What should I eat and drink on tournament day to keep my energy up, and are energy drinks or pre-workout allowed?
Eat a normal, familiar meal a few hours before check-in, graze on small easy carbs between pools and direct elimination bouts, and sip fluids all day. Tournament days are long stretches of waiting broken up by short, intense bouts, so you want steady fuel rather than one big hit of sugar or caffeine. The golden rule is nothing new on competition day. Try your breakfast, snacks and drinks at practice first so you know how your stomach handles them.
Breakfast can be whatever you normally eat that combines carbs with a little protein: oatmeal, eggs and toast, rice, or a bagel with peanut butter. Pack your own food, because venue concessions are unreliable. Good bag snacks are bananas, pretzels, crackers, granola bars, dried fruit and a sandwich. Nibble after every bout or two, and save a bigger bite for a long gap, such as the wait between pools and direct elimination, rather than right before you fence. Bring more water than you think you need, sip instead of chugging, and add a sports drink or electrolytes on long or hot days, since fencing gear makes you sweat hard. Cramps or dizziness that do not settle mean a trip to the medic.
Caffeine is allowed. USADA notes it is not a prohibited substance; it sits on the World Anti-Doping Agency's monitoring program, which tracks use without banning it. An adult's usual coffee or tea is fine. Energy drinks are a different story: USADA does not recommend them for athletes and warns they can be especially harmful for young athletes, and there is no legal limit on how much caffeine they contain. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recognize any safe level of caffeine for kids and teens. Even for adults, a big morning jolt often turns into jitters early and a crash right when the afternoon bouts start.
Pre-workout powders are the real risk. USADA treats them as high risk because some have been found to contain prohibited stimulants, sometimes not listed on the label. Anti-doping works on strict liability, meaning you are responsible for anything in your body however it got there, and USA Fencing follows USADA's rules. Testing is most likely at national and international events, but that is not a plan. Creatine is not on the prohibited list, though contamination is still possible. If you use any supplement, choose products that are third-party certified for sport, check medications in USADA's Global DRO database, and young fencers should talk to a doctor first.