Wednesday March 19th 2025
I recently came back from a tournament with some of our younger athletes. One of the athlete’s finished his match and after my feedback, I told him to go and get something to eat. This is a standard part of coaching and should always be part of your post-match ritual as replenishing those lost calories is essential in order to insure your optimum performance for the rest of the tournament. Younger athletes will often not eat right after a match due to the adrenaline and anxiety coursing through their body. I often have to remind them and sometimes badger them to eat at least something after the match is done.
The energy of a tournament can drain an athlete very quickly
Getting back to that athlete, I went to coach another match and was walking back to the area where all our stuff was and saw that same athlete with a bag of cookies in his hand. When I asked if he had something with protein, like a sandwich or the equivalent, he said that he didn’t bring any food. The cookies he had purchased from the tournament concession stand was what he thought I meant by getting something to eat. It was in that instant I realized that knowledge of basic nutrition is something that most of our athletes lack. When I was doing my Advanced Coaching Diploma, I was asked to focus on certain topics that I would conduct my research in. Like a Master’s Degree, I had to come up with a direction and a thesis in which my research and implementation with my team would take place. The subjects I selected amongst a myriad of topics were Testing Metrics, Sports Psychology and Nutrition.
During this time, we had guest lecturers ranging from University Professors as well as people who worked for Sport Canada, come give us materials, resources, tricks and tips. Suffice it say, I got a wealth of sources to call upon and when it came down to that part of my final evaluation, which was evaluated by a panel of experts, including a Doctor in Sports Nutrition for Sports Canada, I aced that section.
So in the end, this athlete got me thinking about how much knowledge needs to be passed on to our athletes as we can’t take for granted that they will know, or pick it up. Therefore, I’ve chosen to focus on the following topics in order to convey my points.
Eating properly at a tournament
While some tournament will sell food, we all know that the nutritional quality of that food is low at best. Oftentimes, we see pizza and sweets being sold, with an obvious markup as a way of making some supplemental money for the organizers of the tournament. While I don’t begrudge this in the least, for our athletes, this would not be the best place in which they would be able to get food for their nutritional needs at the tournament.
Therefore, a grocery run the evening before is always key if groceries haven’t already been purchased ahead of time. Things that break down easily while replenishing protein are key while avoiding things that can upset your stomach is also essential for people who have either digestive issues or may suffer from anxiety. Proper hydration is also paramount.
Water and Gatorade or an acceptable alternative is a must for hydration
Things such as sandwiches with meat and Gatorade are the basics and one can build from there, based on the dietary habits of the athlete. In the end, getting the proper amount of calories as well as the right type of food that contain protein and carbohydrates is essential at any tournament.
During last year’s GMAA/RSEQ Finals, only one of my athletes followed my instructions to the T
Eating properly while at away tournaments
We all know that eating properly while you are away from home is difficult. When we go on vacation, we always tend to overindulge and end up paying for it one way or the other. While being at an away tournament shouldn’t be the case, it’s always difficult to get the food we’re used to so that it doesn’t upset our rhythm,
I was reminded of this one time at the Matteo Pellicone, the Ranking Series Tournament in Sardinia Italy. Athletes would stay at various hotels and we were staying at the Hotel Cala Rosa, a Four Star Hotel with an All You Can Eat Buffet. Now, if you’ve ever been to Italy, you know that overall food quality is generally superior to what we have here in North America as the food tends be fresher, less processed and with less sodium and sugar in general. So even with an all you can eat buffet, my expectations were high for the food quality and it didn’t disappoint.
The accommodations were great
With all this great food available and with the cuisine being very similar to ours, I figured that eating properly wouldn’t be a problem for our athletes, and it wasn’t. However, I didn’t realize that this wasn’t the case for everyone.
At the same hotel was a team from South Korea. Observing them gave me a new appreciation for keeping your routine regimented, especially where their nutritional requirements were concerned. While our team would sit in the designated tables randomly placed around the dining hall for the Canadian contingent, the Koreans had tables placed almost in a barracks style, straight, with everyone seated at same spot every day. Knowing that every Korean is required to do two years of mandatory military service, it didn’t surprise me that a strict routine was a part of their day to day living. This also extended to what they were eating. Unlike the rest of the teams that would eat pretty much whatever was served on that day, the Koreans did things differently. With the exception of some of the fruits, vegetables and very plain meats or fish, the Korean team always had a pot of either rice, instant noodles, stew or soup at their table.
Ramen Noodles were part of the Korean team’s nutritional intake
Since these things were never offered to the other guests, and that the pot had a different style to all of the other dishes I had seen around the hotel, I could only assume that they had brought it themselves in order to insure a consistent type of food for them and their athletes. I had to marvel at both the discipline and the dedication to making sure that their athletes and coaches ate for what would be their optimum food in order to insure the best results. Clearly, there was something to be learned from that when we travel abroad.
Nutrition for cutting weight
This is an extremely tricky one as every athlete responds differently to a weight cut. Likewise, men and women lose weight differently from boys and girls as metabolisms vary drastically amongst sexes and age groups. Nevertheless, the general idea is to reduce portion sizes, calories and liquids while increasing the amounts of lean foods in order to ensure your minimal nutritional requirement.
Calories is the first thing to go during your weight cut. The trick is which ones and how much
While losing weight is part of the sport, most athletes don’t enjoy the experience. Some athletes are also better at losing weight than others. I remember not being able to cut more than six kilograms while some other could do seven kilograms even though they were smaller than me. Reducing my caloric intake over an extended period of time was key to my weight loss while others could reduce their food portions in shorter periods and still make weight.
Nevertheless, eating properly during a weight cut is key as inexperienced athletes will sometimes just stop eating or not plan out their weight cut properly. As with everything, education and experience essential, not just from the athlete’s part but that of the coach as well in order to help their athletes plan accordingly.
Supplements
While some would argue that supplements is a natural progression of sport, all my research as well as the information that I received from my ACD has said otherwise. Athletes are always looking for an edge, and as result the concept of supplements may be seen as that edge they may need, particularly if it’s being pushed upon them by people or entities that they may perceive to be reputable. Younger athletes in particular may also be swayed as they may look to what is popular based on what they see on social media.
The problem with the supplements is that it’s an unregulated industry. This means that there’s no supervision or governance in place in order to ‘police’ what is being put into these products, not to mention what is placed on the labels. I remember seeing a supplement in a store that said that is was approved by the Nutritional Board of Canada or something to that effect. It even had a Maple Leaf on it and looked very official. The problem? The Nutritional Board of Canada doesn’t even exist. And yet, it’s human nature to not question too many things, especially if it looks official.
Therefore, the moral of the story is that we need to constantly be aware of what we’re consuming. The products that we see on the shelves, especially if they’re new, can be appealing and ones we may more readily buy. However, maybe these are things that we should not be consuming, particularly if extended research hasn’t been done for the product in question. Furthermore, if you’re an athlete that’s on the path to high performance, some of these foods may contain trace elements that are on the banned or restricted list, highlighting another reason to avoid them altogether.
Eating properly in general
This one is always a hard one for our younger athletes as processed food is so readily available in our North American society. Things such as protein shakes, protein bars and sports drinks tend to be consumed as an alternative to actual food due to their ease of consumption and fast preparation. But this also comes with its own set of problems.
Vitamins can be a way to make up for some nutritional deficiencies
As mentioned before, processed food contains a lot of other additives. Chemicals such as preservatives are added while we see sugar and sodium in the chemical make-up of the final product due to our more relaxed laws concerning food. This is especially bad in the United States where food laws are even more relaxed. A sort of Wild West Mentality is in effect as corporations try to increase their profits while cutting as much corners as they can. They do this by making the consumption of whole foods difficult and more expensive while simultaneously pushing their products through ads and other means as well as making it cheaper and more readily available. To a consumer in distress, this is can be especially difficult to avoid.
In the end, eating well is hard. In a way, it’s also become another form of training as access to good, nutritious food is becoming more difficult and expensive. Add to that, the difficulty of procuring foods we’re accustomed to during travel and the challenge increases tenfold. As with everything, education is key while finding receptive athletes to put into practice the knowledge we’ve passed on. This will ensure healthy and successful athletes that will hopefully pass on their knowledge to the following generation, thereby making our jobs as coaches easier in the future,