CBC-Sports

Snack-a-mania - do kids need a snack at halftime?

August 19, 2009 12:04 PM | Posted by   Ron Kuipers  

Ron Kuipers is a writer from Oakville, Ont., who has been coaching and teaching young kids how to play soccer for several years.

When I was a kid playing soccer back in the 70s, there was no need to send out a snack list to all the parents at the beginning of the season.

Every single halftime snack I can remember consisted of oranges and that's it. We ate a couple of orange slices, chugged some water, listened to the halftime speech and then we headed back out for more soccer action.

We never ate chocolate chip cookies or granola bars or mangos or doughnuts. We didn't drink Gatorade or Powerade or some kind of fruit cocktail. It was orange slices and water from beginning to end.

I raise this point because Canadian kids have played their way through the majority of another soccer season and we've all seen some pretty amazing snack choices as a result. (Please share some of the more interesting snack choices you've seen in the comments section below.)

But now that the playoffs are approaching, should the halftime snack ritual remain the same?

Do our kids really need something to munch on during the halftime break at a soccer game?

If so, what makes for a nutritious and helpful snack? And should there be more than one kind of snack?

To help relieve all this snack time stress, I put all these questions to one of Canada's leading authorities on fitness and nutrition.

The BodyBreak Guy

Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod are the energetic 'BodyBreak' couple who've been telling Canadians to "keep fit and have fun" for two decades.

Hal, who also has experience coaching kids' sports, doesn't think our young soccer stars need anything to eat when the first half comes to an end.

"They haven't played hard enough to even warrant anything to eat. They don't need any food," says Hal. "Why do we have to entice the kids to play the game? Why are we stopping for ten minutes to have snack time?"

Hal uses minor hockey as a comparison, suggesting how foolish it would look if we stopped between the second and third period so the kids could sit on the bench, remove their helmets and grab some food from a parent who's passing around a tray of fruit and some snack bars.

Hydrate with H2O

So when a 12-year old girl from Vancouver has just played her heart out during the first half of her playoff game on a nice, warm summer day on the west coast, what should she have at halftime?

According to Hal, she doesn't need anything more than water.

"Players need hydration. They need water and that's all they need. Unless it' s a really, really hot and humid day, water is sufficient," says Hal.

So when a 10-year old boy from Halifax has just played his heart out during the first half of his playoff game on a really, really hot and humid day on the east coast, what should he have at halftime?

According to Hal, water can be substituted with one of those popular sports drinks, which do a good job of putting some of the salt back in the body.

"The only time that you need something like Gatorade is when you're going to cramp up and you've expelled so much sweat," says Hal. "Gatorade is essentially water, food colouring and salt and it's just to replenish the electrolytes in your system."

Pre and post game

Hal wants to remind everyone that complex carbohydrates, like pasta, continue to be an excellent pre-game meal for an athlete at any age.

Post-game meals or snacks should be low in fat and high in protein, which means food like chicken or fish.

If your team is going to stick to the halftime snack routine, Hal suggests fruits that have lots of fluids in them like oranges or watermelon.

And finally, Hal hopes you do your kids a huge favour by keeping greasy, fast food out of their mouths on game day.

"Anything that's fat causes your stomach to have to work and it slows you down quite literally," says Hal.

"Keep the junk out of their mouths because it's not going to fuel their bodies and make them the best player that they want to be both mentally and physically."

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