Facebook Youtube Instagram Linkedin Pinterest
Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Linkedin Pinterest

Youth Athlete Heat Recovery

CoachesEducatorsParents

Young asian girl sweating outside.During summer youth sports camps, coaches should keep a close eye on young athletes to make sure they consume the necessary fluids, calories, and electrolytes to stay hydrated and maintain good energy levels.

But to get your young athlete ready for another full day of exercising in the sun tomorrow, keep these athlete heat recovery tips in mind.

 

Cooling Down

Compared to adults, smaller bodies generate a lot of heat, but have less skin surface area to dissipate it.

This means youth athletes have a greater risk of overheating during exercise and storing heat longer after exercise. Elevated core and skin temperatures hinder post-exercise athlete heat recovery and make it hard to sleep. Utilizing some proactive cooling techniques can help:

• Take a dip! Jump in a pool, sit in a creek, swim in a lake, or play in the sprinklers. Cool water is great for creating a temperature gradient and helping kids bring their skin and core temperatures down.

• Wet wrap. If a body of water isn’t available, wrap up in towels soaked in cool/cold water. Even soaking a shirt and/or cap will help.

• Cool rinse. Sweaty athletes crave a shower, and ending that shower with a cool rinse can help bring skin and core temperatures down.

• Airflow. Whether in an air-conditioned environment or not, airflow is important for carrying heat away from a hot body.

Replenishing Fluids

All athletes lose of fluid through sweating. During a multi-day sports camp or tournament, it’s important to replenish fluids throughout the day and in the evening in order to get a good night’s sleep and start the following day with good hydration levels. Efficient youth athlete heat recovery through re-hydrating can be accomplished by:

• Aiming to consume 24 ounces of fluids (primarily water) for every pound of weight lost during exercise over the first two-to-four hours. For instance, if an athlete loses two pounds (32 ounces), aim to consume 48 ounces of fluid.

• Saving carbohydrate-containing drinks for days with multiple practices or games. Avoid drinks that contain stimulants like caffeine.

• Drinking plain water in combination with foods containing sodium. This is to both help re-hydrate and maintain an adequate electrolyte balance.

• Consuming fluids gradually. Consuming large volumes of fluid all at once can reduce absorption and rapidly increase the need to urinate.

Getting Better Sleep

Young athletes who sleep better perform better the next day, but long, hot days in the sun can make it difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep. Exercise-induced insomnia is common for athletes of all ages, but here’s how to combat it:

• Follow the cool down and hydration recommendations above. Sometimes an athlete may complain of feeling/hearing their heartbeat while trying to get to sleep, or say they feel like they are radiating heat. These sensations may indicate core or skin temperatures are still elevated, or that the athlete is somewhat dehydrated.

• Cool the room. Decreases in core and skin temperature happen naturally as we fall asleep, and a cool sleeping environment helps facilitate getting to sleep and staying asleep. Cool is good, frigid is unnecessary. Aim for 62-70 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Turn off back-lit screens at least 60 minutes prior to bedtime. Relaxing in front of a movie can make for a great evening, but phone and computer screens can make it more difficult to fall asleep.

• Darken the room. Minimizing light exposure can ease a person’s struggle to get to sleep. This includes digital clocks on the nightstand (cover it if it’s needed to wake up in the morning).

How will you know if any of this is helping?

Kids don’t have hydration gauges, but parents are typically quick to pick up on changes in a child’s behavior or mood. If your young athlete slept well and is behaving, eating, and hydrating normally in the morning, it’s likely working. If you have concerns, you can try using a simple morning protocol called WUT, which stands for Weight, Urine, Thirst (Chuevront, 2005).

Upon waking, assess Thirst. This is a subjective metric, but an athlete should not feel excessively thirsty or parched upon waking up. When going to the bathroom, have them evaluate the color of their Urine. In the morning, their urine should be light yellow or straw-colored. Clear urine can be good, but could also just mean they drank a large volume of fluid before bed. Finally, have athletes measure their Weight without clothing after they use the bathroom. Day to day, their body weight should stay relatively constant (within about 1%).

If none or one of these is abnormal, the athlete is likely well hydrated. If two are abnormal, it’s likely that the athlete is somewhat dehydrated. If all three are abnormal, they are likely dehydrated and should increase their fluid intake throughout the day (and follow all the above athlete heat recovery tips) to get their body back to normal.

Sources/Further Reading:

Bergeron MF, Laird MD, Marinik EL, Brenner JS, Waller JL. Repeated-bout exercise in the heat in young athletes: physiological strain and perceptual responses. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2009;106(2):476-485.

Cheuvront, Samuel N., and Michael N. Sawka. 2005. “SSE# 97: Hydration Assessment of Athletes.” Sports Science Exchange 18 (2): 1–12.

Committee on Nutrition and the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness. Sports drinks and energy drinks for children and adolescents: are they appropriate? Pediatrics. 2011;127(6):1182-1189.

National Federation of State High School Associations Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. Position statement and recommendations for hydration to minimize the risk for dehydration and heat illness. Published November 21, 2014.

Rowland T. Fluid replacement requirements for child athletes. Sports Med. 2011;41(4):279-288.

U.S. Soccer Federation. 2006 Youth Soccer Heat & Hydration Guidelines.

Related Content

Loading...
1 2 … 18

Join Us

Subscribe
Shop TrueSport
Host TrueSport

TrueSport logo without icon in white.

© 2024 TrueSport | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Sitemap

Goal-Setting Lesson Video Transcript

Hi. I’m Trevon, Trey, Jennifer. Team USA wheelchair basketball player, paralympian, and true sport athlete. Today, I want to talk to you about goal setting. And there are three things that I would like you to know. First, successful athletes set goals and a planned roadmap. Second, goals should be written down, assessed over time, and changed if necessary. And third, goals need to be challenging in order to be worthwhile. As a freshmen at Edinboro University, I was a part of a team that made the national championship game. And at that time I recognized I was the low man on the totem pole, but I felt in my heart that I knew my dreams were so much bigger than winning a national title. I wanted to make Team USA. I knew what achieving my lofty goal was not going to be easy and that I would need to work hard every day.

So, as a reminder, I created a pyramid of goals that I kept right above my bed. This pyramid reminded me of the accomplishments that I was working towards and visually represented my need to create a solid foundation underneath me before reaching the top. In the bottom roll of my pyramid of goals I listed goals such as obtaining my bachelor’s degree, becoming a scholar athlete award recipient, and becoming an All-American. The middle row listed winning a national title and playing for a professional team. And at the top row, the most challenging of them all, I listed becoming a gold medalist for Team USA.

By understanding that there are smaller stepping stones to achieving my ultimate goal of being on Team USA, I was able to stay motivated and to stay focused on completing the smaller stepping stones fully before moving onto the next one. Now I’ll be the first to admit that not every goal that I listed on my pyramid was accomplished, but seeing my goals every day when I went to bed, I was able to push through the days that I felt like doing nothing in hopes of achieving the bigger picture. Remember, create a clear goal roadmap, assess your goals often, and continue to challenge yourself. I hope that you never stopped dreaming big or reaching for the stars. And I look forward to seeing where your roadmap takes you.

Body Image Lesson Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Kara Winger, Olympic javelin thrower, and true sport athlete. Today I want to talk to you about body image and I have three things I’d like you to know. First, healthy thoughts often lead to healthier bodies. Second, there are varying body types and no one’s body is exactly like another. And third, true beauty goes deeper than the skin. As a multi-time Olympian, I’ve experienced a lot of variation and progression in my training. My coaches and I adapt to my training frequently, all with the goal of supporting my long-term success and health in the sport of javelin. I’m talking to you about body image today because sometimes even with the best of intentions and a common goal in mind, the changes you make to your training habits can prove to be detrimental if made for the wrong reasons. In the lead up to the 2012 Olympic trials, I was told in order to improve my performance on the field, I should try to become a leaner, skinnier version of myself.

So I changed my diet. I went along with what I was being told to do, even though I’d had great success at a slightly heavier weight and higher body fat percentage, and became much leaner than ever before. It seemed like a successful change at first, but I didn’t have nearly the results I’d had before. And I believe becoming leaner than my body naturally wanted to be was what caused my ACL to tear. In the end, it cost me heavily going into the 2012 London games. The takeaway for me, and hopefully for you, is that it’s important to know what works for you and your body and to not compare yourself to others. You should do your research and experiment with your diet to find what makes you feel the best, rather than focusing on what you look like. Today, if I feel like having a chocolate chip cookie, I have one, just not every day.

I’ve learned what a properly balanced meal for my body looks like and I recognize food as the fuel that keeps me throwing. I hydrate and allow myself time to recover. And I listen to and communicate with my body so that I can be the best version of myself. In the end, you are in control of how you see, treat, and respond to your body. We only get one and it’s amazing to discover how many things our bodies can do. Be a true sport athlete. Love who you are in this moment and get excited for all the places your body will take you.

A Good Sport Lesson Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Izy Isaksen, Team USA, Modern Pentathlon, Olympian, US Army Sergeant, and True Sport Ambassador. Today, I want to talk to you about being a good sport. There are three things I’d like you to know. First, real winners act the same toward their opponent, whether they win or lose. Second, follow the rules and be a gracious winner and respectful loser. And third, sportsmanship reveals your true character.

I started competing in Modern Pentathlon eight years after my older sister and three-time Olympian, Margaux Isaksen, began competing. I soon realized that people often compared the two of us. I would overhear spectators and teammates asking, “Who’s the better athlete,” and “Who’s going to beat the other.” Instead of letting outside pressures create a negative experience for us, I chose to practice winning and losing with grace and respect. I know that it would have been easy to let our hyper competitive mindset affect our relationship, but instead we decided to support and cheer for each other, regardless of our own performance. My experience of competing against and being compared to my older sister, taught me to focus on how to perform at my best, rather than putting wasted energy into wishing for others to fail.

I believe that sportsmanship reveals true character. So, no matter what situation I encounter during competition, I know it’s important to always treat people with respect and be a good sport. Remember, be a fierce competitor, find grace in all your victories and losses. And I hope to see you out there.

What Kind of Coach Do You Want to Be? Video Transcript

Edwin Moses: You’re a coach. Maybe what you want is very simple, for everyone to just run in the right direction, score for their own team, to try and try again and again. Maybe you want your athletes to become all stars. You want them to earn trophies, medals, win titles. You want them to reach the highest height their sport allows. And wanting all of that, of course, that’s good. But as every great coach discovers, developing a great athlete means nurturing, nurturing the even greater person within. Truth is, you have even more influence than you know.

You have the ability to affect even deeper change, to take what’s in your hands and do something even more extraordinary. You can be both the coach who provides the skills needed to win the game and the coach who helps them learn and succeed beyond the sport, to become all stars wherever they land in the future, and to enjoy their lives more now, because the confidence and courage they find working with you will stay with them when they need it the most. There are games to be won, lives to change. Coaches have the power to do both.

I’m Edwin Moses, and the lessons I’ve learned through sport have challenged me, guided me, and shaped my life forever. What kind of coach do you want to be?

THE SIMPLE TRUTH: DECODING THE SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

At first glance, dietary supplements look the same. They seem safe and healthy, but just because the label says a product is a dietary supplement, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Unfortunately, you can’t tell whether a product is safe or not just by looking at the label. Most vitamins, minerals, fish oil, and other supplements containing nutrients are probably just fine, but supplements are not evaluated or approved by FDA before they are sold. Although it is rare for vitamins or minerals to be contaminated with drugs, there has been at least one case of a vitamin containing an anabolic steroid.

At the other extreme are products that contain drugs, stimulants, anabolic steroids, or other hormones. Even though these are not technically dietary supplements, many of them are labeled as supplements. For example, body-building products sometimes contain anabolic steroids or Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, known as SARMs, or other hormones. Some pre-workout or energy products contain illegal stimulants like DMAA, ephedra, or other amphetamine-like stimulants. Weight loss products might contain prescription drugs like sibutramine, or hormones, like human chorionic gonadotropin, also known as hCG. All natural or herbal sexual enhancement products might contain hormones or Viagra-like drugs. Products like these can harm your health and career, but they’re for sale online, in some nutrition stores, and they’re labeled as dietary supplements.

When you pick up a supplement, especially one that promises performance enhancement, you don’t know if it belongs in the “Mostly O.K.” pile or in the “Dangerous” pile. After all, two products might look the same, but one might contain just amino acids and other legitimate ingredients, while the other also contains anabolic steroids. Because of this, FDA has issued a warning about certain categories of supplements: body building products, weight loss products, and sexual enhancement products. Be extremely careful when considering a supplement in one of these categories. We strongly recommend that you avoid products in these categories.

Even when FDA tests supplements and finds dangerous ingredients, companies sometimes refuse to recall them. Sometimes, they simply repackage their product and continue selling it under a new name. Just because a product is on a store shelf doesn’t mean it is safe. You need to do your research and be an informed consumer. The dietary supplement industry is enormous. Supplements that appear to be safe could actually be dangerous products in disguise. If you use dietary supplements without doing your research, you may be taking serious risks with your health and your career. Please visit USADA’s Supplement 411 for more information about dietary supplements.