Tournament Nutrition and Recovery
Tournaments provide a great challenge for players, parents and coaches to navigate for a range of reasons:
A basketball tournament typically sees players playing up to 8 games across 3-4 days, with up to 3 games per day.
The nature of tournaments can see players out of the house for the whole day, travelling around with lots of time in stadiums and limited downtime.
Because of these challenges, it’s often not about who starts a tournament strongly, but rather who finishes the tournament strongly. Your ability to run the floor, read screens and make plays in a final reduces greatly if you haven’t looked after your body over the previous 2-3 days. It requires a whole-team effort to look after our bodies across the tournament, so we are not losing games before we hit the court due to poor nutrition and recovery.
But done correctly, tournaments provide a fantastic opportunity to teach young athletes skills about healthy eating choices that they can transfer into adulthood. So we’ve put together some tips for Cougars teams to help them prepare for their upcoming tournament, drawing on our help of our McKinnon Cougars Big V dietician Nikko Shaw and our S&C partner Core Advantage along the way.
Tip #1: Follow the 4 R’s OF RECOVERY
Over the rest of this blog we’ll talk about ways to:
Rehydrate: Drinking plenty of water.
Refuel: Eating smart carbs to give you energy.
Repair: Eating lots of protein to help your muscles recover.
Relax: Finding ways to rest physically and mentally between games.
TIP #2: STAY WELL-hYDRATED
We may not be as passionate about high-quality H2O as The Waterboy’s Bobby Boucher, but we do agree that water is a critical factor in basketball performance.
When the temperatures are hot, it’s likely that players might sweat between 1-1.5 litres of water in a single game. Based on the bodyweight of the junior basketballer, this means that there is likely to be a marked performance difference in the second half between the players who have hydrated well, and those who haven’t. Some tips we give athletes to help them stay hydrated across a tournament:
Drink before you’re thirsty - being thirsty means it’s too late!
Follow your urine colour. If it’s dark yellow or you’re not urinating during the day, it almost always means you’re dehydrated.
Bring two bottles to games, so you’re not dependent on your parents to re-fill bottles every quarter.
Sports drinks are not necessary for basketball games as they are under 90 minutes, so there’s no need for sugary drinks like there might be in a marathon. If players keep their water bottle close by all weekend, and eat good nutrients in a timely manner between games, this is all they need.
Cold water is better. Why?
It’s more palatable, so we’ll drink more
It’s absorbed quickly into the bloodstream
It cools our body temperature too
TIP #3: Plan meals around your fixture
Fitting three standard meals a day never fits easily around tournament fixtures. If players try to follow a typical “breakfast, lunch, dinner” routine, it will leave them hungry at crucial points in the day and potentially sluggish at others. It’s often better than players have 5 smaller meals across the day, using an array of healthy snacks and small meals.
Tip #4: REFUEL AND REPAIR WITH SMART FOOD CHOICES
If you’re not sure what high-performance nutrition looks like, we’ve got your covered! McKinnon Cougars Big V dietician Nikko Shaw has put together some ideas for meals and snacks for every part of the day.
pre-game meals: more than one hour before first game
Nikko recommends that breakfast choices include carbs with a low glycaemic index (low GI) so that the energy lasts across the morning, rather than peaking on the drive to the game!
As with many of the meals we’ll see, they include combinations of protein and carbohydrates using fruits, dairy, and less-processed grains like oats and rice cakes.
PRE-GAME SNACK: LESS THAN ONE HOUR BEFORE GAME
If players are having a snack before the game, Nikko recommends options like fresh fruit, sultanas and muesli bars over the canteen fried chicken.
Post-Game Meals
You may only have two hours between games during a tournament, so anything you can do better than your next opponent during that period is going to put you at an advantage. Nikko recommends choosing snacks and meals that focus on protein for muscle recovery and carbohydrates for energy refuelling, such as:
Yoghurt pouch, muesli bar and fruit
Trail mix with jerky
Chicken or beef roll with salad
Biscuits with cheese + fruit
Protein milk (look for lower-sugar ones like Rokeby Farms)
Tuna on cruskits or biscuits with fruit
Pre-made pasta
Wrap with chicken and salad
Stadium Canteens: The Pantry of the Poor Planner
Whilst fast food/canteen food may be a convenient option after a match, these foods may not be the best option for recovery. According to Nikko, “Fast food generally lacks beneficial nutrients such as protein or quality carbohydrates that are minimally processed, and they contain a large amount of fats which often come from deep frying and can result in stomach discomfort and negatively impact your next game's performance. So by choosing the fast food option you may be compromising your body's ability to optimally recover and hinder your chances to be at your best during your next game.”
Other tournament tips
Place a team-wide weekend ban on chips, potato cakes, or any fast food.
If players want pizzas and burgers, you can allow them to but with a catch…they’ve got to be homemade! This prompts players to pick their toppings wisely, and will often result in heathier meals compared to fast food.
The more colourful a meal is, the better it is.
Whilst we’ve given some great options here, it’s important that players should stick with foods that they’ve eaten before.
As an incentive to eat well across the tournament, allow players to have their choice of meal after the final game (which hopefully doubles as celebrating a win!).
MYTH-BUSTING: “Nikko, I’m going to be exercising lots today so it doesn’t matter what I eat, yes?”
NIKKO: Often players have the mindset that because they’ve played 3 games in a day, they can eat whatever they want. But by choosing foods such as hot chips, dim-sims, fast-food, you are not fuelling your body with the proper nutrients it requires for optimal recovery, which puts your next game's performance at risk. And whilst players do probably expend a lot of energy/calories during a basketball match, it's very easy to eat/drink in excess of this from choices such as fast-food and sugary sports drinks as they tend to contain large quantities of added sugar and poor quality fats.
TIP #5: SWITCH OFF BETWEEN GAMES
It’s important during the short windows between games that players are resting their bodies and minds as much as possible. Some ideas we recommend include:
Foam rolling/stretching
Avoid standing or sitting for long periods. Short walks or bike rides will help your body flush out toxins from the previous game, but prioritise taking time to put your feet up and relax.
Going for a swim (avoid indoor heated pools if possible - the heat and humidity can tire players out quickly)
Hanging out with teammates or friends
Read a book or listen to music
TIP #6: SLEEP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR
You can follow all the advice above but if you are not getting good sleep across the tournament (and in the days leading up), your decision-making and jump shot are going to suffer. Players should minimise their screen time and avoid sugary foods beforehand to help with a great night’s rest.
Want more info on nutrition and recovery?
Our friends at Food With Nikko and Core Advantage have some great resources which we’ve linked to below.