Eating right to play GREAT

As Sectionals stated drawing near for the Ohio University women’s team, our senior standout Sarah Soled took it upon herself to gather the team together and talk about one of the most important things any athlete should know….Nutrition! Ok, I know it’s nothing like laying out for a disc or throwing a sweet-ass huck up field, buy nutrition is the thing that makes all of that possible. Sarah’s main statement to us was “why bust your ass winter quarter condition if you only are going to provide crummy fuel for your body? You can’t expect to perform your best unless you put in (to your mouth) the best.”

"Eating right is really important when you play Ultimate. Because it is so physically demanding, you must eat healthy foods that have enough carbs to keep you going,” Evan Conrad, a player on UC Cinister said. Eats carbs, or carbohydrates are important, they are the primary fuel used in sprints and they are the quickest way for a person to fuel.

But athletes need more than just carbohydrates in their bodies, they also need protein. According to the Sports Medicine section of About.com, athletes need protein to repair and rebuild the muscle that exercising brakes down. The amount of protein an athlete needs is dependent upon intensity, duration of exercise and the degree of training. It is recommended that endurance athletes take in about 1.2-1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.

Another important part of an Ultimate player’s diet is fluids! According to Colorado State University, “athletes should start any event hydrated and replace as much lost fluids as possible.” Even when the weather is less than perfect, snowy, cloudy, rainy, make sure you are drinking fluids on the sideline.

Recap: Nutrition is important to any Ultimate player, the objective is to provide you with foods and fluids to sustain hard training promote rapid recovery and promote adequate hydration. As Sarah told our team, it’s all about food quality, not quantity. So after that next practice or tournament, make the smart choice when you reach into that refrigerator.