TrueSport: April 2020

Nutritional serving sizes: What you need to know

Young athletes don’t always understand nutrition basics, and the American food landscape has been set up for easy overeating -- especially when it comes to less healthy options. As a parent, this environment makes it tricky to teach portion and serving sizes to children. Help educate your child about nutritional serving sizes with these five facts in mind.

We live in a world of portion distortion

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics coined the term “portion distortion” to explain how portion sizes have expanded in the last few decades, and what once seemed like a huge serving of cake is our new normal. In fact, a research paper published in the BMJ showed that in 1950, a normal serving of soda was seven ounces -- and today, it’s ballooned to a whopping 42 ounces. The paper speculated that returning to the smaller sizes could actually help prevent issues like childhood obesity.

Kids don't always understand fullness cues

Studies have shown that children don’t have an ‘off’ switch that lets them know when they feel full, and if given the chance, will tend to overeat. This is particularly true of calorie-dense ‘popular’ foods like macaroni and cheese. Cornell University researchers, including study author David Levitsky, have found that the greatest determinate for how much a child will eat is simply how much is piled on his or her plate. As a parent, you have the responsibility to choose your athlete’s serving size, and what you give them will dictate how they view serving sizes.

Teach a few portion control options

The easiest way to teach portion sizes is by using your child’s hand as a measuring stick, since portion size should grow with them. A fist is a serving of vegetables, while a cupped hand is a serving of carbohydrates. For proteins like chicken or fish, a serving is palm-sized and a serving of fat, like salad dressing, is a thumb according to Precision Nutrition.

You can also use the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ sport-themed portion sizes if that helps your child visualize better: A serving of cereal should be baseball-sized for a child, while a serving of raisins should be golf ball size.

Pay attention to your own habits

In 2016, a study from the University of Florida revealed that the hungrier a parent is at mealtime, the more food they tend to pile on their child’s plate. Another study showed that how much you’re eating will influence how much your child will eat. If you’re feeling ravenous before dinner, it may be time to look at your own eating habits. That may mean eating a bigger lunch, so dinner isn’t so heavy, or at least making sure that you don’t absentmindedly fill your child’s plate just because you’re feeling hungry.

Kids will take more than they need

Researchers have shown that when a child is presented with a large portion of food, he will eat a greater amount of it. Use this research to your advantage when it comes to vegetables: Put a big bowl of salad on the table before the rest of the meal to ensure that the biggest portion your child serves is packed with nutrient-dense veggies.

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It’s important to understand that the serving size on labels is not necessarily the correct measurement for your child. Rather, it’s a recommendation. Be especially aware of this for processed foods that aren’t child-specific, like chips or cookies. You may need to cut the serving size in half to be more appropriate for your young athlete. Try to pre-portion the servings into smaller bags for easy on-the-go grabbing.

Six ways parents can help their athlete resolve a coach-athlete conflict

When a young athlete has a conflict with their coach, it’s often hard for parents to know exactly how to handle it. It’s tempting to immediately interfere and email the coach on behalf of your child, but that’s not always the best solution for your growing athlete.

Helping your athlete advocate for themselves and deal with conflict head-on, rather than relying on you to have the hard conversations, is going to be better for your child in the long-term. Nadia Kyba, MSW, TrueSport Expert and President of Now What Facilitation, shared these tips for smooth coach-parent communication when it comes to conflict.

Open lines of communication early

Ideally, a coach will have a meeting with parents of players earlier in the season, but if the coach doesn’t organize one, consider asking to set one up. Kyba explains that this early discussion of what the season looks like, how the coach approaches conflict, and the best ways to communicate with him or her can avoid conflict entirely or provide a script for how to deal with it when it does happen.

“Having that meeting at the beginning of the season can let you and the coach discuss expectations about how to manage conflicts, as well as setting boundaries around certain communication methods and meeting times.” She adds that a good rule is to avoid meeting or communicating with a coach within 24 hours of a competition or race to allow time for all parties to cool off from any conflicts.

Coaches are people too

Remember, coaches have a lot of demands on their time, and at the school sport level, likely aren’t getting paid much to lead the team. There is a lot of pressure on them, and parents often forget this when they feel their athletes are being ignored or under-appreciated.

“Sometimes, it's a full-time job just managing the parents,” Kyba notes. “I’ve seen many coaches who are so generous with their time, they're so committed and passionate, and they just want to coach – but actually what they're doing is getting bombarded by emails from parents.”

Before you send an annoyed email, bear in mind that your child may be dealing with a conflict, but the coach is likely inundated with other issues as well.

Watch your temper

This applies to both how you approach a coach and how you speak to your athlete about the coach, says Kyba. It’s likely that you’re inclined to side with your child in a conflict situation but remember that insulting the coach in front of your athlete encourages them to lose respect for the coach as well.

"We all have people we don't really like, but we still need to respect or get along with them, and that's an important lesson for kids to learn from you,” says Kyba. Additionally, yelling at a coach is likely going to embarrass your child more than it helps them.

Encourage your athlete to communicate directly with the coach

Taking matters into your own hands rather than letting the athlete handle coach communication is common for parents, says Kyba. But unfortunately, it’s rarely effective: Coaches are less likely to want to help an athlete whose parent is always speaking for them, and are much more likely to be impressed by an athlete who communicates directly.

“When your child is empowered to manage the conflict, it’s better for them in the long-term,” says Kyba. You can help your athlete practice the hard conversations, but let your child learn to handle conflict.

Write it out

Teach your child to understand what his conflict or complaint actually is, and what resolution he would like to see.

“The script I use is simple: You describe the issue. Then, you name what you're feeling about it. Then, you talk about your need. And finally, what is your request?” Kyba explains. Sometimes, the final request will show that the conflict isn’t with the coach at all but is about the athlete needing to do something differently. Gaining clarity before asking for a meeting will help avoid making the conflict bigger.

Know when to go to the administration

It’s important to remember that there are personality-based conflicts, such as disagreement over which player is starting in a game or a problem with a certain aspect of practice, that should be worked out between the coach and the athlete. But there are others, where an athlete feels bullied or there’s any type of physical or emotional harassment, that should be addressed to the proper authorities immediately. When personal safety and mental health are at risk, as a parent, you need to seek outside help and shouldn’t feel conflicted about doing so.

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Try and look at the big picture before asking for a meeting with the coach – or sending an angry email in the heat of the moment.

Kyba recommends pressing pause and waiting a full 24 hours to cool down before taking the next step. Often, that distance will allow you and your athlete to tame feelings of anger and have a more rational discussion. You might even find that the entire conflict will seem a lot less serious the next day.

Three coaching strategies to manage ongoing rivalries

In some team dynamics, there are going to be unavoidable rivalries: teammates will struggle for starting spots, personalities will clash over leadership responsibilities, and issues will arise with other teams. Conflict is normal and not always a problem on its own, but ongoing rivalries can slowly poison a team. Nadia Kyba, MSW, TrueSport Expert and President of Now What Facilitation, has seen teams go through rough patches navigating these types of situations.

Here’s how Kyba recommends coaches put a stop to rivalries early.

Set standards early in the season

Jealousy within the team can start from simple, easy-to-avoid misunderstandings. Inter-team rivalries tend to stem from competitive urges and athletes feeling as though they’re being unfairly treated. As a coach, you can set the team guidelines and rules of play early in the season to minimize some of these issues.

“Team guidelines help if there is some sort of conflict or rivalry between teammates,” says Kyba. “Having a system in place where they're clear on what the expectations around behavior are, and that everyone's bought into, gives players a sense of ownership and understanding.”

Check in with your team by scheduling short meetings throughout the season to ensure that there aren’t lingering undercurrents of problematic jealousy or rivalry.

Be transparent

Discuss how players can get into the starting lineup, expectations for how practices are run, and explain the metrics that are important to you as a coach.

“If a coach is really clear about how they're making decisions, that takes away the opportunity to make assumptions, which can lead to rivalries,” Kyba adds. “One things I’ve noticed that leads to the rivalries is that coaches don't meet with athletes ahead of time to talk about how they're making decisions. In team sports, like soccer, basketball, or volleyball, oftentimes a coach will announce the starting lineup right before a game. And then players are left to have to process everything on the spot rather than having that team meeting a few days ahead of time to discuss the lineup and how the selection was made.”

Assess the situation

What a coach perceives as a rivalry might be as simple as two people on the same team not being friends -- and that’s okay, as long as they aren’t actively engaging in fights, bullying, or disrupting the team. There’s an undertone in team sports that everyone on the team should be friends, but with young athletes, that’s not realistic or necessarily healthy to promote. And some jealousy can lead to healthy, not harmful, competition.

“It’s okay if athletes don’t love each other, they don’t have to be best friends,” says Kyba. “That diversity is actually what will make a team really strong, as long as they understand that they’re there for a common goal and a common purpose.”

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At the end of the day, it’s easy to tell athletes to be good sports, but you need to also model that behavior on and off the field. If you’re yelling at the referee, cursing another coach, or complaining about players on the opposing team, you’re creating a culture where that kind of commentary is accepted and encouraged.

“I think the coach might not realize just how much kids necessarily soak up from them,” Kyba says. “If coaches are yelling at the referee, they’re modeling that it’s okay to question and yell at officials.”

Kyba adds that it’s also important to share guidelines and expectations with athletes’ parents. Make sure they understand that complaining or yelling at the opposing team, referees, umpires, and especially at the other athletes on the field isn’t acceptable behavior in the stands, ever.