Hey Chuck, this was literally the first hit when googling "are sports drinks good for athletes"
Sports drinks are advertised to replenish glucose, fluids, and electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium) lost during strenuous exercise as well as to enhance endurance. [1] Some brands a…
www.hsph.harvard.edu
It's conclusions:
As I mentioned I was actually kind of surprised by the sports nutritionist endorsing sports drinks with sugar, but the research does seem to check out in this limited situation (being needing energy during a hockey game). I would absolutely endorse good ole' water in most situations though.
And look - if you think youth athletes should stay away from sports drinks and only ever drink water I understand where you're coming from. But that doesn't mean suggesting sports drinks might be appropriate is crazy.
One factor that no study will go into, but is important as a hockey coach - if you give kids sports drinks like gatorade, in addition to the sugars and electrolytes they also contain food dyes to give them that vibrant colour. And when it comes to kids they will almost invariably spill those sports drinks and stain their hockey jerseys! Yes I speak from experience.