Food for mental exhaustion?

I coach a team of elementary school kids for academic competition. This Saturday is our biggest tournament. It lasts from about 8am to about 6pm and in the past, the kids start fatiguing out at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We'll win all of our matches until then but then the kids are too tired to go on.

This year I want to bring refreshments to help with this, but I don't even know where to start? I know lots of foods that can replenish you physically, but is there anything that will help with mental exhaustion?

For some reason I think tea might help, but I have no idea why I think that. I've think I've heard mint is good too, but again who knows.

Spice some redbulls up with amphetamines.

The kids are like 9 and 10 years old tho

just use adderall rather than going for the heavier chemicals then

ask Veeky Forums maybe

What kind of academic competition puts 9 and 10 year olds through 10 hours of mental work?
I assume there are a few break periods?

When I was a kid we had these grape sugar candies that were supposed to help with stuff like that.

Maybe it was just placebo effect, but it worked for me.

It's Kentucky Academic competition. They take 40 question tests in the morning (1 or 2 depending on the student), followed by a 4 player team quiz bowl styled tournament after that. These are 60 questions each and there'll be 7 or 8 rounds. The only official break will be a thirty minute lunch around noon.

It's really grueling

I'd do what they usually serve as snacks during Standardized Testing.

Summer sausage, crackers. Tea and water. Fruit of some kind - melon, maybe dates?

Give them some strong, black coffee laced with plenty of sugar and a few teaspoons of methamphetamine. The little fuckers will be bouncing of the wall with energy, make their parents proud.

Sugar for energy, the brain runs on glucose. Salty foods too, crisps/chips would do the trick. Some fruit juice would be good too, or sports drinks with electrolytes. Your body and brain uses neurotransmitters and electrolytes more when you're doing high level cognitive tasks. Its tiring.

Meth

A bullet

Rosehip tea.

Oranges

Just a shitload of oranges man.

Also iced water. Icy cold water is good for waking me up and keeping me alert.

This is the perfect time to introduce the lads to PEDs

This but get the sweet little mandarin oranges, those are the best. Also get a big jug of Arizona green tea too.

I have a friend who was a manager for a college football program, he recommended pounding cuties too.

Anything specific in the nutrition of an orange/cutie that helps with this?

Do some placebo effect shit. Like hand out "focus candies" that are really just chic fil a mints or something like that.

They're sweet but lower in calories than other fruits (also high in fiber), high in vitamin c, high in potassium, etc. I think a lot of it also has to do with the compact size too compared to regular oranges.

Peppermints are pretty good for mental exhaustion. Its sweet and the mint flavor kind of wakes up your mind.

I don't know about you but ice cream never fails to cheer me up

Really spicy ginger tea with much sugar

anything with complex B vitamins, easiest to get is cheese and milk. For teas caffeine would be ideal, so a green or black tea. Bananas are also good because they balance out electrolyte levels and have good digestible energy. Menthol doesn't do much with energy levels and is a placebo at best

Give them orange tang with about 25mg of amphetamine sulfate per glass.
You should be able to work out how to make a big batch and distribute it properly amongst your students

Dude, the kids just need to power nap. See if if you can't set up some sort of rest area with a lot of pillows and no lights. Let them take turns doing a 15 or 20 minute nape and they'll be okay. Also, get them to do a bit of fun exercising about 30 minutes before they compete. Play some stupid music and get them to dance around and act silly. It works wonders for their nerves and energy levels.

cocaine

Former academic champion here, you need to punch them in the face in order to elicit an adrenaline rush.

That's daily shit for us Asian kids :(

Grind up 200mg tablets of Modafinil and slip them into some Pixy Stix. I guarantee you some of the kids at that competition are cheating anyway.