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Game and Tournament Day Meals for Soccer Players
Here's some material below that is written by Barbara Day, M.S., R.D., C.N., and can be
found in its
entirity in Soccer magazine's May/June 1996 issue beginning on page 14.
Here's a note about research on calories burned at practice. The average 2
hour intense practice
burns 2,000 calories! If an average youth burns an average 3000 calories a day, and eats
an average 3000
calories a day .... and then goes to practice and burns an additional 2000 calories at
practice, she has a
deficit of 2000 calories for that day.
Research shows that if calories are replaced within 30 minutes of practice
ending, they are stored
as muscle and not as fat. Beyond that they are passed through the body as
waste or are stored as fat.
Barbara Day says:
... eating a series of small meals or snacks rather than three normal meals may be
necessary for
maintaining optimal energy levels... the big meal may have to wait until the end of the
day when
the games are completed...
...The amount and type of food eaten are primary considerations...
Soccer players need at least four hours to digest a large meal containing 700-1000
calories...
Three hours are needed to digest a smaller meal of 500-700 calories.
Small snacks of fewer than 300 calories can be digested in less than one hour
depending
on the type of snack with those high in carbohydrates and low in fat digesting
most easily
and quickly.
LIQUID MEALS SUCH AS 'ENSURE,' of 300-500 calories digest in one to two hours and are
helpful
for players who are nervous or anxious about tournament competition or who have sensitive
stomachs,
however some players report that too much liquid sloshes around in their stomach making
them nauseous.
For morning games soccer players should eat a hearty, high-carbohydrate dinner
and a bedtime snack the night before the event. Breakfast could be a bowl of cereal
(NOT high fiber
cereals) with skim or low fat milk, toast or English muffin with jelly, fruit juice and
hot chocolate, keeping
calories under 300 and eating foods high in carbohydrates. Breakfast should be eaten 2
hours before the
game, or at 6am for an 8am game.
For afternoon games she suggests players eat a carbohydrate-rich dinner and a
bedtime snack the night
before. A carbohydrate-rich breakfast of no more than 500 calories followed FOUR HOURS
LATER
by a light lunch of less than 300 calories eaten 2 hours before the game.
For evening games, players should eat a carbohydrate-rich breakfast and lunch
followed by a light snack
of fewer than 300 calories. Breakfast and lunch should be planned four hours apart (9am
and 1pm for example).
The light snack could be served at 5:30pm before the 730 match, eating the snack 2
hours before the match.
In all cases, drink lots of fluids.
Now for all day competition, use 300 or 500 calorie meals depending on when the
first and second
games occur. That is, if the first match is at 10am, eat 300 calories by 8am if the next
game is at 2pm
eat another 300 calorie meal by noon. But if the second game isn't until 4pm, then a 500
calorie meal
could be eaten immediately after the first game.
She suggests weighing each player first thing in the morning on tournament days and at
the end of the day
to determine dehydration. For each pound of weight lost during the day the player should
drink 16 oz
(2 cups) of fluid to prevent further dehydration.
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