LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Some Las Vegas Lights players remember their first practice at Cashman Field like it was yesterday.
“It was 110 degrees, it was my first or second training, I had to just stop, I couldn’t breathe at all," Lights defender Elias Gärtig said.
VIDEO: Alex Eschelman learns how to make the Lights' "special sauce"
With Vegas being one of the hottest places to play in the United Soccer League, hydration is key to the Lights' success.
“Every time I get home, I’m drinking eight or nine bottles of water everyday now, which for me is a lot," Lights Forward Stefan Stojanovic said. "I started drinking more and more Gatorade."
Gatorade, like other sports drinks, has electrolytes in it, which is something that Lights nutritionist and conditioning coordinator Christopher Drost says is necessary for a strong performance on the pitch.
“Obviously, what we lose when we do train out here is going to be sweat," Drost said. "So the majority of that sweat is going to be your sodium, your potassium, so finding that electrolyte supplement that has enough of those doses is going to be the biggest factor to me. When we do get here [Cashman Field], I do make those pregame drinks.”
It's not just any pregame drink, it's the Lights' secret sauce.
“It consists of a carb powder, an amino acid powder, we use beet root powder as well, and then a little bit of sodium, a little bit of salt, and then they also have little electrolyte packets, but I tell them a minimum for a day, like this where it’s 110 right now, they need at least two of those electrolyte packets and what we have during our water breaks, isn’t just water but also electrolyte Gatorade powder as well," Drost said.
It's a secret sauce that allows the Lights to see how the heat can help them in games, rather than hurt them.
VIDEO: Alex Eschelman talks to Las Vegas Lights about how they beat the heat
“Pressure builds diamonds," Drost said. "The more we’re able to be out here on the pitch, work hard train hard and then when we do go travel to places that aren’t as hot, then it’s easier for us, we’re more adapted and more able to push during these lower temperatures because we’ve been dealing with such hot temperatures throughout summertime.”
