Hydration in Texas Heat! A Word from Our Sports Scientist!

June 10th 2020

The summer schedule and Texas heat can make performing on a soccer field difficult, when we have temperatures in the 90’s and heat indexes as high as 110 degree, staying cool is important not only for your performance but general health.

Dehydration can set in quickly and have a large effect on your ability to play soccer. A lack of water in your muscles can lead to cramp earlier than usual, your brain can’t make decisions on a field as quickly or effectively and you won’t be able to sprint as often or as quickly as your muscles will have less ability to contract.

We lose a lot of water through sweating (up to 3-5lbs in a training session in hot and humid conditions), which is the bodies way of cooling itself. Even being 1% dehydrated can cut down on performance, 2% in slightly older players. We won’t be able to avoid sweating, but its important that we are taking on enough fluids when we can to replace what we have lost.

Players should be taking on water the night before, the morning of and during training sessions, as well as taking the time to relax and let their body cool down. Water is great, however for longer sessions, a sports drink would also be useful since they contain some carbohydrates which will give you fuel for the rest of the sessions.

Finally, we don’t want to drink TOO much, since this can leave us feeling, amongst other things, lethargic and unable to train.

An easy way to tell if you are dehydrated, is to rate how thirsty you are 1-9 (9 being very thirsty). If you find yourself scoring between 3 and 5, research has shown that young athletes are 1-2% dehydrated, which can affect performance.