Tryouts in the morning. The night before, parents over-engineer dinner. They need carbs. They need protein. Should we do pasta. Should we skip the dairy.

Don’t overthink it.

The night-before dinner

Their normal favorite meal. Something their body knows. Something they like.

Spaghetti, pizza, chicken nuggets, rice and beans. Whatever your family eats most often.

The body wants familiar fuel. New food the night before a high-pressure event is a bad bet.

Eat early enough

Dinner is 5:30 to 6:30. Done by 7. The body needs three hours to digest before bed.

Eating at 8:30 the night before tryouts is how you get a kid up at midnight with a stomachache.

Hydrate

Water through the evening. Not Gatorade. Not soda. Water.

Dehydration the morning of tryouts is one of the most common reasons kids underperform. Fix it the night before.

Skip the experiment

Don’t try a new pre-game routine. Don’t add the energy drink. Don’t introduce a new pasta dish.

The kid’s body knows what to do with regular food. Don’t add variables.

Bedtime

Their normal bedtime. Not earlier. Not later. The earlier bedtime produces a kid lying awake. The later bedtime produces a tired kid in the morning.

The morning meal

Two hours before tryouts. Real food.

A bagel with peanut butter. Eggs and toast. Oatmeal with banana. Their normal breakfast plus some carbs.

Don’t make him eat huge. Eight ounces of food is plenty.

Skip the donuts

The morning donut is a parent thing. We’ll get donuts as a treat. Sugar at 8am produces a crash at 9:30am. The tryout is at 9am.

If you must do something special, do it after.

The 30-minutes-before snack

Light. Banana. Granola bar. Small.

Something with carbs. A little bit. Top up the tank without filling it.

Water in the morning

Eight to twelve ounces by the time they step on the field. Coaches see kids who are dehydrated. They look slow.

What they don’t need

A protein shake. Not at this age. Not before this kind of event.

A pre-workout. Definitely not. They’re eight to twelve.

A specific brand of bar. Whatever brand they like. The brand doesn’t matter.

The mental fuel

The pre-tryout breakfast also serves as ritual. The kid sees you cook the eggs, sit at the table, eat with them. The morning has shape.

The morning that has shape produces a calmer kid. The morning that is rushed and frantic produces a stressed kid.

Eat together. Don’t be on your phone. Talk about something other than tryouts.

The car snack

Small ziplock bag with a granola bar and a handful of trail mix. For after the tryout, on the drive home.

The kid will be hungrier than usual after a high-effort event. The car snack prevents the hangry post-tryout meltdown.

The shorter version

Their normal food, eaten on time, in their normal portions. Water through the night. Real breakfast. Small pre-game snack.

That’s the entire formula. It looks like every other family dinner. It is.

The tryout is what’s different. The food is what stays the same.