5 Lessons Halloween Teaches Us About Sports

With Halloween just a day away, and all of your trick-or-treating plans wrapped up and ready to go, let’s take a look at five lessons Halloween teaches us about sports:

1. Fuel Up

At some point in your childhood, you likely made the awful mistake of eating all of your Halloween candy in one sitting or stuffing your face while trick-or-treating. And all that led to was an upset stomach and a bad time.

Halloween is a marathon and should be treated as such. Think about it: marathon runners don’t come out of the gate going full speed; they pace themselves, as they need their stamina and endurance for the full 26.2 miles.

Whether you’re preparing for a marathon, a football game or Halloween night, it’s important to have the right fuel — and no, that doesn’t mean inducing yourself with a sugar rush. In fact, you should avoid any type of binge-eating entirely.

The key to pre-game meals is not the meal itself, but how food is consumed throughout the course of the day leading up to the game, race or event. The most important thing for athletes (and trick-or-treaters) is to sustain energy, and that’s done through balanced nutrition and maintaining blood-glucose levels during the course of the day.

Make sure to take care of your body and fuel up properly in order to compete at the highest level.

2. Tag Team

As great and unique as individual costumes are, there is something special about a group of trick-or-treaters wearing a unified costume. They’re always the most memorable costumes of the night, as it’s easy to marvel at the cohesion and teamwork of a group walking down the street as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the gang from Scooby-Doo.

When a group wears matching or complimentary costumes, it’s clear they take pride in their identity; much like a sports team. There’s a unifying power of wearing a shared color and logo that helps to develop a strong bond and build camaraderie between teammates. Have you ever noticed a rival team getting off a bus in nice, new personalized uniforms or matching team warm-ups? It’s intimidating!

Much like costumes, team apparel goes a long way to helping players feel like they are a part of something bigger — a group, a collective, a family, a team — committed to one goal and working together to achieve it. That’s a powerful feeling; and an intimidating one.

3. Prep It

What makes Halloween such a great holiday? Candy, of course! But also, all of the extracurricular stuff that comes with it — like the planning and decorations — is equally enjoyable and satisfying.

Designing the perfect costume or haunted house or trick-or-treat path may take months, but all of that planning and preparation undoubtedly pays off when it comes to the big night. You may not remember all of the hard work and long hours you put into it, but you’ll certainly remember that Halloween when all of your planning turned out perfectly!

That same level of preparation and anticipation should go into each one of your games as well. While game planning, film study and training don’t sound as fun, they are the key components to success. You may not remember all of the hard work and long hours you put into it, but you’ll certainly remember that game where you knew the defense’s tendencies and scored three goals!

4. Watch Out

Halloween is filled with all sorts of boogiemen, mischief and monsters, and you have to do your best to protect yourself when you’re out trick-or-treating. Well, sports aren’t much different.

Every time you walk out onto the field, court or ice, there is a boogieman out to get you and the other team wants to fill your day with horrors. It’s extremely important to make sure you have the proper protection, as injuries are a nightmare waiting to derail your season.

Keep the monsters at bay, make sure to have the best, most up-to-date and properly fitting protective equipment.

5. Have Fun

Halloween is all about dressing up with friends and having a fun time. Sports are all about playing a game with friends and having a good time.

Whether you win or lose, get candy or pennies, the most important thing is to have fun!

Whether you’re prepping for the night, protecting against monsters or designing the perfect group costume, the most important part of Halloween — and sports — is to have fun.