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Sports Team Burnout: When It’s Time to Cut Back on the Lessons and Leagues

Be it soccer or swimming, tennis or baseball, year 'round training or participation on too many teams can lead to burnout and overuse injuries which are on the rise, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Parents need to know the “score”

Sports that used to be simple fun have become increasingly competitive and demand more training, more time, and way too often come with more pressure from parents and coaches. It’s no wonder that overuse accounts for up to 50 percent of all pediatric sports injuries. Emergency room visits for children and adolescent sports injuries are on the rise. And, burnout from too much involvement defeats the purpose of encouraging lifelong exercise. To prevent injury, the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness recommends:

--One to two days per week off from competition and training specific to a sport

--Not placing a child on two teams in the same sport -- the town and the traveling team, for example -- to avoid excessive training and weekday as well as weekend play

--A two-to-three month break from that sport each year

Proceed with caution

The nation is obsessed with sports and families are bombarded with examples of highly motivated, successful young athletes. Children and parents see cheering fans, spectacular plays, young heroes being carried off on the shoulders of their teammates, lucrative contracts and big buck endorsements. How can that not seem glamorous, enticing, and, yes, achievable? If not fame and glory, parents envision paid college tuitions and televised college games. Whatever the aspiration, parents—and children—are influenced by the “stars” and their accomplishments.

Right before our eyes, and in minute detail, athletes just entering their teen years catapult to celebrity status. There’s golf sensation, Michelle Wie, age 14 when she entered the limelight. There’s also soccer’s World Cup phenomenon Freddy Adu, also famous by 14, and the tennis world’s Martina Hingis, who competed in the U.S. Open at age 13. These sports superstars exemplify what many parents fantasize for their own children. The media present an unrealistic and warped picture of sports’ potential for children who devote excessive time to one sport. But here are the hard facts: Only 0.2 to 0.5 percent of high school athletes ever play professionally. And perhaps more importantly, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee of Sports Medicine and Fitness finds that those who play a variety of sports have fewer injuries and play sports longer than those who specialize in one sport before puberty.

Parents must protect their children whose young bones are developing to avoid permanent damage. A six or 12-year old child doesn’t know what’s best for his growing body. When he tells you he wants to join yet another team, it is your responsibility to think through what’s good for him in the long run. You may need to say “no” and if you need help, check out The Book of NO: 250 Ways to Say It and Mean It.

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