Nutrition and hydration matter
Unfortunately, one of the downsides of tournament baseball is the uncontrollable schedules our players, parents, and coaches have to deal with at times.
This past weekend our 14U team had to play three games back-to-back without a break. As a result, in our third game (the championship game) our defensive play was uncharacteristically bad.
It would be easy to blame it on physical fatigue, weather or the fact it was the first tournament of the year. However, after conducting a complete examination of the day as a whole, and the fact our play in games 1 and 2 was very solid, it became very apparent to us that we dropped the ball in respect to hydration and nutrition. Some players ate very little or did not consume enough fluids during their time at the field.
We experienced firsthand the importance of ensuring we follow a proper hydration and nutrition plan. While there is not an ideal hydration or nutrition plan for seven hours of straight baseball with no break to eat and process food, it is extremely important to do the best we can with the resources we have at our disposal.
As a result, our organization worked hard this week to utilize every resource at our disposal to include relationships we have with NCAA Division I and MLB sports nutritionists to put a plan together moving forward.
While nutrition and hydration are ultimately the responsibility of the player, we also recognize it is our responsibility as an organization to do the best we can to support our players and parents to give them as much information as possible to help them through these processes.
