stay away from anything that's too high in fat, or sugar. This is where packing up a cooler the night before comes in handy. Because as convenient as they may be, the food choices offered at most tournaments leaves a lot to be desired from a nutritional standpoint. Things like hot dogs, hamburgers and french fries for instance, will just sit in kids' stomachs like lead. While things like ice cream, cookies and candy will get them hopped up on sugar for a short while, only to have their energy levels crash shortly thereafter.

Among the more acceptable choices here are things like granola bars, fruit, peanut butter and jelly, or turkey/ chicken sandwiches on whole grain breads, trail mix, whole wheat pretzels and chocolate milk.

6. Keep them moving between games with low level physical activity: Once they've gotten something to eat and had a chance to relax and rehydrate, get them up doing some low level activity to keep their blood flowing and reflexes sharp. Tossing a football or frisbee around, or passing a soccer ball are great ways to keep them active without tiring them out, and give them a nice way to work on hand-eye coordination between games. Not to mention the fact that it keeps them from just sitting there and texting away on their smart phones!

7. Post game nutrition: Once the last game of the day has been played, your thoughts should turn towards getting your athletes properly fueled for the next day's competition. The main things they'll need here are some protein, as well as some good complex carbohydrates. Excellent choices include things like grilled chicken with pasta, steak with either mashed, or a baked potato, as well as macaroni and cheese, and even pizza and chicken fingers in moderation. Although those last few items may seem more like "junk food", remember that they are still just kids and will be looking forward to eating some of the things they love after a tough day of playing. With choices like these, they'll at least be getting some nutrient value (i.e. protein from the chicken and cheese and carbs from the pasta, breading and crust), while at the same time, satisfying their taste buds.

You also want to try and work some vegetables into the equation for fiber and some extra nutrients, and should of course encourage them to drink plenty of water. About the only things you want to stay away from during this period are really high fat food options that are difficult to digest and don't offer a lot of nutritional value. Allowing them to pig-out on massive quantities of french fries, onion rings, hot dogs and hamburgers will probably not bode well for the next day's competition. Neither for that matter will allowing them to skip meals, or trying to pass off things like ice cream, chips or popcorn as "dinner".

I realize that there's quite a bit of information here, so I don't expect you to be able to enforce all of it at once. Even if you pick just one thing- like having your athletes start incorporating dynamic warm-ups, or getting them more aware of the importance of proper hydration- it will be a step in the right direction. The main thing I want parents and coaches to take away from this is that there's a lot more to tournament preparation than just having kids show up at the field on game day with sticks in hand. Getting them more educated about the things they need to do to take proper care of their bodies- even at an early age- will only serve to benefit them throughout their athletic career.