Burnout is a thief.
Burnout steals all the great life skills that youth sports can
teach. It is up to the sports-parent to get
on the same page and align their goals with that of the student-athlete. And it is also up to the sports-parent to
create breathing room and purposefully schedule downtime from competitive youth
sports.
Breathing Room. Breathing room is a critical part of
skill development. Breathing room is not a luxury or something to be “earned”
by on-field performance. Scheduling purposeful
downtime allows the athlete to decompress and digest what has been learned. Even a machine-like Navy SEAL requires downtime. Shouldn’t same the same apply to a promising twelve-year-old
wide receiver?
