Tryouts in the morning. The night before, parents over-engineer dinner.
Don’t. This is family logistics, not a medical protocol.
Night before
Serve their normal favorite meal. Spaghetti, pizza, nuggets, or rice and beans all work.
Familiar food beats a new “performance” plate. Eat early when you can, roughly 5:30 to 6:30, done by 7.
Late dinners are how you get a midnight stomachache. Keep water going through the evening.
Protect normal bedtime. Pair the rest with night-before tryouts.
Morning of
Eat a familiar breakfast about two hours before when the schedule allows. Bagel with peanut butter, eggs and toast, or oatmeal with banana all work.
Keep the plate modest, not a feast. Skip the donut run and the energy drink.
Save the treat for after. A light snack 30 minutes out, like a banana or granola bar, is enough.
Bring a water bottle. Pack a small car snack for the drive home when they crash hungry.
What they do not need
Protein shakes and pre-workouts are not a youth-tryout requirement. Brand of bar does not matter.
The meal is also ritual. Cook, sit, and eat together with phones down.
Talk about anything except the tryout. A calm morning beats a perfect macro split.
Normal food on a normal schedule is the whole formula. The tryout is the new part. The plate stays the same.
Keep the routine boring on purpose. Boring is calm, and calm travels well to the field.
If something has to be special, make it the after-tryout snack, not the 8am sugar bomb.