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Last year I was “promoted” from soccer mom to soccer coach. It was an interesting leap, especially since I was coaching the 4 through 6 age division. Have you ever heard the term “it was like herding chickens”? It isn’t always easy to keep the attention of children that young, and to keep them continually focused on the game. It was a challenging, but rewarding experience. It was an introduction to soccer for many of the kids on our team, and it was definitely an introduction to soccer coaching for me. We had fun learning side by side. One thing I struggled with as the coach was asking parents to bring snacks on game days. Many parents seemed reluctant to want to bring snacks, and it was often because they were unsure of what to get. In today’s post I’m sharing some snack ideas and a free soccer tag printable for your sideline hero kit.

There are so many kids with food allergies or food intolerances now that it can be hard to choose a good snack that all players on a sports team can enjoy. Many parents are also reluctant to allow children to have processed foods, and salty or sugary treats. I try to keep soccer snacks simple, and I advise my players do the same. A bag of small apples, bananas, and mandarin oranges are easily peeled/eaten with little mess, and they’re always a healthful choice. I will occasionally get baby carrots, celery sticks, grapes, or sliced strawberries. Those items will need to placed in individual containers like small plastic cups. I like to pair fresh fruits and vegetables with Powerade®.  It will help rehydrate the players and restore lost electrolytes.

Powerade® has an ION4® Advanced Electrolyte System which helps replenish four electrolytes lost in sweat: sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Powerade® is formulated with Vitamins B3, B6, & B12 to support energy metabolism, and a 6% carbohydrate solution to help provide energy to working muscles. I love that Powerade® now comes in a 12 pack of 12 ounce bottles called a Team 12 pack.

My players weren’t great at keeping up with their sports equipment, and they certainly weren’t good at grabbing their own drinks. I was guilty of looking over and catching my son drinking from another child’s bottle, and thinking to myself, “I hope that kid hasn’t been sick.” I made these fun printable soccer tags with a few motivational words on the back. They’re great to laminate and they can be easily tied around a child’s drink bottle. You can either write on them before they’re laminated or after with a permanent marker, you have the option of writing their name or just jersey number. I cut out all the circles by hand, but you could also use these files on a cutting machine for more precise cuts. They definitely need to be cut out before they are laminated. I just matched one soccer ball with one name tag, and laminated them back-to-back.

TIP: If you don’t own a laminator (I picked one up after shopping online for around $20, and it’s super handy), they make sheets which can be sealed without the machine. I saw packs of 4×6 sheets for around $5. You should also punch the holes for the tags before you laminate (speaking from experience).

Here are the  file links to the printables.

• Soccer ball
• Name tag

These tags can definitely be used for more than drink bottles. You could attach to your sideline hero kit. I normally keep mine filled with drinks, snacks, bandages, bottled water for cleaning scrapes, antiseptic spray, and other first aid items.

Check out this photo of us from last season. We’ve both changed so much in the past year. I can’t wait to capture another photo this season.

In case you’re wondering where I grabbed the Team 12 Pack of Powerade®, I purchased them at my local Walmart. They were on the very bottom shelf. Look for a coupon on the 12-pack 12 oz POWERADE® packages and you can get $1 off Walmart fresh produce when you buy two 12-pack 12 oz POWERADE®. Hurry this deal is only available while supplies lasts!

I absolutely love the philosophy of Powerade®.

No matter who you are, we all started from the same place – just a kid from somewhere. POWERADE® believes that we all have the ability to power through and reach our athletic potential. POWERADE® is teaming up with the Boys and Girls Club, providing the belief, emotional and physical support, and hydration young athletes need to perform.

What do you do to attempt to be a sideline hero?