Youth sport burnout (also known as athlete burnout) is a relatively new term added to the sport psychology literature, and while it’s not an official mental health disorder, it is a very real condition and one experienced by literally thousands of young athletes everyday.  Sport burnout is actually a collection of symptoms stemming from the over-involvement in sports, and young athletes often feel both emotional and physical distress as a result.  In some cases kids become burned out from playing a sport or sports over a long period of time (cumulative burnout), while in other instances kids feel burned out from shorter, more intense sport seasons (i.e. travel baseball or softball).  For more information on the origins of sport burnout, as well as tips and strategies to identify and treat sports burnout, click here.

If you are a sport parent and concerned that your child might be experiencing sports burnout, I have listed three tell-tale symptoms below to help you begin your appraisal.

• Lack of excitement & motivation.  Remember, the #1 reason kids play sports is to have fun, so it is for this reason when you notice that your child is no longer having fun it’s time to tune in more closely to the situation.  Of course, not everything about youth sports is going to be fun for your child (2-a-day practices in  August are hardly fun for anyone!), but the general feelings your child has about playing sports should be positive in nature.  If you see that your child enjoys very little about his or her sport, it might be time to check in and see if mental fatigue is contributing to the symptoms you are witnessing.
• Lack of pride in accomplishments.  When have you ever known a child to not be excited to tell you about a great play she made, or an award she won for a sports accomplishment?  The reality is sports accomplishments should be a source of pride for kids, but often when kids become burned out from sports they no longer show this excitement.  This kind of flat affect can be quite telling when it comes to the liklihood of sports burnout.
• Outward voicing of being tired.  In some instances kids actually speak out about how tired they are playing their sport, and in some instances outwardly ask for a break from the sport.  Sadly, some parents miss these cues because they are not paying attention or they assume the kid will quickly work through the negative feelings over time.  Of course, you might not need to immediately pull your child from sports simply because he or she is tired, but you should pay close attention any time your child outwardly shares a serious concern.

For more information on sports burnout please check out this DVD, and visit Advanced Human Performance Systems for additional information.

www.drstankovich.com

Youth sports can be a challenging experience for many kids, but there are 5 big tips sports parents can offer kids that will pay big dividends on the field.  Sport psychologists regularly teach kids about the importance of mental toughness, a mindset that can actually help compensate for physical limitations.  When kids are mentally tough, they play with confidence, greater motivation, and their resiliency increases, too.  The following tips are designed to help you help your child improve mental toughness, and consequently improve the chances for on-field success:

• Attitude – While your child may not have any control over things like his height or eyesight, he has 100% control over his attitude.  Remind your child about choosing a positive attitude everyday.
• Effort – You don’t have to be the best player on the team to give the best effort.  Similar to attitude, kids control the amount of effort they give 100% of the time!
• Team – Learning to be a team player means picking up teammates, cheering, and doing all the little things to maintain positive team chemistry.  Help your child embrace the “team” concept and soon you will see her feel comfortable with her teammates, and likely take this confidence to the field as well.
• Bounce back - There will always be failure to deal with in sports, so make sure you “normalize” failure as inevitable and one kids can learn from the experience.  Rather than getting upset and throwing a tantrum, teach your child to channel the frustration into getting better for the future.
• Fun – The #1 reason kids play sports is to have fun, so do your part by making sure this happens as much as possible!  Your attitude driving your child to practices and games makes a big difference, and a simple reminder to your child about having fun can go a long way.

Summer sports are now underway, but it’s not too late to integrate the tips above.  Remember, while physical skills are important for sports success, so too are mental skills, so be sure to encourage kids to train in both areas for sport success.

www.drstankovich.com

Check out our popular e-book – an easy download filled with tons of hands-on tips to help with sports success!

Major League Baseball is probably going to suspend a number of high profile players for their connection to the Biogenesis clinic in Miami, including New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez and Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun.  The players are accused of using steroids and other banned performance enhancement supplements, prompting the important sport psychology question about why so many athletes continue to cheat in sports – even with suspensions, fines, and public humiliation hanging in the balance (not to mention individual morality concerns).  MLB is not the only place where athletes continue to cheat, as it is not uncommon to read about athletes from literally all sports involved in sport performance cheating.

Even with all the increased attention toward sports cheating (especially steroid usage), countless athletes continue to roll the dice and risk their professional athletic careers.  Seemingly the integrity factor of playing fair is an idea of the past, as it now appears that increasingly more athletes are doing almost whatever they can in order to increase size, strength, speed, and recovery time from injury.  And it also seems that no matter what dangers and consequences are risked by cheating, many athletes will still just that – cheat.

So why are athletes cheating?  Some of the bigger reasons that athletes have shared with me over the years include:

• Ego.  Some athletes simply become intoxicated with the size and strength gains associated with steroids, and enjoy the vanity benefits as well.  Some hit a ball longer, others throw a pitch harder, and some are able to run faster.  These advances, viewed by some, are well worth the risk of cheating.
• Need to keep up.  There is a feeling in elite-level sports that you need to cheat in order to simply keep up with the competition.  Mnay athletes have gone on record saying this over the years, and with all the players caught using in MLB there is certainly a degree of validity to this argument.
• No fear of getting caught.  While the consequences associated with getting caught for cheating are great, many players still feel as though the odds of them being tested are slim, and that the drugs they use are undetectable by the testing procedures.
• Group dynamics.  Similar to the need to keep up with the competition, some athletes use because they see other teammates using and it becomes almost “normal” to do what the others are doing.

Of course, these are only a few of the reasons why athletes decide to cheat.  Some athletes have told me that they don’t feel the drugs should be banned, while others have minimized the risks associated and convinced themselves that the drugs they are using are harmless.  Regardless of the reason(s), it is important that we continue to work hard and preserve the integrity of sports, especially for player safety and maintaining a fairness in sport competition.

www.drstankovich.com

Check out our digital line of sport performance products only at Advanced Human Performance Systems!

There are a lot of things for parents to think about and prepare for as kids begin their summer sports schedule, so this week I have prepared a short checklist to help you get a great start to summer youth sports:

• Travel. If your child is in a travel league, you will need to think about the impact this has on your life.  Not only are there costs associated with travel, but you may need to get time off work, too.
• Costs. Going hand-in-hand with travel are the costs associated with being on the orad, including lodging and food.
• Missed opportunities. Some sports leagues are quite intense and leave little time for visiting out-of-town family or going on a family vacation.
• Physicals. While some sports leagues may not require physical examinations, it’s never a bad thing to have your child checked out before the start of each sports season.
• Sports equipment.  Need a new bat? how about a pair of cleats? These costs can add up quickly and can come as a surprise if you’re not prepared.

Additional tips for younger athletes:

• Should your child compete in a travel league or recreational?  For better or for worse, this decision needs to be made earlier than ever before.
• Sport sampling or sport specialization? Do you want your child to play different sports, or begin to specialize by playing just one sport?

Additional tips for older athletes:

• Sports camps and clinics. If your child is in high school and wants to play college sports one day, it’s not a bad idea to have him or her participate in sports camps and clinics to help get noticed by college coaches.
• Sports highlight video. Since college coaches cannot always make it out to watch kids compete, it’s never a bad idea to develop a highlight video of your child and have it ready to show college coaches who might be interested in recruiting your son or daughter.

 www.drstankovich.com

Need help with some of this? Check out the Parents Toolkit, designed to help parents help their kids maximize the youth sport experience! 

Current Rutgers Athletic Director Julie Hermann has come under fire for reports of previous student athlete verbal abuse and humiliation, and this, ironically, comes just after former Rutgers head basketball coach Mike Rice was removed from the school for similar charges just a few months ago.  In both cases, each has been accused of using derogatory language, threats, insults, slurs, and just about every other psychological mental toughness intimidation technique in an effort to improve on-court athletic performance.  Is this approach the best way to get athletes to play to their potential?  Or are we seeing a massive (and long overdue) paradigm shift toward a “new age” type of coach who relies less on head games and intimidation and more on human techniques we know work (based on sport psychology studies), like positive reinforcement, encouragement, empathy, and support.

Similar to how we are currently seeing a change in the ways gay athletes are being viewed and accepted, I expect that we will soon see even greater attention toward the means in which coaches lead and mentor the student athletes they coach.  For example, I don’t think a coach like Bob Knight would make it today like how he did in the 1970′s and 80′s, even if he is an X’s and O’s basketball genius.  In other words, I think it would be nearly impossible to defend grabbing a player by the neck today under any condition — even if you are a good coach. 

This future change in coaching style does not imply coaches will no longer be able to yell, scream, and let their players know who the boss is — instead, it will inject a much needed new approach that helps coaches understand that you really can be a nice person, coach through positive reinforcement, and encourage players while still winning on the field/court!  Throwing balls, calling players racial/ethnic/social slurs, and making threats is completely out of line, uncalled for, and should soon turn into an antiquated means of coaching from a generation long ago.

The situation at Rutgers stinks any way you look at it – the video of Mike Rice was appalling, and current AD Julie Hermann’s actions were so atrocious that her entire team at Tennessee once petitioned to have her removed!  The silver lining to all of this, hopefully, will be that we learn about treating players with respect rather than taking out our own unfinished business on them (yes, if you feel you need to intimidate your players, you likely have unfinished business).

Coaches at all levels, not just college and pro, have the potential and capacity to make big impacts on the kids they coach – we need to have more coaches embrace this idea rather than haphazardly coach through intimidation and potentially ruin sports careers of young people.  As the old saying goes, you’ll attract more bees with honey than you will with vinegar – hopefully more coaches in the future will keep this in mind when developing their own coaching philosophy.

www.drstankovich.com

Check out the Coach Toolkit, designed to help coaches win on and off the field, only at Advanced Human Performance Systems