Fuel Timing Relay: Before, During, and After Exercise

In relays, teams sort food and drink cards by the best time to have them: before, during, or after exercise, or avoid. Then they audit another team's work and apply it to real game-day scenarios.

How to play

1. Briefing (3 min): before, easy-to-digest carbs 1-3 hours ahead; during, sips of water; after, carbs and protein with fluids.
2. Teams of 5 in a line. Twelve yards away, four hoops per team, each with a labeled cone: BEFORE, DURING, AFTER, and AVOID.
3. Each team has a stack of 20 cards: banana 30 minutes before, pasta with vegetables 3 hours before, sips of water, caffeinated energy drink, yogurt and fruit smoothie, fried food right before, and so on.
4. On the signal, each runner takes a card, runs, places it in a hoop, and returns to tag the next runner. The round lasts 4 minutes.
5. Audit (4 min): each team checks another team's hoops and can challenge a misplaced card; a correct challenge earns a point.
6. Second round (4 min) with scenarios: a 9:00 a.m. game, a 2-hour practice in the heat, or a tournament with three games in one day.

Rules

• One card per trip, placed in the hoop, never thrown.
• Run in your lane and return on the outside.
• Challenges need a reason, and nobody touches another team's hoops until the teacher says so.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: serve as the team's auditor, or move the hoops to 6 yards.
• Autism or reading difficulties: cards with a photo of the food.
• Club or travel-team athletes: share how they fuel for competition and compare it with the guidelines.

Learning goals

• Know basic eating and hydration guidelines for sports.
• Apply those guidelines to real competition situations.
• Defend and review another team's decisions.

Equipment for a class of 25

• food cards: 100
• hoops: 20
• cones: 20

Teacher tip

Bust the energy drink myth: they are not sports drinks and are not recommended for teens. Stay away from weight-loss diet talk.

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