With Caoimhe MorrisS&C Coach, Basketball Ireland Men’s u18 Team
16 days, 18 people, 33∞ in the shade. That’s what we were faced with while at the u18 European Championships in July & August 2022. Managing hydration in elements like these is tough enough if you’re just planning on spending your days lounging at the pool and sightseeing, now imagine how much tougher it would be when you’re training and competing indoors up to 4 hours a day.
Hydration is essentially a measure of how much fluid is in the body: Euhydration means your levels are optimal, hyper hydration meaning there’s too much, Dehydration meaning there’s not enough. So, why is hydration important?
Physical/Cognitive Performance
What role does hydration play in physical and cognitive function in warm weather?
Hydration status has been well documented as a factor that influences performance. Fluid status has a unique and sometimes dramatic effect on our bodily functions, which can lead to physical responses like muscle weakness, and cognitive responses like dizziness and confusion. Being dehydrated means the fluid volume is too little to allow for normal bodily function - such as transporting oxygen in the blood (can lead to dizziness, headaches, fatigue), removing waste from the body (via urination), and maintaining optimal body temperature (a.k.a homeostasis) (the body cannot produce enough sweat to cool the body).
Conversely, being Hyper hydrated means there’s too much fluid in the body, so much so that it dilutes the existing fluid. This can lead to poor Blood: Sodium concentration (can cause muscular twitching, swelling, headaches), excessive fluid release (excessive urination or sweating to remove fluid from the body) and gastrointestinal discomfort (due to high volumes of fluid). Depending on your status, you could be dealing with a pounding headache, had no sleep last night, feeling dizzy and constantly feeling the need to urinate. Oh, and it’ll only get worse as you exercise. Great! You ready to play 30 mins of Basketball in a 38∞ gym? Nah, me either.
Physical/Cognitive Recovery
How does fluid intake pre, during and post exercise affect recovery?
Increased external temperature (i.e it being 38∞) will affect the body’s internal temperature. As you know, we need to be around 36-37∞ to optimise bodily functions (some exceptions due to conditions that affect our ability to maintain homeostasis etc). Naturally this internal temperature will increase with exercise (heat is a by-product of many processes in the body), so how do we stay at/near 37∞ during exercise? The primary way our body expels heat is through sweat. A major component of sweat is fluid – so it makes sense that we need to take in fluid (water) to help expel fluid when our body temp increases. This is also why dehydration is dangerous for our players – they’re already having to sweat more due to the affect the hot climate is having, and now they’re exercising in that climate which means double the effect! So we need to ensure they stay euhydrated at all times, and if they fall into dehydration, we introduce methods to minimise the time they are in that state.
Offsetting fluid loss from exercise
What strategies can we introduce early in the program to ensure our athletes stay in the green zone?
Being well hydrated is not something you can focus on the day you arrive for your 16-day Euro’s trip, it’s something that needs to be introduced and monitored early in the season. Some methods we used were water checks at training (coaches making sure players brought water to sessions), food focus (educating players on foods that can also provide fluids) and encouraging the use of hydration aids (drinks containing sodium, electrolytes etc).
While we were in competition, we also ensured that players had access to more water than they would realistically be able to consume, had ice available and had hydration aids available (such as Electrolyte tablets).
Below are the strategies did we use to maximise performance from a hydration perspective;
Hydration education early in the season: Ensure players are aware of the importance of being optimally hydrated (as above)
Tracking: Players were encouraged to track their fluid intake every day from the beginning of the season. This allowed staff to get an idea of what players were used to drinking, what changes we could introduce to help their hydration status, and how much is just enough for each individual.
Weigh Ins: While at competition, we would weigh players before & after practice and games. This gave us an idea of how much fluid they lost while exercising, and how much they needed to replace. We used the general guideline of 1kg of bodyweight loss = 1L of fluid that must be consumed. The rationale for this is, if the player lost 1kg of weight due to fluid loss (i.e sweat), then they are at risk of becoming dehydrated. Replacing that 1kg loss with 1kg/L intake will help offset that risk.
Wellness Questionnaires: Players were required to complete a wellness questionnaire (rate your sleep length, sleep quality, mood, muscle soreness and energy levels) each day through the RYPT app. This would flag any issues players were having and would spark a conversation between coach and player – often players were feeling dehydrated from the game the previous day, and this would have a knock-on effect on their wellness scores. Having them consume fluid with an electrolyte tablet, salty food or Diorylyte would usually resolve the issue.
Things you can do:
Water checks at training.
Educate players on how much water they should be having (2-3.5L a day but prescribe individually!!)
Educate on the effect of high caffeine/sugar drinks on hydration status (TL: DR – they don’t help at all)
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