With summer and rising temperatures just around the corner, extra attention should be given to the fluid needs of your athletes. Each body cell, tissue, and organ needs water to function. Because of the extra demands of exercise, fluids taken in during workout are above and beyond what is needed on a daily basis. We know that dehydration adversely affects the performance of an athlete.
Dehydration can become serious very quickly.
The most precise way to evaluate how much water an athlete loses is to weigh before and after practice. A better way to determine hydration status is to focus on the color of urine. It should be light in color, almost clear. A dark or bright yellow color probably means that you are not properly hydrated. Do NOT rely on thirst to tell you if you are properly hydrated.