Boosting Your Performance While Playing
Replace fluids lost from sweat. During a game, you need to continually drink fluids to replace what you have lost in sweat. Keeping hydrated and eating to maintain hydration and blood sugar levels is key to maximizing your performance. If the game, sport, or competition will last for more than 1 hour, drink ½-1 cup of sports drink every 15-20 minutes. Drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, Isostar, or Lucozade Sport to replace lost sodium and electrolytes, which should help you to keep up your energy levels. Be sure to drink in small but frequent amounts so that you don't accidentally make yourself sick. If you decide to drink sports drinks like Gatorade, consider watering them down so you're not drinking as much sugar.
Maintain your muscles' energy source. It is possible that you might run into a situation where you're playing two games back to back, say in a tournament, and you'll find yourself unable to take the time to go eat a full meal--or maybe you just end up hungry during a regular game. In these cases, you will need to replenish your energy periodically during and between games with small, healthy snacks. You will want to pick a healthy food, like a banana, a handful of nuts, or a seed-based bar for example, that can fuel you for 6 to 8 hours ideally. Try using your practices to experiment to find out which foods satisfy your energy needs best. Make sure you don't choose foods that upset your stomach or cause you discomfort. Be sure to eat small amounts of food often, say during your time spent on the bench or if your coach calls for a huddle, and bring multiple options to pick and choose from. If you eat something larger, your body will struggle to digest it and you won't get the benefit. There is also the added risk that you could vomit this larger snack up.
Consume some running gel. People who participate in marathons or long-distance sports may find their energy flagging over time but without the ability to stop. For endurance athletes who need to replenish energy they've already used, invest in and eat some special gel made of concentrated carbs to get that quick fuel that you need to keep going. It's generally recommended to start taking the gels early on, within the first 45 to 60 minutes of your race, but not to use them as a substitute for a good breakfast. Continue consuming the gels at a rate of 45 to 60 minutes per packet. Those with sensitive stomachs will want to make the time between snacks longer to avoid any potential stomach problems. If you have stomach issues, try to consume the gels at a rate of ¼ a packet every 20 minutes to make the digestive process easier on your stomach. Be careful; when you eat these gels, you will need to take them with water, and never with a sports drink. GU, Huma, Honey Stinger, and Clif are just a few of many brands that produce gel shots you can take. Try looking for them at Walmart, on Amazon, or any sporting goods store. Be sure to only use these for long distance running or extended periods of exertion; even runners participating in 5k events do not need these products. Team sports and activities that don't have natural pauses require a little more planning to keep the body at its optimal level of hydration and blood sugar. It may be necessary to plan your day around the big game and as such eat a substantial meal a few hours in advance of the action. Half time in team sports is the perfect opportunity to get on board those slow release carbohydrates and hydration to ensure you finish as strong as you started.
Use your emotions to enhance your performance. It is natural to become invested in the competition aspect of the game. This can make it hard to take losses well, but losing your cool could result in you losing your focus and potentially making mistakes. Instead of shouting and stomping and getting thrown out of the game, return to your position even more determined to win. Focus only on what is your job and what you can control--what's already happened is done. Remember to play within the scope of your game's rules: you don't want to be thrown out because of unsportsmanlike behavior such as elbowing someone in the face.
Smile and laugh. If you're feeling down, anxious, or angry during the game and you are unable to refocus it into a positive spin, you should smile or laugh to shake the negative effects off. These actions stimulate chemicals that make us feel good, fight off stress, and act as anti-depressants. You will find it helps to elevate your mood, which will in turn improve your performance. Try thinking back to a good memory, maybe a time you had fun with your friends, or some goal you recently achieved in your sport. Try thinking of a joke that made you laugh, or asking someone to tell you one. Tell someone else a joke--laughter and happiness are infectious, and if you can make them laugh, chances are you will at least smile if not laugh yourself.
Become absorbed in the game. If you really want to reach your peak performance, you'll need to set aside all thoughts about other things. Forget about your worries about tests or that fight you had with your girlfriend/boyfriend. Ignore the crowd, the jeering from the other team or their fans, even distractions from other sources like loudspeakers or planes overhead. Concentrate only on the task that you have to do, and feel confident that you can do it, so that all of your energy and all of you is focused solely on the game. This is all part of what many athletes commonly refer to as "getting in 'the zone.'" If you can get into the zone, your negative thoughts and worries will all fall away and you will become more self-confident.
Caring for your Physical Health
Eat properly. In order to maintain a strong, healthy body that is fully energized, you need all kinds of minerals, vitamins, proteins, carbs, and even fats. Unfortunately, you cannot get everything you need from just one food, or even one food group. Current recommendations say that about half the food you eat should be fruits and vegetables and more grains than protein. The amount of calories you should take in per day varies by age, gender, and lifestyle. Don't skip meals, particularly on a game day. You get calories from the food you consume, which is then turned into energy for your muscles to burn. If you don't eat enough while exercising, you can suffer from exhaustion and hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. While prepackaged sports foods like granola or protein bars are convenient, the best foods for you to eat are going to be unprocessed foods, either raw (when possible) or home cooked. 5-6 hours before your game, eat a larger meal, ideally one high in complex carbohydrates. Try potatoes, whole brown rice, legumes, rolled oats, yams, or other whole foods that contain fiber. Have a light and healthy snack like peanut butter or yogurt before you play.
Drink plenty of fluids. The human body is roughly 60% water and needs it for a lot of different things, including cooling off. If your body starts to run low on water, you become "dehydrated." People who become severely dehydrated may suffer dizziness, moodiness, confusion, fever, headache, delirium, and even pass out. The amount of water you need to drink on a daily basis depends on your age. 5 to 8 year olds need 5 glasses or 1 liter of water a day. 9 to 12 year olds should get 7 glasses or 1.5 liters a day. Teenagers should aim for 8 to 10 glasses, or 2 liters. Adults should have between 2.2 and 3 liters every day. In hot and humid weather and before and during exercise, you will need to drink even more water than usual. When not exercising, you should almost always choose water above any other drink. Although some drinks like fruit juice or sports drinks do have good things in them, like vitamins or electrolytes, they're also loaded with sugar and calories. You can tell how your hydration is by looking at your pee: if it comes out dark yellow or amber, you're not drinking enough; if it is clear or pale in color then you're in good shape.
Get a full night's rest. Sleep helps to keep you healthy, strengthens your immune system, speeds up recovery from injury, and promotes growth. This includes muscle repair and growth, which is exactly what athletes need to perform better. Without proper rest, you may find yourself feeling sleepy, slow, and unalert while trying to play. How much sleep you need depends on your age. Kids 6-12 years of age need 9-12 hours and teens from 13-18 years old need 8-10 hours.Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Keep to a set schedule even on the weekends to reinforce your body's natural sleep-wake cycle and promote better, deeper sleep at night. It can be especially challenging if you're very excited or nervous to sleep well. Try distracting yourself from your nervous thoughts by reading a book, telling yourself a story, writing in a journal to exercise the thoughts, or listening to calming music. If you still can't sleep, try taking a short walk or a hot shower before trying to sleep again. Avoid electronic devices that emit light, like smartphones, TVs, computers, and tablets, 30-60 minutes before bed. The light these items put off makes it harder for you to sleep, which may result in fatigue the next day.
Warm up. Before you step foot on the court, pitcher's mound, or even just plain exercise, be sure to adequately warm yourself up. A good warm-up should last between 15 and 30 minutes and not begin too far in advance. It should get your heart rate up, stretch your muscles to increase your range of motion in your joints, and incorporate drills and exercises specific to your sport to prepare you for the game's demands. Start by getting your pulse up first, follow that by stretching, and end it with your drills, like dribbling, passing, or serving. You can ask your coach for help with determining a good warm-up routine, including the proper sport-specific drills that are most beneficial to you.
Practice to develop muscle memory. Nobody is born knowing how to dribble a basketball, hit a home run, or stop a quarterback sneak. After you have learned to do something, you then need to develop a muscle memory for it. Muscle memory is when a specific movement is repeated often enough over time so as to make it performed without conscious effort. As you improve you will find your self-confidence, enthusiasm, and energy for the game increasing as well. Ideally, you should at least attend as many of the official practices with your team as possible. This helps build your relationship with your team and your coach so you can all perform better as a whole. When possible, practice with family and friends on days that you're not officially practicing with your team. The more practice you have before the game day, the better.
Maintaining your Mental Health
Think and talk positively. Going in with a good attitude about how the game is going to turn out and how you can perform will help you to build enthusiasm and self-confidence. In fact, successful athletes possess a multitude of mental skills, including maintaining a positive attitude and using positive self-talk. Try not to focus on the negatives or failures but to reflect on the positives. Make a list of your best skills and all the things you've improved on in the last weeks, months, or even years. Write these things down, and use them to give yourself a pep talk. "I am the best at blocking on my team, and I've really improved on my free-throws. I know I can do this!" Talk to yourself like you were talking to your best friend: would you blame them for missing a catch, or would you encourage them to believe that they can get it next time? When you find yourself feeling down, use positive self-talk to pull your mood up. "Hey, I know that I messed up back there, but I tried my best, and I learned something new. I'm going to practice all this week, and I'll do better next time!" If you need a bigger pep-talk going into the game, talk to your friends, coach, or even your parents. Ask them what areas they think you do well in, where you can improve, and ask for their help.
Visualize your goals. Before it's time to go out and play, get your mind in the zone by closing your eyes and picturing yourself doing well, whether you're dribbling the ball, passing the puck, or running across home base. Studies have found that even as little as five minutes of mental visualizations boost performance significantly, even for novices and amateurs. What happens is because you "see" yourself performing perfectly, your brain creates a neural pattern for your muscles to follow. You will want to incorporate all of your senses--sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste--into the fantasy and make it as detailed as possible, right down to picturing the crowds, the weather, and the feel of the ball in your hands. Just like practicing your actual moves, you will need to practice your visualization techniques in order to make it easier for yourself. Make sure your mental images are realistic. Not even Michael Jordan could dunk a basketball from 300 feet away; don't set goals for yourself that you can't reach.
Listen to empowering music. A lot of athletes like to listen to songs with a fast beat and uplifting or empowering lyrics before starting a game. It's easy to channel nervous energy into positive excitement when you have messages telling you that you can do it to sing or hum along to. Try building your own playlist to listen to on an MP3 player or use free services like Youtube or Bandcamp on your phone or a tablet right before you're due to start.
Practice good daily habits. Although we often think of babies throwing fits because they're tired, hungry, or thirsty, older kids, teenagers, and even grown adults are just as susceptible to mood fluctuations due to certain imbalances. The same activities--eating, sleeping, and drinking correctly--that keep our bodies healthy also help to support a healthy mind. While some strong emotions like disappointment, excitement, and anger are an expected part of playing, you can help to make sure they are within a healthy range by maintaining good practices up to and during your games. Scientific evidence supports the concept of people becoming "hangry" if they haven't eaten enough. Sleep deprived people can easily become more stressed, angry, sad, and mentally exhausted. Mild dehydration causes anger and mood swings.
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