COACHES: Do Not Overlook How Critical It Is To HYDRATE Your Players Appropriately

The fact that spring is actually just around the corner for those of us situated in the damp and dreary Midwest always reminds me to bring-up the topic of hydration once again. Specifically, just how critical it is to insure that your youngsters are ingesting as much water as is appropriate throughout practices and game-play.

So here we go...

Obviously, I am not a certified medical professional, however, my experience and extensive dialogue with physicians and sporting-specific training personnel has convinced me that proper hydration cannot and must not be viewed as a luxury. In other words, in order for the body to both calibrate and perform at peak-levels--it must be fueled consistently by water.

How much?

Your players should not be leaving the bench without having replaced the fluids burned on the previous shift--or feeling thirty in any fashion for that matter. You see, while there is no "exact" science answer to provide you with precisely how much is required, there are several contributing indicators to weigh. For example, size/weight and possibly what the player had eaten before competition are all factors. My advice would simply be this: Do pay close attention and insure that each individual athlete is absolutely replenishing his/her liquid "burn" post each turn on the surface.

Suggestion: take notes on the bench as to just how much water your club has gone through during each game for a month. Chart the team's overall effort/achievements against the intake and develop your own methodology for encouraging and making certain that your players get into a comfortable and patterned routine of intake.

Finally, just as you may enforce no-exception-type "rules" that apply to executing offensive and defensive tactics on the ice, the drinking of water

to promote best-possible individual/team effort(s) MUST BE MANDATORY. The team's physical and psychological health hangs-in-the-balance--that is FOR SURE.

Best of luck.

BONUS TIP: Feel free to use the acronym below to constantly remind yourself to reinforce the MUST DRINK WATER concept with all of your respective players/teams moving forward.

And do know this--the "punishing" of youngsters for poor play or bad penalties by making them skate endlessly without fluid is intake is both neandetheral and criminal behavior. I do not care if we are talking AAA, Junior, High School or House--do not do it! It displays ridiculously poor judgement and a total lack of culpability on the coaches part. I honestly would suggest prosecuting those that still engage in this sort of banality.

Not to mention, the obvious reinforcement of poor skating/striding habits that emerge throughout the course of such a waste-of-ice-time!

H-elping

Y-outh

D-rink

R-egularly

A-t

T-he

E-vent

Best of luck.

Paul Lubanski

paul.lubanski@yahoo.com

lubanski90@gmail.com

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