The question of why is nutrition important for academy footballers? comes from the physical demands of the game.
Academy footballers will perform numerous physical actions with differing intensities such as sprinting, jogging, jumping, lateral, accelerations and deceleration movements.
During academy football matches and training, the total distance covered increases with age and ranges in the following ages groups:
Matches
U9 = 166m and 4km
U18 = 626 and 10.3km
Training week
U12 – U14 = 20-22km
U15 – U18 = 26km
Think… do you know how much distant you cover in your training week?
There’s also a consideration of what else they may be doing such as physical education at school or extra strength and conditioning sessions which will also impact the demands.
With the physical demands discussed… how does nutrition match such demands?
Unsurprisingly energy expenditure increases throughout the age group due to an increase in physical demands but also growth and development.
Limited data currently exists in U9-U11 ages groups
U12-U13 require 2859kcal
U15 require 3029kcal
U18 require 3586kcal
Think… are you meeting these demands?
As academy footballers progress through the academy their physical and nutritional demands significantly increase. This means players need to increase their eating habits and fuel appropriately to ensure they meet their physical and growth & development.
Consuming 7-8g/kg body mass of carbohydrates 2-3-days before an academy football match increased total distance covered by 17% and distance covered at high intensity by nearly 33%.
Why did this occur?… It is actually quite simple. Academy footballers should follow a high carbohydrate diet which increases muscle glycogen stores. In other words, more muscle glycogen delays the onset of fatigue and maximises energy levels.
However, a very important consideration is that we don’t typically recommend daily periodisation or carbohydrate cycling.
This is due to adolescents having a reduced endogenous glycogen storage capacity. In other words, academy footballers will struggle to store the same amount of glycogen as adults which makes it unnecessary to periodise carbohydrates.
Their academy footballers should aim to consume 6-8g/kg body mass of carbohydrates daily.
Maximising carbohydrate intake is vital. You can do this as an academy football player by consuming carbohydrates during exercise, training and match.
Here’s where to start:
Consume 30-60g before each half of a football match =
Ripe Banana – Homemade electrolyte drink – Two Percy Pigs or Jelly Babies.
This is just an example and there are other sources of carbohydrates.
This is a question that always comes up and here are some of the potential affects you may see if you don’t consume enough energy, carbohydrates, protein and the necessary fats:
I hope from reading this you can see the need for an understanding of nutrition and that demands for academy footballers are high.
Ensure you have a strategy and don’t demonise foods as this may create poor eating habits.
First understand what you are currently eating and then compare that to what the research says.
Remember to eat for yourself and not impress others – enjoy your food!
Youth Athlete Development and Nutrition | SpringerLink
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