The first week of August. Pre-season is here. School is right behind it.
Most kids show up to tryouts under-rested or over-conditioned. Either is wrong. The right setup is taper, not push.
What the week should look like
Three days of light activity. Twenty to thirty minutes. Movement, not workout. Sport-specific touches that warm up the patterns without taxing the body.
One day of full rest. Real rest. No training, no pickup, no gym. The body integrates the work it’s done.
Sleep hits 9 hours per night, every night. This is the variable that beats every other.
Hydration starts the week before. Two liters of water per day, more on hot days. Add electrolytes the day before tryouts.
Skip alcohol for the parents who go to the team welcome event. The kid is watching what hydration looks like at home.
What not to do
Don’t run hard. Don’t lift heavy. Don’t add a new training method. The week before is not the week to test things.
Don’t run the tryout test in your driveway. Save the test for the test.
Don’t let the kid stay up late. Even one short night the day before tryouts costs them in the morning.
Don’t overthink food. Normal meals, normal portions. Don’t add a “pre-tryout” routine that’s different from what works.
The morning of
Real breakfast. Carbs and protein. Eggs, oatmeal, toast, fruit. Two hours before the test if possible.
Water bottle. Electrolyte mix in it. Hat. Sunscreen if outside.
Get there 20 minutes early. Light warm-up. Loosen the body. Don’t sprint full speed before the test.
The conversation
The kid is nervous. Don’t fix the nerves. Yeah, this is the day. You’ve worked. Go play. Have fun.
That’s the script. Three sentences.
The school year starts soon. The team forms. The season begins. Show up rested, hydrated, ready to compete with the body the kid actually has, not the body they imagined in May.
The August fitness test covers the conditioning prep. Before a game at 13, 14 is the pre-event script.