Semi-professional baseball team
Jason McCawley
SPHE 320 Winter 14
19 February 2014
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When it comes to baseball, in particular, semi professional baseball, i.e. the players in the particular league most likely fall into one of three possible categories. The first category are those being the players who are trying to get noticed by a Major League team. The second category of players are those who may have previously played professional ball, and for whatever reason do not anymore, but wish to keep playing at a competitive level. The final category are those players who simply love the game, and will play anytime and anywhere. This last group of players most likely have other “real” jobs, and for them, this level of play for them is equivalent to the recreational softball league for the rest of us.
As the lead nutritionist for the Navarre Raiders semi-professional baseball team, some of the main responsibilities which are required are to advise the head coach on five ways in which he can improve his teams’ performance through proper nutrition. Another area in which this position requires input is pre-game meals. A valuable resource for helping to plan these meals is the My Diet Analysis website http://www.pearsonhighered.com/mydietanalysis/. One of the great applications on this particular website is the fact that it is possible to enter player information, meal information, and then see the results firsthand of how healthy (or in some cases, unhealthy) your preferred diet may be.
Concerning five ways in which the head coach may help to improve team performance, a properly trained and certified sports nutritionist will likely lay out the following goals.
First, and perhaps most importantly, a good coach will stress the importance of keeping fluid intake during practice and games to between 16 and 28 ounces per hour. Without proper hydration…all else fails, plain and simple. There is no other way to put this. Of course,
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