Getting sick is one of the worst things that can happen to a soccer player, which I know first hand. I didn’t take my diet or my off the field activities seriously enough my freshman year and got strep throat right as our conference games started. I didn’t get to travel for our first games, I couldn’t practice for a week and it took about two weeks to get back into playing shape, which in turn ruined my confidence as young player on the team.

Since then, I’ve realized that players need to take their immune systems more seriously. Nothing can help you if the foundation of you diet isn’t solid, you’re not drinking enough water and you’re not sleeping enough.

However, sometimes this isn’t enough. Especially since soccer players are at such a high risk of sickness. We are constantly pushing our bodies’ and are always around other people, especially our teammates. This means that once one player goes down with a sickness, it seems inevitable that a couple more players will get sick as well.

With this in mind, I have researched and collected a list of ways you can put your immune system on hyper drive to make sure you’re healthy and on the field as much as possible. For example, did you know that since vitamin C doesn’t have a toxicity level in humans you can’t overdose on it? In large doses, vitamin C can act as an antiviral, antibiotic, antitoxin, and antihistamine. According to Dr. Andrew W. Saul, one of the leading experts in the area of vitamin therapy, “take enough C to be symptom free, whatever that amount might be.” I’d personally recommend 1,000mg an hour once you notice symptoms.

I’ve put together this list in a downloadable PDF, which you get once you sign up for my mailing list. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare use it to spam you. That would go against everything this site stands for. It’ll purely be used to keep you updated on new articles, offer you exclusive information and to strengthen the community that makes up Optimal Soccer.