Practice ends at 11. The next one starts at 4. You put food in front of your athlete and they push it around the plate — not because they're being difficult, but because heat suppresses appetite, and they just ran gassers in it.
1. The gap between sessions is the whole game
Most young athletes eat fine at breakfast and dinner. The problem is the five hours in the middle, when they're too hot to want anything and too tired to make anything. That's the window where the day's protein quietly disappears — and it's the easiest one to fix, because it only takes one thing they'll actually finish.
2. Heavy doesn't work in August
A thick shake or a full meal sits wrong before an afternoon session, and athletes know it — so they skip it. Cold and light is what actually gets consumed when it's 95 degrees. This is worth saying out loud to your athlete: the goal isn't to force down something substantial, it's to not arrive at practice running on nothing.
3. Fluid and protein don't have to be two separate errands
Between sessions they need to rehydrate anyway. Something that handles both is one less thing to remember in a gear bag that already has too much in it.
MYND Sparkling Protein Water is 20g of whey protein isolate with zero sugar — cold, carbonated, and light enough to drink when nothing else sounds good. It supplements real meals, it doesn't replace them.
The MYND take-away: In August, the best protein for a young athlete is whichever one they'll actually finish between sessions.
