Young athletes need a break - rest or another sport

The debate over specialization in youth sports continues.

I am addressing the issue again after seeing a tweet from a youth basketball organization. I’m leaving out the name of the organization and the name of the young athlete.

“To All College Coaches 2021 (Athlete) is no longer affiliated with our program for personal reasons.”

A response to the tweet was: “Let me guess … (Athlete) wanted to play baseball because, you know, he’s a kid who plays multiple sports, and that pi__ed you off that he’s not living and breathing your basketball program. Be embarrassed … and own that embarrassment.”

Another response: “And coaches are discouraging kids every day. Let them be kids and play whatever sports they want. Coaches/programs need the kids more than the kids need them.”

The fact the tweet called out the athlete by name was in poor taste. I recognize there could have been disciplinary problems or other reasons for the athlete exiting the basketball program. But familiar with the situation, I believe it had to do with what the respondents felt — the athlete had an opportunity to play more than one sport and had a decision to make, which sport to play on that particular day.

My own family has experienced the dilemma. One of my grandsons is playing soccer and football. At the beginning of the season, the soccer coach was informed that football was his primary sport and he might miss some soccer practices or games. Fortunately, the soccer coach understood and accepted the situation.

Unfair to the soccer teammates? Maybe. My grandson has been in the same situation when teammates missed a game because they were playing another sport on that day. Priorities must be set, particularly for the younger athletes who are too young to specialize. It’s a conundrum for parents and coaches and at times leaves a team short on numbers.

So how do you support your multisport athlete who may struggle to keep a jam-packed day in order? Patrick Cohn, a mental training expert and sports psychologist at Peak Performance Sports, recommends giving the athlete one free day each week.

“I think every athlete needs one day a week with no practice or competition,” he said. “They need time to catch up on school and just relax and have a normal social life.”

He also said parents should watch out for perfectionist tendencies.

“Perfectionism is a double-edged sword. Perfectionist athletes are more likely to feel anxious or upset, and more worried about what others think of them. I want to see athletes being able to manage expectations, not feeling a lot of pressure, and focusing on the process, not the results.”

As a parent, some have forgotten how difficult it might be to juggle school with multiple practice schedules and games. Cohn said parents must teach their athletes about time management. The child and parent can create calendars together.

“Young athletes need routines and schedules, and they need to be able to manage those schedules themselves,” he said.

Most importantly, Cohn said parents should keep an eye out for signs of stress and burnout.

“If an athlete is doing well in practice and underperforming in competition — or looking distracted, not focused, tentative, playing scared — those are signs that your athlete is getting too stressed in competition, and that’s something you need to address.”

He said to look for subtle shifts in behavior, such as trouble sleeping, frequent bad moods or emotional distress. Burnout can lead to leaving a sport if not catching it early and not taking a brief break from practice and competition.

As I have discussed multiple times in the past, science supports youth playing multiple sports, at least until puberty, in order to decrease the possibility of injuries, stress and burnout. But what if your child likes just one sport?

Dr. Kristen Gostomski, in a Youth Sports Trainer article, said “it’s never too late to diversify … The key is to take time off from structured training in the principle sport to open up time for other activities … With planned time off, athletes can return to their primary sport mentally and physically reinvigorated.

“Being passionate about one sport is not bad. The love of activity … will promote mental and physical well-being. However, encouraging the love of activity rather than the love of one sport will up the odds of active kids becoming active adults.”

Nancy Justis is a former competitive swimmer and college sports information director. She is a partner with Outlier Creative Communications. Let her know what you think at njustis@cfu.net