Burned-out

…but then again, some kids do in fact get burned out.  This cannot be denied.

I wonder if a driver's license, and girls at the swimming pool has ever made a 16 yr old boy miss baseball practice?

Sticks before chicks

Sticks before chicks

Sticks before chicks

Not always, eh Doc?

I feel the biggest burn out kids go through is talented kids being pushed and pushed hard by a parent. A female friend's son played #1 singles (tennis) as a freshman at a private school known for it's tennis program. He played in the US Open as an amateur at age sixteen. But his father never stopped beating on the kid mentally about being better. The kid would win a tournament and the dad would get in his face and tell him he will never play for Princeton playing like that.

The kid finally snapped. He destroyed his racket, told his dad to stick it where the sun doesn't shine and quit his tennis club. He played his senior year at high school and passed on every college tennis scholarship. He went to college in the Midwest so he wouldn't have to deal with his father anymore.

 I understand what your saying, and that would be the purest form of it. But I know your level headed from your posts, and I think you know the type I am referring to. This label is always being thrown around and I hardly ever see it as pure burn-out. I know a wonderful young man that played on a strong travel team, but he quit growing and the BBCOR kicked his butt, He now runs cross country and bowls on the HS team and is having a blast....no burn-out involved things just kinda changed around him and he had to make adjustments.

There are kids and their parents who use burn out as a cover up for hitting the talent wall. What I hate to see is a kid play one sport from an early age, hit the talent wall before or at high school and that sport was their identity.

Dr Joel Fish, head of The Sports Center For Psychology said that kid is their biggest client base even though they consult to professional, college and Team USA organizations. The kids lose it because they've been stripped of their identity or they feel guilty they don't want to play any more after all the time and money their parents have invested in them.

I coached a kid in 14u basketball who was late to the game. He was a solid potential future varsity baseball player. He quit baseball to focus on basketball. His dad got mad at me for making basketball too much fun. The reality was the dad put a lot of pressure on the kid and I didn't. The dad knew and coached baseball. He didn't know basketball. That lack of knowledge gave the kid breathing room. There wasn't the drive home analysis he got after baseball games.

The mental damage from pushing to much sometimes takes years to manifest itself. Does anyone remember Jimmy Piersall?

I too have often wondered if the phrase "burned out" has been used too often.  I have been a coach for most of my life.  I could coach baseball everyday and never get burned out.  However, I will never coach another basketball game.  NEVER!  I am absolutely burned out on it.  I went like few coaches I know to turn around a terrible program. The hours of scouting, game film, practice plans, individual plans, program plans, ... Then, the games.  For me, it was like life and death.  I was the idiot standing up, running along the sidelines, yelling out all kinds of instructions and absolutely soaking wet after a game.  I had to stop wearing sports coats and ties because I ruined so many of them with sweat.  I would pass out at times during these games.  Then, one day, I got the letter from the parents telling me that their daughters didn't want to win state titles.  They didn't care about regional, sectional or conference championships.  They just wanted to play basketball.  Before every game, I would say to myself, "I hope that tonight is not the night I die.  Darrell, tonight, you are not going to die."  That letter was the end.  I resigned and yet, I was told to coach two more years.  Now, I can't even go to the gym to watch a HS game.  I can't watch basketball on TV.  That is burnout. 

If a young man wants to be a three sport athlete then good for them.  If they want to have other interest then good for them.  I offered open gyms, ... and if they came then great.  If not, I did not take roll.  I did not threaten.   When the season starts, we would go full throttle and then, once it was over, they had their time and I had mine. 

I look at burn out two ways.

I think everyone goes through temporary stages of burn out. Even at the things they love the most.

Then there is the forced burn out, making someone do something over and above what they really want to do.

Then there is a third burn out which is very common.  You realize the competition has passed you by.  Burn out becomes an excuse of sorts for not making it.

Those that keep on being successful have long careers before any type of permanent burn out happens. And that really isn't burn out.