Imagine that you are driving home from soccer practice. You are smelly, tired and, obviously, hungry. Pulling into the drive-thru of McDonald’s, you decide to order a cheeseburger, a large fry and a large pop. After all, you just had a hard practice. Could an order of fast food really make a difference?

In fact, fast food does make a difference. Having fast food in moderation is all right, but when unhealthy eating becomes a habit, it can greatly alter an athlete’s game.

Healthy eating and hydration are essential aspects of a successful athlete’s game. They are much more important than many high school athletes may realize.

“More so than anything else, [dieting, hydration and nutrition] have the biggest influence on an athlete’s game,” said weight room trainer Mr. Richard McLoughlin.

Fast food may taste good, but that does not mean that it is healthy for you. Nutritious foods are much more beneficial for athletes, as the natural energy they provide is needed by an athlete and stays in an athlete’s system for a longer period of time. Healthy foods keep an athlete’s body feeling well and ready to perform in an athletic event.

“If you’re eating healthy things like good chicken, fruits and vegetables, and drinking water instead of sugary drinks like pop and fruit juice, then you’ll feel a lot better,” said Mr. McLoughlin. “This has a huge play on how you perform as an athlete.”

Junior and varsity football player Orest Byskosh also finds eating healthy to be an important part of his athletics.

“I just try to eat clean,” said Byskosh. “Dieting is the most important for me. Then you don’t need to clean out your body through hydration because it’s already healthy.”

Not only an athlete’s body but also his stamina and ability to perform are affected by healthy eating and hydration.

“Usually I can tell who has hydrated, dieted and eaten well by how long that person is able to last on the field,” said Mr. McLoughlin. “If you see a team [that is] cramping up all the time or players that are awesome for the first two plays but can’t do anything in the third, fourth and fifth play, then you can tell that that person didn’t hydrate or eat healthy that week.”

Sophomore and varsity football player Anthony Maraviglia realized the importance of getting hydrated during the football team’s first game this past season.

“In our first game, we had probably four guys go down with cramps,” said Maraviglia. “Coach New made a huge focus to hydrate after our first game, and we haven’t had anyone cramp up since then.”

Maraviglia, as well as the rest of the football team, learned from the experience of their first game. Now they make an effort to be fully hydrated for their games, and they know when to drink water and how much of it to drink.

“I would try to have a bottle every hour; that’s a rough estimate,” said Maraviglia.

Byskosh also has a system that he uses to hydrate.

“I’d say that you should be drinking water at least every ten minutes,” said Byskosh.

Although some people have a preference almost hydration, nutrition and dieting, all of these factors are equally important for an athlete. Without one of them, the others cannot work to their full potential.

“Just be healthy overall,” said Maraviglia. “You don’t want to have a bad dietary plan. You can’t be heavy on fluids and hydration and think that you can still have a bad diet. You still have to maintain health in diets, too.”