Overcommitted Soccer Players

When I played club soccer.....a while ago.....I also played basketball and ran track. But rarely did I have two sports overlap each other by more than a week or two. But today, I see players play 3 different sports competitively over the same weekend.

That was then and this is now....but my belief is this is not a good thing to do over and over again. Yet, it is happening more frequently then I think it should.

I do believe that playing multiple sports as a youth athlete is important and good for a kid. It allows them to continue to to develop in other sports and they also learn strategies in one sport that might carry over into another sport. Again, I believe that this is good!

What isn't good in my opinion, is when parents encourage or even do a degree force their son or daughter into playing three sports all at the same time for many months of the year. Playing multiple sports at the same time all the time doesn't allow for a child to relax and take a breath nor does it really allow for this young athlete to work on his or her athleticism either. Developing better athletic habits at an younger age is just as important if not more important then this young athlete playing games all the time.

I would strongly suggest taking the pulse of your team and find out if you have players that are playing multiple sports at the same time all of the time. If so, please factor in some down time for your players allowing them to get away from the game for a little while. I believe you find them to be very excited and ready to get back into training when they return.

Studies have shown that close to 75% of kids stop playing sports by the time they get to high school. The number one reason for this....they just aren't having any fun!

Playing three sports all year round ends up burning kids out. They don't have any fun and they stop playing!

By forcing some downtime into their schedule, you will be doing your players a favor and you will keep your players playing into their adult hood.

Have a great day!

Gary Christopher
www.soccerandspeedcoach.com