Energy in the morning

[leo]

So i guess with most of you parent or coaches, we all have the problem of how
to energize are kids for early morning games. What do you recommend for healthy morning boost.

 

[mudbug]

Well some teams bring out the giant boombox. Personally, I would like to strangle those who do that. It infringes on everyone elses auditory rights. But some just dont care about that at all. I dont recommend that route at all, in fact I would like them banned.

The best thing is a good nights sleep, and a light breakfast.

 

[absdad]

My daughter always seemed to get a boost with some juice, and a bannana or peanut butter granola bar.

 

[a softball life for me]

Don't know about the energy boost but our team was so flat in the early games this fall that the coaches told them we are practicing at 7 am when we get back outside in the spring. The theory is they will get used to playing early. Time will tell if that works.

 

[calgofo]

A good nights sleep the night before.

 

[FastpitchFan]

RE: practicing early @ 7 am.

Interesting idea. Never thought of it for travel ball. But god it's true that you play so many early games (8 am starts) during the travel season at weekend tournaments. That means you have to get up early and be at the park usually 6:45-7:00 am to warm-up, sometimes earlier if teams have longer warm-ups!

The concept of practicing at the time you compete is nothing new - it's used ALL THE TIME by elite athletes in all the sports.

Example: a boxer who has a night fight in the coming months will start practicing in the evening a couple of weeks before the fight to train his internal biology to be ''used' to deliver a maximum performance at that time. The body is amazing and adapts well.

Some athletes who travel overseas for competition will even start training at the local time of their destination for a couple days before they leave.

When I was coaching at SFU a few years back, we had a trip to Cuba to play their junior and senior national team and started practicing at 5:00 AM PST to make it 8:00 AM Cuba time. Girls didn't find that one funny! LOL

I wonder why...

Coach Marc

 

[Coach JV]

I too would like to find something that works. The last time we played, our 1st game was against a weak team that we should have beat like a drum and we squeaked by 5-4. OUr 2nd game (back to back) we played a much better team and won 8-0. For the life of me, I do not know what makes 12 year olds tick

 

[51sDad]

There are lots of ideas with regards to what to eat/drink to promote energy early. The hard part is getting an entire team of players and parents to buy into it. This blog entry has some pretty good ideas on fatigue. It's not directly related to the early games, but the theory applies.

Health & Fastpitch: Fighting Fatigue

This one is more directly related to tournament prep:
Health & Fastpitch: Keeping strong all weekend long

Aside from that...
Carb load & drink LOTS of water the night before, get adequate rest, have a balanced to good carb heavy breakfast (eggs, toast, milk, nuts), and have a real practice before game time.

Hope this helps!

 

[FJRGerry]

A good night's sleep and a light healthy breakfast are imperitive, but so is a good dynamic warm-up to get the heart rate up and the muscles energized. I think sometimes it's more mental than physical - how to motivate them to want to win from the time they hop out of bed at 5am?

 

[absdad]

For the life of me, I do not know what makes 12 year olds tick

If you ever figure that out, would you mind passing it along? I'd soo love to learn that little secret too.