Volunteers Needed! - NO SOCCER EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
Believe it or not, that is true for most of the positions at the North Olmsted Soccer Organization. NOSO is a volunteer organization run by parents. Our success is contingent upon how many parents are willing to give a little of their time to make their son’s or daughter’s experience a more positive one. Here are some of the area's we are looking for help with:
* Concession Stand Organizer/ Helpers....helping to organize and keep track of inventory and sales. Helpers to volunteer for 2 hour shifts to sell snacks and NOSO apparel during weekend games. Need to set-up trailer in the fall and in the spring.
* Field Maintenance....helping to keep the soccer fields organized and work together with NOSO to set-up lines, goals and over-all maintenance. No lawn care required
* Fund Raiser Organizers.... work with the NOSO on upcoming and future fund raising events and ideas
* Information distribution.... we need help distributing registration information to the schools. This would be picking up and dropping off the flyers at the schools and would take place before the spring and fall seasons.
* Coaches.... we are always on the lookout for energetic, friendly and organized people to become a coach or to be an assistant coach. If you have these qualities and like working with kids, contact us for more details.
The more people who volunteer, the easier everyone's job becomes, but more importantly, your kids will appreciate it. If you can help in any manner not listed above, let us know that as well!
If you do find something that you are interested in, please contact NOSO President Miguel Cora.
Parents often ask about nutrition for soccer players and so the following guidelines should be helpful. It is really important to consider the type of foods the players should eat at tournaments and before early morning games. These questions should be answered within this overview.
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The following information is offered as a guide to help you develop your own training and match day diets. The basic structure of your diet should follow this plan, but the actual foods you choose to eat are a matter of personal preference. Your diet should consist of the following food sources in roughly these percentages:
65% Carbohydrate
15% Fat
20% Protein
Intense training relies on the body’s store of glycogen (energy). After training or games the bodies glycogen stores are depleted. If these stores are not replenished rapidly then during the next training session or match your performance will deteriorate rapidly due to fatigue. In a match or training session this can have a negative effect on performance and can dramatically reduce the benefit of the session.The following graph shows the levels of muscle glycogen in the body in the days after a match or intense training session.
Key: B = Before Game, 90 = After Game, M = Monday, T = Tuesday, W = Wednesday
The graph above shows that if our Glycogen levels are not optimized before a training session or match they will diminish quickly and will take time to replenish. This information must form a central focus for all our dietary choices during the soccer season. It is essential that we do all that we can to optimize our glycogen levels before every match and training session. Most of the information in this guide is focused around how we do that.
The next graph shows glycogen levels during the course of a game. From the two graphs it is clear that we must have a strategy in place for optimizing glycogen levels during games as well as before and after games and training sessions.
Glycogen levels are optimized by fueling on foods that are high in Carbohydrates. Some of the following foods score very high on the glycogen charts:
100% - Glucose, Rice Cakes, French Bread, Puffed Wheat, Honey, Corn Flakes, Potatoes, Maltose
80-90% - Corn Chips, Carrots, Raisins, Non-fat ice cream, Non-fat Yogurt, Parsnips, Whole Grain Bread, Rice (white), Banana, Weetabix Cereal, Broad Beans
70-79% - Oatmeal cookie, White Bread, Brown Rice, Muesli, Shredded Wheat Cereal, Ryvita Crispbreads Watermelon, Ice Cream
60-69% - Spaghetti (bleached), Pasta, Sweet corn, All Bran Cereal, Biscuits, Peas, Sucrose, Potato Chips, Pinto Beans
50-59% - Spaghetti (whole-wheat), Oatmeal, Sweet Potatoes, Beans, Oranges, Orange Juice
Leading up to and after training and matches we should be looking to have a diet that is high in these types of Carbohydrates. For maximum impact on glycogen replenishment; what we eat in the first 0-50 minutes after the game or training has the biggest impact on our bodies ability to replenish glycogen. Most of the foods in the above chart are complex Carbohydrates and take longer for the body to digest so immediately after training and games we need to eat or drink simple carbohydrates. Good food sources for after the game or training include; bananas, sports drinks, jelly beans (or equivalent), raisins, cereal bars etc…
These same simple carbohydrates are useful just before or during games and training, in moderation. Also important to our diet is Protein. It is essential for muscle and other tissue repair and growth. Often a protein supplement in the form of a drink can be the best way to re-fuel right after games or training. Some protein is also required for the transportation of the Carbohydrates into glycogen and to the muscles. Foods high in Protein include:Milk, Tuna, Chicken, Turkey Lean Meats, Beef, Eggs, Cheese, Yogurt, Fish
If you have a requirement to build more muscle, which most of us do, protein may need to form a slightly higher percentage of your diet. Fat is often thought of as a food group to be avoided at all costs by soccer players, but this is misinformed. Fat is useful to our body for insulation, protection of internal organs, supplying oils to the skin and as a source of energy when training at low intensity. It is important however that we do not consume high portions of fatty foods and that we monitor our intake of food high in fat. Only about 15-20 % of our diet should be made up of fat.
Caffeine can have a negative effect on performance within an endurance sport like soccer. Caffeine can dehydrate the body badly and we should be very careful about how much and when we consume it. Even one or two drinks before or after a game can result in greatly reduced levels of performance and recovery. Caffeine is found in a number of drinks other than coffee. Another area that should be carefully monitored is the consumption of Fast Food. Although this is permissible in moderation it should not happen in the 2 days leading up to a game if at all possible.
When training or playing in the morning it is essential that enough complex carbohydrates are taken on board in the afternoon and evening the day before. On the morning of the activity Cereals, Raisins and Bananas are useful food sources as well as whole meal bread and honey. On the evening before the session or game we should be focusing our attention on eating meals that are high in Carbohydrates, what we eat the day before has a significant impact on our performance the next day.
On the day of an afternoon or evening game we have adequate time to have breakfast and a pre-game meal about three hours before kickoff. These two meals should consist of complex carbohydrates with some protein to assist in the transportation of the fuel. About 60-90 minutes before kickoff it is a good idea to have a snack like a banana, a power bar or something similar. It is a good idea to experiment with this snack on a training day before having it on the day of a game.
Due to the distances we sometimes need to travel it is essential that all of this information is taken into account and that you are equipped with all of the essential foods during the journey. Always try to have everything that you need in the event that there is not an opportunity to find the food you want on the trip. With the proper preparation this should not prove to be problematic and it is an integral part of our success.“Aside from the limits imposed by heredity and the physical improvements associated with training, no factor plays a bigger role in exercise performance that nutrition” Costill.
In addition the eating the correct foods and avoiding Alcohol Caffeine and Carbonated drinks it is important to know what we should be drinking. Water should be number one on our list for fluid intake. We should be drinking water regularly even when we are not exercising. If we pass urine that is not clear then it is a sign that we are dehydrated and that we should be drinking more water. This should never happen when we are about to train or play. During exercise Isotonic drinks that are about 5-8% concentrated are the best, Most types of Gatorade and Powerade drinks come into this category, but if the concentration is too high, above 8% the drink is better used as a recovery drink as the body will have a hard time absorbing it during exercise. If the concentration is too low it may be as well to drink water. Sports drinks have the added benefit of replacing electrolytes.
Sleep Guidelines
As well as considering this nutritional information it should be noted that the correct amount of sleep is a major factor in aiding recovery and assisting muscle growth. If you are able to take a nap during the day this can be good, but it should be taken between the hours of 1-4 and should not exceed 45 minutes. If you stick to these guidelines then you can get maximum benefit from the nap without affecting your sleep at night which is very important. At night you should get a minimum of 8 hours sleep and aim to get more if you can. It is important to get to bed at roughly the same time each night and to get up at roughly the same time each morning wherever possible.
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