Sean Ford

As we’ve all noticed, the weather has taken a turn for the warmer lately. This type of quick turn around from the cold, drizzly days of just a couple of week ago to the more recent sunny, 85degF type of days has our young athletes trying desperately to cope during practices and games.

Too often I’ve witnessed players taking a break during practice or a game without hydrating. The usual response to, “Please have a drink while you’re resting”, has been, “I’m not thirsty.” The idea here isn’t to wait until the player is thirsty, but to actually hydrate prior to a game or practice and then continue to hydrate throughout the game or practice. If a player waits to hydrate once s/he becomes thirsty, then it’s already too late; the player is now dehydrated.

Here’s the deal, don’t just allow the player to bring a sports drink or water bottle with him or her to the sports event, have them begin to hydrate at least an hour prior to the performing. This is especially important during these hot, sunny days when a player’s body can start off feeling fine, but quickly sweat off or burn off any internal hydration. Of course, Gatorade type drinks are great for hydration during a physically stressful event, but also worth consideration are the less sugary types of drinks like Propel, though do not generally replace electrolytes to the same extent as Gatorade. Water is also great, but it does not replace the electrolytes lost during heavy exercise. Unfortunately for coaches and players in Walpole, our new sythetic field at Turco (High School), does not allow Gatorade-type drinks due to the chemical reaction between the beverage and the new playing surface (I’m researching this now to try and determine if it’s an urban legend), so we must bring plenty of water with us.

In the end, there’s not much more we can do other than to keep hydrated. The players bodies will acclimate to the weather conditions, but this transitional period is difficult. Coaches must be aware of the changing conditions and force the hydration issue because our young athletes will wait too long, it’s a fact so let’s help them through this tough period.