# Day before Game prep



## soccermail2020 (Sep 10, 2021)

What do you allow and what don’t you allow the day/night before a game? Curfew? Eating habits? 
 I am raising a teen who loves soccer but also really loves a social life, boys, football games, beach days and hanging with friends. 
Do you all have any rules to help them be successful the next day or do you take a live and learn approach?
This is after all just as much our “investment” as it is theirs.


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## espola (Sep 10, 2021)

soccermail2020 said:


> What do you allow and what don’t you allow the day/night before a game? Curfew? Eating habits?
> I am raising a teen who loves soccer but also really loves a social life, boys, football games, beach days and hanging with friends.
> Do you all have any rules to help them be successful the next day or do you take a live and learn approach?
> This is after all just as much our “investment” as it is theirs.


Hydrate, carbohydrate, and sufficient rest.  Don't drink or smoke so much that you feel it in the morning (unless it just puts you into a good solid sleep).


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## Yousername (Sep 10, 2021)

Nope. I choose my battles. If she’s lethargic and gassed, the law of natural consequences will take place and she’ll learn when her coach is screaming at her to pick up the pace. Teenagers think they know everything, and this is one of those lessons where I say, “let them figure it out on their own.”


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## Emma (Sep 11, 2021)

soccermail2020 said:


> What do you allow and what don’t you allow the day/night before a game? Curfew? Eating habits?
> I am raising a teen who loves soccer but also really loves a social life, boys, football games, beach days and hanging with friends.
> Do you all have any rules to help them be successful the next day or do you take a live and learn approach?
> This is after all just as much our “investment” as it is theirs.


Same as Yousername.  Don't look at it as an "investment".  You'll be sorely disappointed.  You are just giving your child opportunities and s/he will make it into what s/he wants it to become.  Youth Soccer is not an investment, it's a fun sport to play as an athlete and great for entertainment as a parent.  It's season tickets to your favorite players but year round and you get to spend the car ride with your favorite player telling them how it should be done


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## crush (Sep 11, 2021)

Emma said:


> Same as Yousername.  *Don't look at it as an "investment".  *You'll be sorely disappointed.  You are just giving your child opportunities and s/he will make it into what s/he wants it to become.  Youth Soccer is not an investment, it's a fun sport to play as an athlete and great for entertainment as a parent.  *It's season tickets to your favorite player*s but year round and you get to spend the car ride with your favorite player telling them how it should be done


I love this Emma.  Best post in a week  I gave up Angels season tickets with my pals years ago so I could afford to watch my goat battle it out against all the future Youth National team players instead. I could not afford to do both, plus she needed rides all the time. I just get a kick out of watching her go up against all the greats, the Big U players, the true unicorns and just go watch her ball it up is addictive and worth every penny of entertainment value. This was never about you know what Emma and only about the matches I swear. If something like a pro contract comes her way in the next 8 months, so be it.....lol! If a coach wants to chat with my little goat she is all ready. The chats go both ways btw so hopefully both parties can sit down and see if theirs a match. I paid for my dd to play matches and I never expected anything else except matches. Let the season begin is my motto today   As to the OP Qs, let her be bro.  Like others have said, let her be and just back off.  I told my little girl that daddy will always be there to help her if or when she falls down.  However, I will not throw myself down on the pavement as a pillow ((enabler)) before she hits the pavement.  I won;t handle things for her behind the scenes to pay for what I want for her either.  I have to let her fall ((sometimes on her face)) first and then I help.  Good luck to all the players who have matches today & tomorrow.  Seriously, today I am grateful to be alive and to be able to be free in our country.  I will never forget 9/11/2001.  Love you all!!!


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## youthsportsugghhh (Sep 11, 2021)

You want them to continue to love the game and compete against the best level for them. We always tossed out the suggestion for decent hour of going to be and appropriate diet for day/night before a game.... then worked to get an agreed upon solution for all involved, sometime it was staying up until midnight at a close friend bday party and others it was 9pm lights out.  You give them the best tools you can and help them along the way, most of these girls will make the right decision.


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## EvilGoalie 21 (Sep 12, 2021)

Happened by and thought I would add that there is also the opposite problem.  When soccer subsumes everything in a young person's life and they want it that way.  17 yrs old and the thing that seems to matter most is when the whistle blows.  High school soccer as 0 period at 6:00 AM.  Club practice 3 nights a week. Keeper practice.  Academic load.  Pushing out stuff to college coaches who are looking for god knows what, trying to find that fit. Trying to be an athlete, student and running a blind leading the blind job search all at the same time.  Kid walks around like a zombie half the time until game starts, the switches get thrown, then SHOWTIME.  Basically a soccer adrenaline junkie.  Started off innocently enough.  School's boring, easy.  Here's something you need to work at.  Positive life lessons, etc.  But now it seems to have snowballed and not clear how it all winds up in the end.  It's a different world for our kiddos.  So competitive.  No matter who they are shaping up to be, we gotta watch out for them.


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## crush (Sep 12, 2021)

EvilGoalie 21 said:


> Happened by and thought I would add that there is also the opposite problem.  When soccer subsumes everything in a young person's life and they want it that way.  17 yrs old and the thing that seems to matter most is when the whistle blows.  High school soccer as 0 period at 6:00 AM.  Club practice 3 nights a week. Keeper practice.  Academic load.  Pushing out stuff to college coaches who are looking for god knows what, trying to find that fit. Trying to be an athlete, student and running a blind leading the blind job search all at the same time.  Kid walks around like a zombie half the time until game starts, the switches get thrown, then SHOWTIME.  Basically a soccer adrenaline junkie.  Started off innocently enough.  School's boring, easy.  Here's something you need to work at.  Positive life lessons, etc.  But now it seems to have snowballed and not clear how it all winds up in the end.  It's a different world for our kiddos.  So competitive.  No matter who they are shaping up to be, we gotta watch out for them.


Excellent take Evil


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## lafalafa (Sep 12, 2021)

Frosted flakes +  Red bull, Monster, or Star$bucks no curfew past the normal legal ones.

Seriously Friday night football games during the fall to hang with friends is common.  They go out to eat after or have a little getting together somewhere after.

Hopefully they learn how to properly eat and hydrate before games and you can help by proving those and the guidance but it's up to them to develop those good habits.

Let the kids and teens have some fun and enjoy besides youth sports, balance is key.

If parents talk about or put emphasis on preps or results too much kids have a habit of tuning them out, so going  easy on that and letting them find their own way is one approach.


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## Chelseafc (Sep 14, 2021)

Hydrate, stretch or roll out, good meal, more hydration.  No hard rules, as she is pretty disciplined.  I just remind her what the good habits are, and when she doesn’t do them she knows I’ll remind her afterwards (the consequences), that extra water or rest would have really made a difference.  She knows her choices have consequences, we just make that clear before she decides.


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## kickingandscreaming (Sep 14, 2021)

Yousername said:


> Nope. I choose my battles. If she’s lethargic and gassed, the law of natural consequences will take place and she’ll learn when her coach is screaming at her to pick up the pace. Teenagers think they know everything, and this is one of those lessons where I say, “let them figure it out on their own.”


The real elegance of this approach is that you don't even need to put your drink down for this wise act of parenting.


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## EvilGoalie 21 (Sep 14, 2021)

lafalafa said:


> Frosted flakes +  Red bull, Monster, or Star$bucks no curfew past the normal legal ones.


If they look like their dragging their tail a bit come the AM, we've found it hard to beat Capt. Crunch straight out the box and little chocolate donuts using the jersey for a napkin to get those eyes popping open. Then just before the warm up sneak over a shot of JD for courage and a powder for good luck.  It's worked great since they were 6-7.  Gets to the upper corner every time.


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## Yousername (Sep 14, 2021)

kickingandscreaming said:


> The real elegance of this approach is that you don't even need to put your drink down for this wise act of parenting.


Didn’t spill a drop.


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## Soccermom18 (Sep 15, 2021)

Emma said:


> Same as Yousername.  Don't look at it as an "investment".  You'll be sorely disappointed.  You are just giving your child opportunities and s/he will make it into what s/he wants it to become.  Youth Soccer is not an investment, it's a fun sport to play as an athlete and great for entertainment as a parent.  It's season tickets to your favorite players but year round and you get to spend the car ride with your favorite player telling them how it should be done


This is the best response ever and what it’s all about!


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