FCArmstrong

Hello Players and Family Members:

I wanted to take a moment to share this resource from US Soccer to review the needs for an active footballer. Way back when I was playing high school soccer there was no interactive tool and the big school of though before a game was to carb-load. McDonald’s really wasn’t much of an option in town when I was growing up, but post-game Pizza Hut trips were team bonding events since we could walk across the railroad tracks from the stadium to the Hut. My high school days were pretty simple, morning breakfast usually with cereal, milk and fruit. Lunch in the cafeteria with some form of protein, veggie and chocolate milk, after school grilled cheese or ham and cheese before a 7pm night game. If the game was at home join some friends if it wasn’t too late for pizza or go out with mom and dad for a meatball hoagie. Did that fit the 1990’s food pyramid? I’m not quite sure if that was really the ideal food pyramid for athlete’s back then but my adventures in learning proper techniques for fueling didn’t really begin until college.

I realized that since the world was impacted by covid-19 we’ve lost a lot of our normal routines that provided normal meal times in school and at home along with predictable lunch offerings. I also realize there have been some dips in energy levels this season due to early dismissals, long bus trips and just plain cases of the Mondays. One way to help prevent these dips in energy is re-fueling our athletic bodies by laying out a plan in advance. The US Soccer site does help layout a plan for one- you, yourself and only you. It will work on a phone, but it works best on a laptop, Chromebook or tablet and has video resources covering, nutrition, hydration and recovery:

https://www.recognizetorecover.org/nutrition-hydration#supplements

I’m only planting these seeds now and providing the information for individual discussion since I understand this can be a sensitive topic and there is not a one size fits all answer.

I’ve also pulled a few articles for discussion and historical reference from the New York Times and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Why? To show that the best practices do change as our information and data improve.