If you have kids in baseball, softball, football, and other organized sports, you know about the concession stand. It may generate much-needed revenue for the sports league. It’s almost always stocked with junk food. As a parent, it’s hard to deny your player something from the concession stand, especially when the whole team gathers there after the game. But in this guest post, Jill Castle, fellow dietitian and author of the new book Eat Like a Champion: Performance Nutrition for Your Young Athlete
, explains how concession stands may be doing young athletes more harm than good–and why the familiar refrain, “But they just burned a bunch of calories!” just doesn’t make sense.
by Jill Castle, MS, RDN
When my daughter was ten, I realized the concession stand at soccer games was my enemy, not my friend. One day after a full game, one in which she played most of it in a variety of positions, the parent who was in charge of snacks dropped the ball. She had forgotten her snack duty date, and as a result, was empty-handed when the game was over.
So she sent the team to the concession stand with a budget of $2 each to spend on whatever they wanted. As I watched many of my daughter’s teammates walk away with a candy bar and a bag of chips, I told my daughter we would skip snack that day.
“WHY???!!!!” she moaned.
“Because you just did something really good for your body, and the snacks at the concession stand will undo all the good you have done,” I replied. “Why don’t you take that money and save it, and we’ll get a good snack at home?”
She agreed to my suggestion and was surprisingly reasonable about it. It was then that I knew she could understand that food is fuel for sport, and I made this a casual topic of conversation whenever the moment presented itself.
Now, she regards the concession stand as a treat, not as a source of fuel for exercise. Yes, we have forgotten snacks too. It never feels right to have to resort to the concession stand, as we know her options will be limited, and she will have to make concessions for these treats.
| You might also like: Ideas For A Healthy Concession Stand (That Make Money!) |
Why is the concession stand a concern for young athletes?
From basketball to regattas, you’ll find concession stands at nearly every sporting venue. They rescue the forgotten snack, fill in for breakfast at early morning competitions, and even supply dinner at late night games. Unfortunately, the concession stand may do more harm than good for young athletes who rely on them.
In a recent study by researchers in North Carolina looking at what young baseball players ate at the baseball field, they found 90% of all food eaten at the ballpark came from the concession stand. They also found 73% of the available concession items to be unhealthy. Seventy-two percent of concession snacks were identified as high-calorie foods or sugary sweet beverages.
Let’s peek at a few common concession stand items:
| Food/Drink | Calories | Sugar (grams per serving) | Fat (grams per serving) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soda, 12 ounces | 140 | 40 | 0 |
| Gatorade, 20 ounces | 130 | 35 | 0 |
| Hot Chocolate, 8 ounces | 150 | 28 | 1.5 |
| Soft pretzel, 1 medium | 210 | 0 | 2 |
| Popcorn, small bag | 200 | 0 | 9 |
| Cheese pizza, large slice | 275 | 4 | 10 |
| Skittles, small bag | 250 | 47 | 2.5 |
| Kit Kat, 1.5 ounce package | 210 | 21 | 11 |
| Nutri-grain bar, 1.3 ounce bar | 120 | 11 | 3 |
Do young athletes really burn that many calories?
The common belief is that if a child plays a sport, then he must burn a lot of calories, and may even have more leeway for unhealthy food. As the incidence of obesity is rising in young athletes, some researchers are beginning to look at how much time young athletes actually spend being active in their sport.
- One study looked at soccer, baseball and softball practices for kids aged 7 to 14 years and found that athletes were only participating in about 45 minutes of physical activity, accounting for only 46% of the time allotted for sport practice.
- Another study found that young athletes aged 6 to 12 years engaged in about 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity, leaving the rest of practice or competition (52% of the time) occupied by sedentary or light-intensity activity.
What all this means is that young athletes may not be as active as we think, nor are they burning enough calories through sports to justify junk food or treats from the concession stand.
So before you send your little athlete to the concession stand, ask yourself these questions: Where does this treat fit into the day? Does it add nutrition or take away from my child’s healthy diet and athletic efforts?
What’s YOUR stand on concessions?
Jill Castle, MS, RDN is a childhood nutrition expert and author of Eat Like a Champion: Performance Nutrition for Your Young Athlete who blogs at Just The Right Byte. She lives with her husband and four children in New Canaan, CT.
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Meghan says
At our local concession stand, the Cub Scout pack is in charge and uses it as a fundraiser. Does anyone have examples of some healthier items that sell well? I am in a position to possibly take over the running of our stand for the Pack (although this level of time and responsibility terrifies me a little). I agree that everything currently sold there is complete garbage!
Sally says
Hi Meghan–Stacy at the blog School Bites was successful at creating a healthier concession stand for her son’s hockey league. Here is her blog post about it: http://school-bites.com/healthy-hockey-concession/
Dena Norton says
Ugh. We’re just getting started on team sports with our young kids, and I’m already feeling the pressure with the social pressure coming from the concession stand. Beyond the calorie content, I’m having a harder time allowing my kids to shove carcinogens, hormone disrupters, and immune suppressors into their bodies every time we’re away from the house. I admit, though, I was super encouraged to see cups of fresh pineapple and strawberries at our swim meets this year. I happily forked over $2 for those!! We definitely try to encourage the value of eating socially as part of relationship and accepting others’ hospitality, but it’s a tough balance with so much junk everywhere!
Sally says
Dena–I feel your pain and agree with what you say here. It is definitely a tough balance between sharing in social eating occasions/accepting hospitality and eating in the way you want to eat. That’s great that you’re at least seeing fresh fruit at swim meets. Maybe you can help encourage more of those kinds of options! I really believe getting involved is the best way to make change.
Jessica @ Nutritioulicious says
What a fabulous post (although no surprise there with you and Jill at the helm!). I am so tired of hearing “but they just burned a bunch of calories” as an excuse for plying kids with an overload of treats. My kids are nowhere near the athlete stage, but I hear this refrain as a justification for serving s’mores, ices, ice cream sundaes and who knows what else at camp. It’s becoming more and more challenging to teach children healthy eating habits.
Anne says
We are in the throes of baseball season now, and it’s just so disheartening seeing what is considered acceptable post-game snacks and drinks for kids in sports these days. I’m constantly faced with going with the flow or being the only mean mom who won’t allow my 8-year-old kid to drink Gatorade and eat processed garbage after every brief bout of exercise. I especially can’t handle the Gatorade, so I’m “that mom” with the deprived son who has to replenish with plain old water. I wish there were more moms who cared about their kids’ health. I have tried gentle suggestions with coaches and coordinators (and volunteered to coordinate fresh fruit snacks myself), but it’s an uphill battle and I’ve yet to meet another parent who has any issues with the unhealthy snacks and drinks that are the norm. It’s nice to at least know there are other like minded moms out there somewhere. Thanks for the great posts on this topic.
Anne
Julie says
It seems like the idea of a concession stand is to make money and so the stand will offer what sells. Parents should
decide if they will purchase the snacks. It’s their responsibility not the stand’s.
anna says
Sorry, but I disagree. My child is allotted to eat whatever she wants so she can learn the value of eating healthy. She will often go for a Twix after a big game, but typically craves water and pineapple! I just think it should be up to the child to make that decision.
Mary says
As a concession stand manager for over 4 years I will tell you that we have offered salads, fresh fruit cups , seltzer waters etc and they didn’t sell they way you would think. Concession stands are a vital part of keeping leagues going, mostly self funded as well as paying for umpires, tournaments, etc. Food like above needs to move to stay fresh and if the people don’t choose to eat if, it can easily become waste both food wise and cash wise. So really don’t blame the concession stands, we can’t make the decision for the kids and parents and we purchase what the demand is.