Top five tips for the first day of high school practice
In a few days, hundreds of high school athletes all around the Baltimore area will be back on the field for fall sports practice.
Heading into his 12th season as the athletic trainer at Archbishop Spalding High School, T.J. Morgan has seen just about every misstep a young athlete can make before, during and after the first day of practice.
With many private and parochial school teams set to begin practice Wednesday, and public schools ready to go on Saturday, we asked Morgan, president of the Maryland Athletic Trainers’ Association, to share the top five things every athlete should be aware of going into the first day of practice (in his words):
1. Preparation. What have they done to prepare for the season they are about to start? Too often athletes take for granted their conditioning and try to jump right into the season doing a full workout and they’re probably not prepared for it, so they should expect a certain amount of soreness. They should expect a certain amount of lack of conditioning where they’re not able to keep up with the guys and girls who may have been conditioning all summer. Incoming freshmen are at such a disadvantage unless they’re playing a high-level club sport and things like that. There’s a fair amount of them that may be coming from very much a recreational mentality where practices were maybe one or two nights a week and games on a weekend and here you’re getting into a high school program where you’re going to be practicing five days a week, six days a week.
2. Avoid any kind of unnecessary supplementation. There’s absolutely no need for any student who is getting an adequate diet to have to add any kind of supplementation to their diet. They should not add need to add any kind of protein powder, things like that. If they’re eating the recommended daily allowances of the foods they should be eating, they're getting enough foods in order to recoup the energy stores that they need. During the preseason, they may have to increase their energy stores. They may have to feed their body more to meet the demands that they're putting on it, but they certainly don’t need to supplement. Good, normal nutrition is going to be adequate.
3. Get adequate rest. Rest is the ultimate healer. The more time you’re able to give your body to rest the better the body is going heal, the better the tissue is going to be able to heal. If you’re running all day long and you’re still working your job, let’s say your practices are at night but the next day you go to a job where you’re on your feet all day long, it’s going to be tough. Your legs are going to be tired. They’re going to be fatigued and unfortunately, that’s just the nature of the game. Many of these kids do have part time jobs and try and work in between [practices], but other kids will go out and do other things. They’ll finish a heavy practice and then the next day, they’ll go for a run trying to condition themselves into shape and the problem is they’re just not giving the body the opportunity it needs to recover.
4. Adequate nutrition. Which ties into supplementation but the nutrition component meaning making sure they’re eating meals throughout the course of the day, multiple meals. Especially if they’re participating in a two-a-day type situation, they can’t, if they’re at morning practice, just wake up and have toast and jelly or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and go to practice. They’re about to go to practice and expend anywhere from 4-5-600 calories, so they have to make sure that they take in at least that in the morning, which means they’re going to have to get up earlier in order to do that. But they’ve got to make sure they get the nutrition in their body. They’ve got to get the energy in their body that their body is about to demand of them.
5. Get hydrated and stay hydrated. Pre-hydration is the key. If they’re going to their practices and they’re well hydrated, the chances of them succumbing to a heat-related illness is significantly reduced, but if they go into their practices dehydrated or they’re not maintaining hydration while they're practicing, the chance of succumbing to a heat-related illness goes up and the research all supports that.
Comments
Most of what is said is on point. However, the point about protein powder is completely off. I do not endorse creatine or stuff like that, but protein powder is not harmful. There is nothing wrong with protein supplements so that athletes can get the protein they need. And most athletic trainers underestimate the amount of protein needed. For active athletes it should be at least 1 gram of protein for every lb. of bodyweight.
Posted by: Eric | August 9, 2011 2:58 PM
The issue of hydration is probaly the most misunderstood myth in sports. As a employee of a company that focused on safe core body temp., I heard hundreds of high school trainers and coaches say "We have no problems with heat illness because we allow open access to fluids." This is just wrong. Google correlation between hydration and core body temp. and you'll see there is no relationship.The NFL has studies to prove this. Think about it. These players are in equipment that raises their temp. and play on field turf where the temp can reach 140 degrees. That's why players soak in ice baths after practice.
Posted by: john | August 13, 2011 11:19 AM