Eating for youth basketball tournaments

[KeithI]

My 8 year old daughter enjoys playing basketball with her friends. Once or twice a month they’ve been playing in area tournaments. Depending on how many teams are in the tournament and how well they do they may play 4 games on Saturday and 3 on Sunday, although it’s usually less than that. There may be an hour between games or there may be several.

What’s the best way to maintain energy levels? We try for a good breakfast a few hours before the first game. Which usually means she picks at some eggs and then eats yogurt, fruit, and cereal. With a short rest between games usually a banana and a Gatorade. Longer breaks we usually go out to eat. She’s 8, she frequently just picks at her meals, but she had a couple tournaments where she ran out of gas and connected it with not really eating so she’s been asking food questions that I don’t have the answers for. Have you got any suggestions?

[Robert Santana]

Those aren't bad options. Cereal is probably better than fruit and yogurt. Dairy and fruits tend to digest slower because of the fiber and fructose content as well as lactose in dairy. Bananas are good and so is gatorade. Definitely want to ramp up the carbs. Gatorade, bagels, bananas, dried fruits, andy pretty much any type of white flour is fair game around training times. High protein breakfast is good too but you won't need to keep slamming that during the games as this is more of an endurance activity so you won't be breaking down muscle tissue to the extent of a high intensity lifting session. It will get some breakdown though so definitely don't skimp on it either and make sure she eats enough throughout the rest of the day. Does that help?

[KeithI]

Yes, thank you. That was helpful. I hadn’t considered bagels or white flour.

How long does peanut butter take to digest? Sometimes during the week she likes a bagel with peanut butter on it. That could be an easy way to get some breakfast in her on a tournament day.

[Robert Santana]

Peanut butter digests slow because of the fiber and fat content. Bagels aren't bad and they don't necessarily need to be pure white flour, you have options.