Soccer is an energy intensive sport so eating a healthy diet that will provide a player with all the nutrition they need is very important. That is not so hard if you are an adult soccer player – you find a good soccer diet and nutrition plan and even if some of the menu items are not quite to your taste you deal with it knowing that it will provide the nutrients and energy you need to stay sharp on the pitch.
Kids who play soccer need to eat a soccer friendly diet as well but as any parent knows kids are picky at the best of times when it comes to eating so how do you get them to learn to love a diet that takes away a lot of their favorite foods and introduces things like – arrgghh! – more vegetables.
The simple fact is, in most cases, you will be fighting a losing battle if you try to force a child to eat and drink the kinds of things that grown up soccer players do to maintain their match fitness. For instance, a favorite energy boosting drink of a number of EPL pros is a puree of raw broccoli, mushrooms, chicken broth and raw oysters. Face it you probably wouldn’t want to drink that, so the chances that any kid will are very slim indeed.
Fuel for the Field
What parents and coaches need to focus on when it comes to soccer nutrition is that their young players are getting enough “fuel” to sustain them through a coaching session or a match and then through the rest of the day. The high performance drinks like the one just described can wait a few years.
Carbohydrates are the foods that really provide that extra, almost instant boost of energy as well as help boost energy in general. And despite what some trendy diets or food experts might say there are plenty of health, low fat carbohydrate foods that 1) kids will eat and 2) will provide them with the energy to put on a blinding performance on the pitch and still have the energy to get up for school the next day.
These foods include all kinds of rice, popcorn, fortified breakfast cereals, fruit, toast and jam, potatoes and pasta, all things that kids tend to like to eat anyway. These foods should be supplemented with enough protein as well, in the form of lean meats and fish as well as nuts and yes, vegetables. In addition too much fat in their diet IS bad for any kid, whether they play soccer or not so cutting down on things like extra mayo on their sandwiches or tons of butter on their potatoes is a good idea.
It is also incredibly important that soccer players at all levels, but especially kids, are adequately hydrated during training sessions and matches, even if it not particularly warm. Every youth soccer player, even the very youngest ones should have a flask of water or Gatorade available to them at all times and be allowed to drink from it whenever they need to, and even forced to if they seem to be getting too wrapped up in the game and are forgetting to take a drink.