Pre-Season Nutrition

Whether you are in high school or college, it is time to prepare for the next 3-4 months of the season. During the summer, your base strength should have been developed for the Pre-Season, the time in which you will get ready for the rigors of the In-Season. You should get prepared for the first game during this 8 to 10 week period so you that you will achieve performance success.

Healthy athletes make huge contributions to their team because they get to play. One key attribute of healthy players is proper nutrition.

Make sure that each of your athletes eats at least 4-6 meals a day. The general diet should come from a variety of foods high in carbohydrates, with the recommended amount of protein while low in fat, but provides sufficient energy and sufficient vitamins (largely from fruit and vegetables) which are all low in salt. Athletes should also drink plenty of water; the fluid requirements of an athlete are higher than the rest of the population.

Carbohydrate
Athletes need plenty of carbohydrates. Carbs come from starchy foods such as pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, breakfast cereal, and fruit and are turned into the fuel that the athletes need to train and compete. Therefore, a balanced meal for an athlete should contain a high carbohydrate count.

Protein
Each athlete should consume at least 2 to 3 servings of lean protein daily. Protein is found in meat, poultry, fish, dry beans or peas, eggs, nuts, and seeds.

Fat
To produce energy quickly, athletes need to keep the fat in the diet to a minimum. Fat slows down the rate at which the athlete can use their energy. Athletes should avoid excess fat. This is a hard feat because most of the foods we enjoy have a high fat content. Just as a performance coach trains an athlete to forsake bad habits during execution of play it is equally important for an athlete to learn and adapt the same attitude towards foods that are not good for them.

Vitamins (From Fruits and Vegetables)
Athletes should eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. So coaches, instead of giving them candy and donuts at team meetings give them apples, bananas, pears or raisons. For team meals consider serving pasta with a hearty, tomato based sauce that contains other veggies like carrots, peas, and mushrooms but make sure the vegetable are not over cooked or they will loose the vitamin benefit. If possible, choose fresh over frozen and frozen over canned.

Fluids
The consumption of fluid is very important to athletes. Therefore, healthy, hydrating choices should be accessible to them at meal time and during practice/competition time. Coaches should encourage athletes to avoid sodas, sugary drinks, alcohol, and any other substance that may cause dehydration.

Remember, a winning team has healthy athletes. The first step in achieving this is proper nutrition.

The Right Trainer for Your Child

Selecting the right trainer for your child can be a challenging decision. Do you choose a coach based on credentials? Education? Word of Mouth? From my experience, you decided based on all of these things and more. When choosing someone that works as an independent trainer make sure you check there credentials before you even start the process of negotiation.

Is the coach certified?
One of the first criteria you should look for in an independent trainer is a certification in the field in which your child needs training. For example, a trainer with a USA Weightlifting certification is ideal when your child needs a few extra pounds via strength training, while a person certified through the Collegiate Coaches Strength and Conditioning Association has a broader certification to train elite athletes. There are tons of certifications out there; some require practical experience, while others are more textbook based.

Can the coach teach?
You should know that anyone with the required education and practical experience can receive certifications. The other key part of training athletes is pedagogy, the art of coaching teaching.

I know its seems strange to question validity of a coaches ability but you get what you pay for; you don’t know if you don’t ask or investigate. The best way to determine if a coach can teach your athlete what he needs to know is to have a trial session, paid or complementary depending on the coach’s policy. During this session ask questions, allow your child to train with the coach, and pay attention. Immediately after the session speak with your child to determine if he liked the way the coached trained and communicated while providing feedback on your likes, dislikes, and concerns. When you and your child reach a decision follow up with the coach to inform him of the decision.

These are the things you must do when shopping around for a supplemental way to train for your child. There about a thousand performance training facilities and programs out there which I would recommend anyone to try at least one. But on that same note there are just as many personal trainers pretending to be performance trainers when they have no clue about performance training at all.

Below are a few questions you should ask when selecting someone to train your child.

• What are your certifications?
• How long have you been certified?
  
• Have you ever trained for [name of sport] before?
  
• Are you CPR certified?
  
• How long have you been training athletes?
  
• Do you have any verifiable references or testimonials of athletes you’ve trained?
  
• Where do you train your athletes?
  
• What makes you different than other coaches?
  
• How will my child improve by training with you?

Women who do not have a background in or understanding of sports should be very leery when shopping for a trainer for your son or daughter. This industry can be just as cut throat as the automotive industry when marketing to women in that you may be taken advantage of for simply not knowing about sports. Make sure you research and take your time because the investment in sports, especially trainers, may positively or negatively impact your child’s athletic career.

WARM UP AND COOLDOWN

The right kind of flexibility exercise is absolutely critical for anyone involved in sports; otherwise four things invariably happen:
· Restricted movement
· Decrease performance
· A breakdown in body tissues
· Potential long term injuries
What is flexibility? Flexibility is the range of motion available in a joint, such as the hip, or series of joints such as the spine.
1. Your joints: flexibility is joint specific -- you cannot assume someone is flexible just because they can touch their toes. The same person may not even be able to reach around and scratch the small of his/her back because their shoulder has poor flexibility.
2. Your sport: flexibility is sport specific. You would not expect a 300lb lineman to have the same flexibility as an Olympic gymnast, because it is not required for his sport. In fact, in a contact sport like football, being that flexible could be detrimental to his body.
The components of flexibilityFlexibility is both static and dynamic:
1. Static flexibility describes range of motion. This is the maximum range a muscle can achieve with an external force such as gravity or manual assistance; for example: holding a hamstring stretch at an end-of-range position or having a partner applies manual resistance.
2. Dynamic flexibility describes the range of motion at a desired speed. For example, a baseball pitcher or Tennis player needs a lot of shoulder rotational flexibility, but he also need to produce it at rapid speed. Arm windmills, Arms circles, etc.)
Here are a few helpful points about flexibility:
· Good static flexibility is necessary for good dynamic flexibility; however, having good static flexibility does not in itself ensure good dynamic flexibility
· Dynamic flexibility is vitally important in those high velocity movement sports such as sprinting, kicking and jumping.
· Dynamic flexibility is limited by the ability of the tissues to lengthen quickly, and the inhibition of what is called the 'stretch reflex', which if present would act to limit the range of motion.

Why flexibility is vital for performance, injury prevention and the treatment of painGood flexibility improves your joint’s range of motion. For example, flexibility in the shoulder muscles allows a swimmer to 'glide' the arm through the water using shoulder elevation. –YPT (2006)
· Flexibility is therefore essential for top performance
Good flexibility allows the joints to easily accommodate the desired joint angles without undue stress on the tissues around them.
· Flexibility is therefore essential for injury prevention
Stretching also forms an integral part of rehabilitation programs following injury. For example, it is accepted that a muscle tear will heal with scar tissue. This scar tissue tends to be functionally shorter and have more resistance to stretch than normal healthy muscle tissue. Therefore stretching is used at an appropriate time in the healing process to assist in lengthening this contracted scar tissue.
· Flexibility is therefore essential for the treatment of injury and pain
Posture, ergonomics and resolving painGood flexibility improves posture, ergonomics and resolves pain. Our bodies have a tendency to allow certain muscles to tighten up and that affects our posture. There are various muscles that universally show a tendency towards tightness and being overactive in movements. Here are just a few:
· The hamstrings, which actually comprise of three separate muscles: the Biceps Femoris, Semitendinosus and Semimembranosus
· Rectus femoris, one of the four quadriceps muscles, which inserts into the patellar tendon, which connects the kneecap (the patella) to the shin bone
· TFL, Tensor Fasciae Latae: it does most of the work while we stand
· Piriformis, which runs from the base of the spine to the top of the thigh bone –Common tightness in distance runners.
· Adductors, thigh muscles