Nutrition and fluid intake for Netball carnivals

Netball CoachCoach

State Age is a very challenging competition. Ideally your team will have been eating nutritious food and cutting out the rubbish for at least 2 months before the comp starts. Now, the night before, ensure the team loads up with carbs, i.e. pasta is perfect which ensures there is enough energy reserves for them to draw on the following day. The same goes for each evening while you're away. During the day it is important not to have a big lunch, but the girls need to "graze" during the day on things such as rolls, chicken, salads, dips, fruit. It is easy if the parents are organised and each parent is responsible for a different item of food to bring to the tent each morning so that it's available during the day for the whole team. Lollies aren't beneficial in a tournament like this as you are on and off the court and having a "high" and then a "low" from the sugar could mean that your players are on a "low" in their next match. Make sure your team hydrates well BEFORE they start their games for the day, not just a sip, this ensures that when they keep topping up their fluid intake during and after games, they are keeping pace with any loss of fluid during the games and not playing catch up. Dehydration is a great danger to your team's performance, so keep an eye on their intake as some players will have a sip, while others will hydrate correctly. They can mix up the intake of sports drinks and water, perhaps dilute to half/half. Drinking Sports drinks straight all day will make them feel ill as they are playing about 8 games per day, albeit short ones. Good luck to you and your team in the championships!