Sports Nutrition for Young Athletes

Sports Nutrition for Young Athletes

Meeting the Sports Nutrition Needs of Young Athletes As if trying to feed teenagers a nutritious diet wasn’t difficult enough at times, taking care of your adolescent athlete can be even more of a challenge. Not to mention that as the parent of an athlete, you’re busy. In addition to driving your athlete to practices and games, you’re stocking up at the grocery store to try to keep up with their appetite. Proper nutrition is imperative for optimal growth and peak performance in adolescents. Unfortunately, most American youth today do not meet the minimum recommended amount of fruits, vegetables, or whole grains, and most go far beyond the recommended daily intake of sodium. On average U.S. teenagers consume more soda than milk or other healthful beverages. How is your teenager doing, and what is it they need? Nutrition and Competition It is without a doubt that what young athletes eat potentially affects their health as well as their performance skills in the sport. If they eat a poor diet, they not only risk illness but also their ability to best train and compete. Eating the right foods and drinking plenty of fluids before, during and after each training session ultimately helps young athletes perform better, have reduced fatigue and additionally, helps prevent them from getting ill. Providing sufficient fuel for muscles, maintaining adequate hydration, and promoting post-exercise body recovery can be achieved best by considering these three distinct phases: before, during and after training. Before training It is critical that young athletes begin each training session with energy stacked to the brim and hydrated properly. This will provide them with...

Pros and Cons of Supplementation and Ergogenic Aids

Are Supplements and Ergogenic Aids Worth the Risk? What are Supplements? Supplements are a form of ergogenic aid taken because they are believed to improve or increase performance. What’s the Big Deal About Supplements? There is a drive for athletes to have every competitive advantage possible. In 2001 the estimated global market of supplements was $46 billion.1 The US market alone was estimated at $16.7 billion in 2000.1 Supplements may make whatever claims they like as long as the label contains a list of active ingredients4 Some Performance Supplements in Use Today Supplements to improve strength and power: amino acids, anabolic steroids, boron, chromium, chrysin, colostrum, creatine, hydroxymethylbutyrate (HMB), omithine alphaketoglutarate, prohormones, protein, tribulus terrestris, vanadium and zinc Supplements promoting energy supply: bicarbonate, caffeine, carnitine, creatine, guarana, hornet juice, iron, magnesium, pyruvate and ribose Supplements used to burn fat caffeine, carnitine, ephedra A look at some well known supplements There are not many pros for many of the supplements, so I have broken this article down into the Facts and the Risks of using each of the following supplements: Anabolic steroids Prohormones Human Growth Hormone Creatine Amino acids Protein Caffeine Antioxidants Anabolic Steroids The Facts About Anabolic Steroids: Defined by the 1990 Anabolic Steroid Control Act as “any drug or hormonal substance chemically and pharmacologically related to testosterone . . . that promotes muscle growth.”2 Developed to promote tissue growth in bed rest patients3 Increased testosterone “shown to increase protein synthesis, muscle strength, and lean body mass.” 2 Requires a prescription to possess The Risks With Anabolic Steroid: In males may cause3: Decrease in testicular function Breast development Liver dysfunction...

When Dad or Mom is the Coach

Youth sports thrive on parent-coaches. One estimate finds that parents of players make up 90% of all youth sport coaches (1). Parents have a unique relationship with their own children, and when it comes to coaching your child’s team, it is not easy to separate being the parent from being the coach. The parent-coach/child-athlete relationship in youth sports is one that has not been widely studied, but given the large percentage of parent-coaches and anecdotal reports of negative circumstances associated with parent-coaches, it is important that this issue be examined more closely. Two studies to date deal with this issue. They will both be presented, revealing positive and negative aspects of the parent-coach/child-athlete relationship. Recommendations for making this relationship as harmonious as possible follow. Research has shown that parental involvement and support is a necessary and important part of a child’s participation in sports. However, there is such a thing as too much involvement, and it is possible that in the unique environment of youth sports, having dad, or mom, as coach can push parental involvement toward the over involved end of the continuum. If this is the case, it could create a negative experience for the child-athlete of the parent-coach. Barber, Sukhi and White (2) conducted a study comparing parent-coached and nonparent-coached youth recreational athletes. They hoped to discover if there was any difference between the two groups in motivations for participation or in anxiety level associated with competition. Although their study had methodological weaknesses, it revealed that the parent-coached athletes did not experience significantly higher anxiety related to competition than their nonparent-coached peers. The study also showed...

The Importance of Parental Involvement in Youth Sports

Parents, when it comes to the impact you have on your child’s sporting experience, do not underestimate your influence. Children learn from watching others and copying the behavior they see demonstrated. It is most often the parent who is the first person to introduce a child to sports, and parental involvement can affect whether a child enjoys the experience or not (1, 2, 3). Role of Parents in Youth Sports Parental involvement in sports can be looked at as a continuum from not involved at all to over-involved (3). It can range from low to high and from positive to negative. Positive involvement includes supporting your child through ways such as verbal encouragement, your presence at a game, allowing your child to make his/her own decisions about what sport to participate in, and providing financial and other resources that enable his/her participation. Negative involvement refers to directive behavior, and pressure to win or perform up to a parent’s expectations. Recent research has shed light onto the relationship between parental involvement and the type of youth sports experience a child has. Supportive Parental Involvement in Sports It is not surprising that the research overwhelmingly points to a connection between positive, supportive parental involvement and a child’s level of enjoyment and success in the sport he or she is playing. (1, 2, 3, 4). It has also been suggested that a moderate level of involvement would be the optimum level of parental involvement (1). Hellstedt (1) theorized that over-involved parents may create high levels of pressure, while under-involved parents do not provide enough support to facilitate a child’s desire to participate....

Parents: How is your Behavior?

Sean Cumming and Martha Ewing of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports warned against parents becoming over-involved emotionally.  This could mean being “excitable” or “fanatical.”  They even go as far as to say that the fanatical parent can pose a serious risk to the development of the child (1).  Take a moment to reflect on your own behavior during your child’s sporting events.  How do you compare? Characteristics of Excitable and Fanatical Sports Parents   The Excitable Parent (1) The Fanatical Parent (1) Supportive You put great amounts of pressure on your child to succeed You find yourself getting caught up in the heat of the moment Your children frequently argue with the coach or ref At games you yell out instructions to anyone and everyone on the field Your children do not put much effort into or show enjoyment of practice You rush out onto the field at the slightest hint of injury to your child You are controlling and confrontational   You are overly concerned with the outcome of the game   The reason you have your kids in sports is to win trophies   Your child will definitely make the pros   In contrast to the emotionally over-involved parent is the authoritative parent.  Research into different parenting styles has revealed that the authoritative parenting style seems to be the most successful (2).  Here are some characteristics of an authoritative sports parent. Characteristics of An Authoritative Sports Parent   The Authoritative Sports Parent (2) Encourage participation Get involved in your child’s participation by attending games and providing positive encouragement Support values of fair play and sportsmanship Set Developmentally appropriate goals for your child’s performance, as opposed to...