5 Tips for Moms of Young Athletes
It’s not long after your young athletes start getting involved in a sport that moms start looking for ways to “survive” long seasons of practices, games and tournaments. I remember trying to find my ways of survival at the ski lodge those first few seasons, and now I’m a pro at helping new moms! Here are my 5 tips for moms of young athletes.
1. Plan Ahead
I can’t stress how important it is to plan ahead. And this includes not just plan for today, but also for tomorrow, the weekend, next week, etc! This should include things such as meal planning, homework time, doctor appointments, practices & games, travel time, music lessons, church, etc etc. Yes, while you remember that you are taking little Ben to soccer practice tonight, have you planned dinner? Or this Saturday while Ryan is at a baseball double header, who’s making sure his brother isn’t missing his bowling league?
It doesn’t take long to get overwhelmed, but with a good planner and keeping track of everyone’s schedules, you can easily keep it all straight.
2. Enlist Help
While Mom may be the parent who runs the athletes to most of their events, don’t forget to see if grandparents, Dad, older siblings or other friends and family members can help you if you get in a crunch! I loved it when one of my older skiing athletes could drive the younger ones to the slopes! They could get started early and I could come by lunch time to make sure everyone ate and give a ride home to anyone who needed to leave early.
And Dad liked to be the one to take the boy to his bowling league practices, so I could use my Saturday mornings doing other things!
3. Don’t Over Commit
Once those young athletes discover sports, it doesn’t take long for them to want to play several at once or in back to back seasons. And for some, that may be totally doable! But for other athletes and their families, it can get expensive and require a large time commitment as well. Be sure that your athlete truly loves all the sports they are requesting, and that they (and you) understand how much time and finances it will cost. Budgets have to be considered too as these choices are made and those little ones will learn about priorities and choices as you talk about it.
4. The Right Equipment & Attitude
It’s important to have the right equipment and attitude when it comes to playing sports. Your young athlete has to not only be safe (thinking goggles, knee pads, etc) but also play by the rules and with the right attitude. It’s a hard lesson to learn that not everyone will win every time, even if they give their best. And no one ever wants to see a family member hurt, especially of the younger variety! But with the right equipment and outlook, sports can and should be fun, rewarding and character building!
5. Healthy Snacks
Young athletes tend to burn a lot of energy, especially at their sporting event(s), so I found it easier and cheaper to bring my own snacks and drinks. And this isn’t just for the sports player but also the rest of the family! For long days, I would pack two bags. One was a beach bag which I would add things like individual servings of roasted almonds, pretzels, or trail mix. Then I would pack a soft sided cooler bag with bottles of water and hydrating bottles of electrolyte replacing drinks like POWERADE® and POWERADE ZERO™.
Not only does POWERADE® and POWERADE ZERO™ keep them hydrated, they are also full of goodness like sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. POWERADE® is formulated with a 6% carbohydrate solution to help provide energy to working muscles, and vitamins B3, B6 and B12. This is great at helping their little muscles keep moving and reduce the risks of headaches and muscle cramps later on.
And if you have a picky young athlete, there are plenty of flavors to choose from, like:
POWERADE® flavors:
Mountain Berry Blast®
Fruit Punch
Orange
Grape
Lemon Lime
POWERADE ZERO™ flavors:
Mixed Berry
Grape Zero
At the end of the day, our young athletes are “Just a Kid” from somewhere; and POWERADE® wants us to recognize that potential in our athletes. Right now, they are offering a free custom sports bottle by purchasing 2 8-packs of 20 oz bottles from Walmart and then online to submit their receipt. Then the athlete can be “just a kid from (fill in your city name)”. This offer is good until April 4, 2016, or while supplies last! Plus, you can represent your somewhere with custom “Just a Kid” apparel (like the custom bottle) that features where you’re from!. All net proceeds from the sale of “Just a Kid” apparel goes to the Boys & Girls Club of America.
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a sponsored post from SheSpeaksUp and POWERADE®. The company who sponsored it compensated me with some form of payment or service. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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