Water, Why it matters to your performance

Water, we cant live without it. If you're an athlete it's even more important. Correct hydration is key to being able to perform to your maximum. Losing > 2% of your body weight in competition can lead to a 15% drop in performance outputs.

Finding a hydration strategy is simple and relatively easy, to work out how much water you lose during training or competition weight yourself before and after. Keep a log of each session and weight. As an example for rehydration each KG of bodyweight you lose drink 1.5L of water to compensate. Mixing water and electrolyte drinks is beneficial when losing substantial amounts of weight >3%.

Once you have worked out how much on average you lose in training or a game you can try to consume more throughout the sessions to minimise losses. For excessive sweaters we place drink bottles around the ground or in the goals depending on their positions, so when there is a break in play they can get a drink easily.

In terms of recovering after a game, try to drink the required amount before of fluid before having an alcoholic beverage. If you are planning on having a night out, go 1 for 1 between alcohol and water and have a gatorade before you go to bed.