Back in my days (uncle Rico) I took a product called Hot Stuff that was incredible at building strength and size. I also took 'amino acids'. That was 25 years ago and although I dabbled in creatine and NO2 about 10 years ago, I have no idea what's being used for high school and college athletes other than a clean diet and exercise. My son says several on his team are taking creatine and protein shakes but I figured I'd come here to see what's being used today before embarking on a fact finding mission.
Tia

Gone are the days of Ripped Fuel and Methyl-1 Test...

Common supplements today are creatine, beta-alanine, glutamine and l-lysine. What I would suggest though is eat, clean, eat protein, and then eat more clean calories and protein. ETA...nothing wrong with supplementing protein. Just make sure you do your research on what's in it. I prefer grass fed whey protein. If someone can't digest whey well, vegan pea protein blends are good too.

As you stated, clean diet and good strength/conditioning training are #1. At his age, he can probably get away with a lot more fluff in his diet than you or I could as long as he gets enough protein to make his workouts effective and enough carbs to have energy to preform. If you're not able to feed him enough to get a gram of protein per pound of body weight, supplement the balance with whey protein shakes. Creatine is great and he would benefit from it. Wouldn't be a bad idea for you to take it as well. That should be enough that his fitness will never be his limiting factor.

That will get him 95% of the way there. If the extra 5% is going to make the difference between him getting paid to play after high school, then there are some additional things he could add.

Eating right is priority number 1

Supplements beyond that: Creatine, BCAAs, and protein if he's not getting enough from his food.

What everyone else has said...

Remember that protein powder is nothing more than processed food. Think about it as the same as sugar in that sugar is just highly processed grains or vegetables. Protein, most commonly whey, is just processed milk (or other protein base eg. eggs).

Creatine is simply an amino acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Your body can create it and it is found in meats. It is one of the few supplements that have been scientifically proven to help. There are some known possible negative side affects of creatine. In my opinion, they are a very low risk. However, for a child, I would not recommend. Additionally, as long as he isn't taking more that 10g per day, if you caught him taking it I wouldn't flip out. It can be a little taxing on the kidneys and liver. It would be a good opportunity to discuss the unknown long term effects and general supplementation and that in fact, by taking them he is a human guinea pig.

Both are completely unnecessary if your child is eating enough of a well balanced diet. Kids will be kids and if all his friends are taking protein (and maybe creatine), I would have a discussion with him telling him it is nothing but food and don't believe all they hype. Then I'd buy him some Optimum Nutrition Gold Whey and let him have at it. It is a good, low fat, high protein, low sugar food.

Also something that's relevant is his age.

For example if he's just a freshman in high school it's likely that supplementing won't make much of a difference unless he's physically more mature than most his age.

I realize it's been awhile since I was that age (43 now) and things have changed a bit, but I first started lifting weights when I was 13, summer before my 8th grade year. My brother was going into his senior in high school and played football and lifted weights, and I was anxious to start lifting myself. That summer my dad joined a gym and I started going with him. I was almost 6' and probably weighted 160-170. I ended up playing football through high school and doing competitive powerlifting (my high school had a team). By my sophomore year I was squatting over 500 in competitions and my weight was up around 200 lbs. Aside from just eating, a lot, I never paid to close attention to my diet at that age. I just ate, and lifted. Most teenagers have so much testosterone, if you just eat and lift, you'll make good gains. I mean not everyone is the same obviously, but I wouldn't get too caught up on strict diets and supplements and whatnot. I did use protein shakes just to get extra from time to time, and amino acids, but I never tried creatine until around the end of high school.

Just my two cents...

Most 13 year olds also aren't 6' 170

When you are in your teens your hormones are already at steroid levels so what he needs is quality food. The only thing I would suggest is protein (as mentioned ON gold protein is good and affordable) and lots of good food like steak and quality meats. I was a skinny kid at 6'1" and 135 my freshman year and at the end of my junior year I was about 210. We were poor so that was a lot of burgers and a box of mac and cheese a day to get the calories I needed to gain weight.

The only time I took caffeine back then was before football games, never had coke or anything else before practices or other sports games. Kids at that age need their sleep which helps them recover.

Aggie_Boomin 21 said:

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Most 13 year olds also aren't 6' 170

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Yeah man, I fully admit genes play a role. No question. But the point remains that most teens have so much testosterone that they tend to make gains fairly easily (compared to adults), given something resembling a progressive lifting program and plenty of calories. Most OTC supplements are a waste of money and at best, do nothing. Teenagers should just focus on lifting and eating.