Summer Football Nutrition With Mustard on the Sideline

Water and Gatorade might be commonplace at football practice, but mustard? 

Yes, mustard packets are being used to battle cramps. And it's just one of the ways local high school football coaches try to fight dehydration and poor nutrition before the season starts.

After a summer of family vacations and dinner with friends, getting back into healthy eating habits is particularly challenging for the players as they endure rigorous summer practices.

“It’s definitely a challenge because I can’t go home with these guys every night,” said Chris Haddock, head football coach at Centreville High School. “I have to trust that what I’m asking them to do and what the athletic training staff is asking them to do is what they’ll do when they get home.”

When teams opened their training camps earlier this month, it was immediately apparent that poor eating takes a toll on these athletes.

“On our second day we had kids falling down with cramps already,” said Stonewall Jackson High School head coach Mike Dougherty. “That’s one of those things where we tell them time and time again what to do, but until you experience nutrition related failure, then all of a sudden you’re tuned into it.”

In order to help young athletes make healthy choices, coaches often have to devote just as much time to nutrition tips as they do to installing blocking schemes.

“We try to be a resource for them,” said Dougherty. “Some kids can eat gummy bears and Twinkies and come out here and perform, but for most of them, we use our athletic trainer out here all the time to give them advice on how many calories they should be having.”

Schools like Centreville often create plans for players to follow as they try to stay consistent with their eating.

“We have the best trainers in the state of Virginia,” said Chad Wiggins, a defensive end for Centreville. “They get us on nutrition plans and tell us what to eat and when to eat it.”

Staying healthy while also satisfying the kind of hunger generated by these intense practices may seem challenging, but there is actually a variety of simple solutions the kids can employ to satisfy both goals.

“When you’re expending lots of energy, the goal is to balance the amount of carbs and protein you’re taking in,” said Kelley Raetzsch, a registered dietitian with Vibrant Life Nutrition. “Something as common as peanut butter is a great way to get a good combination of protein and fat.”

The fluids the players take in are often just as important as the food they eat, if not more so. Battling dehydration in the August heat is a constant concern for every team.

“We pull them aside if we see them struggling and say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to go home and drink like 128 ounces of water,’” said Matthew Burrell, Stonewall’s quarterbacks coach. “When you tell them that big number they’re like ‘woah’ but it’s only four liters, just two two-liter soda bottles and you’re good to go.”

While constant fluid intake is the simple solution for staying hydrated, coaches are always looking for other ways to fight cramps.

“The latest craze is mustard packets,” Dougherty said. “For some reason, if you eat a mustard packet, it instantly wards off a cramp, it’s like a spell or something. You’ll see a kid with a cramp, and you’ll see my coaches running for mustard.”

Raetzsch concedes that there’s little hard science to explain why such an odd solution works, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.

“There’s no research to back this up, but some people think the vinegar could help decrease cramps,” Raetzsch said. “But if it works go for it, even it just has a placebo effect or makes them thirsty and want to drink more water.”

Instead of condiments, she suggests that fruit is a good solution for simultaneously hydrating and stocking up on energy.

“Fruit is a great way to get fluid without drinking, especially considering that the volume of fluids these kids need can be tough on them,” Raetzsch said. “It’s also a natural source of carbohydrates, so it’s really ideal.”

Some schools have embraced this methodology and recommend fruit to help athletes recover.

“We have a break in between our practices, and (our coaches) tell us, bring fruit, drink a lot of water,” said Josh Lakey, a left tackle at Battlefield High School.

But no matter how they work to keep kids healthy, coaches say they can always see the effects of good nutrition out on the field.

“You get minor pulls and strains because you’re not stretching properly, not hydrating properly, not eating properly,” Haddock said. “It’s just a question of continuing to stress it. We send out emails to our parent groups and hope that they’re following our lead.”

Maybe if they do, they won’t need so much mustard on the field.