Youth Sports Burnout Driven by Achievement by Proxy Syndrome

[Shooby]

Dr. Chris Stankovich, a sport psychology consultant and advocate for positive youth sports development, has done a nice job summarizing the issues involved with a key youth sports issue today: burnout.

Youth sports burnout in America is increasing at an alarming rate, and millions of kids nationwide are becoming both mentally and physically fatigued from playing sports too intensely, often year-round. Sadly, this phenomenon seems to be getting worse, and not better. This is probably due in large part to several contributing factors: Our country's great love of sports; increasing numbers of families turning to sports as a means of a free college education (or even an opportunity at professional sports); and parents living vicariously through their children and holding on to the pluralistic ignorant notion that "more is better" in terms of their kids playing sports better than they themselves did as kids.

The issue of coaches and parents obsessing about high school varsity status, All-League and All-State teams, scholarships and pro contracts has become so commonplace that psychiatrists have dubbed the condition Achievement by Proxy Syndrome - adults living vicariously through the exploits of their children.

Of course, the issue of overbearing parents and coaches in youth sports isn't a new one. However, things are definitely getting worse. Adults are taking their seriousness about youth sports to new unhealthy extremes.

The number of incidents of physical violence and verbal abuse at youth sporting events has increased significantly the last decade. According to the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS), approximately 15% of youth sports games played today involve a confrontation between parents, between parents and officials, between parents and coaches, or between coaches and officials. That's a jump from 5% a decade ago.

Chances of Playing College or Pro Sports Are Slim

Simply put, when it comes to youth sports, as parents and coaches - as adults -- we need to chill out. Our sons and daughters almost assuredly aren't going to be pro athletes. Statisticians believe that you have a better chance of being murdered than becoming a professional athlete.

It's also extremely unlikely our children will receive a college athletic scholarship. Only one-to-two percent of high school senior athletes get a college athletic scholarship - partial or full. The percentage of high school senior athletes receiving "full-ride" athletic scholarships (which cover tuition, books, fees and room and board) is well under one percent.

"The more we can educate parents to have a realistic idea of what they're trying to accomplish when they put their kid in youth sports - and the more we can help them be more realistic about things like college athletic scholarships -- the better it will be for the kids, and the more fun they'll have," says Fred Bowen, a writer who covers youth sports for the Washington Post.

It's time for a serious reality check for everyone involved. NCAA research reveals the odds of becoming a college or pro athlete are steep:

Men's Basketball

• High school senior basketball players who go on to play NCAA men's basketball (all divisions - I, II & III, including "walk-ons"): Less than one in 35, or 2.9 percent.
• NCAA seniors drafted by an NBA team: Less than one in 75, or 1.3 percent.
• High school seniors eventually drafted by an NBA team: About three in 10,000, or 0.03 percent.

Women's Basketball

• High school senior basketball players who go on to play NCAA women's basketball (all divisions): About three in 100, or 3.1 percent.
• NCAA seniors drafted by a WNBA team: About one in 100, or 1.0 percent.
• High school seniors eventually drafted by a WNBA team: About one in 5,000, or 0.02 percent.

Football

• High school senior football players who go on to play NCAA football (all divisions): About one in 17, or 5.8 percent.
• NCAA seniors drafted by an NFL team: About one in 50, or 2.0 percent.
• High school seniors eventually drafted by an NFL team: About nine in 10,000, or 0.09 percent.

Baseball

• High school senior baseball players who go on to play NCAA baseball (all divisions): Less than three in 50, or 5.6 percent.
• NCAA seniors drafted by a MLB team: Less than eleven in 100, or 10.5 percent.
• High school seniors eventually drafted by a MLB team: About one in 200, or 0.5 percent. (However, these players almost always go to the minor leagues, where the odds of making it to the majors remain steep.)

For a bigger wakeup call - for young athletes and their parents and coaches -- consider that the numbers above for professional sports leagues refer to those drafted by a pro sports franchise. Actually making a big league roster and playing in a professional game at the highest level is even tougher.

Rest assured, the odds are similar for Major League Soccer (MLS), tennis, golf and other professional sports not listed above.

The takeaway: Go ahead and dream big but keep things in perspective.

For the sake of our young athletes.


www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-reed/youth-sports-burnout-driv_b_8274078.html

[swamp]

Amen.

I did play a sport when I was in college, I was on the swim team. I don't think most parents have any clue as to the amount of time and dedication required to be a collegiate athlete, and I was Division III!!!

I don't want that for my kids, unless they choose it themselves.

[billisonboard]

"The fact that the odds of being a professional athlete are so slim is why I need to push my five year old so hard." (Just a different way a parent can react to the numbers in the OP).

I remember sitting at dinner with my son and his friend. The friend was the sophomore starting QB of our very small town high school varsity team.  The kid informed us, without a hint of the absurdity of the comment, that "My Dad wants me to be 6' 4"."  I didn't have the heart to tell him that considering he wasn't more than 5' 8" at the time and there was no evidence of genetic height in his family that Dear Dad was going to be disappointed that his son would not have NFL quarterback stature.

[Shooby]

One of the bad things, is that kids often end up with chronic sports injuries that we used to only see in the pros or college. Now, we have kids with ACL tears, torn rotator cuffs from coaches who over pitch them and so forth.   So, even kids who could have made the Pros wind up not even having a shot at it due to over use injuries. A friend of mine, her so was an amazing pitcher. And, of course, they hardly ever took him out of the game, only taking him out when they had too. He wound up with those types of injuries and although scouted by the Pros, his career was over. 

  Personally, I would like to see more Intramural sports.  There should be fun leagues that aren't so strenuous.  ANd, then, there should be the Competitive league that has try outs and for the more dedicated athletes.  And, those dedicated leagues need to understand that those kids need to give their bodies a break too.  But, the parents have to step and learn to temper that as well.

[thyme4change]

Oct 12, 2015 8:18:57 GMT -5 swamp said:

Amen.

I did play a sport when I was in college, I was on the swim team. I don't think most parents have any clue as to the amount of time and dedication required to be a collegiate athlete, and I was Division III!!!

I don't want that for my kids, unless they choose it themselves.

The reality is, unless the kids want it - no amount of pressure from the parents are going to make it happen.  Success can come for short periods of time, but to be a real achiever in something competitive like sports - you have to have passion and dedication, and that doesn't come from the outside.

I was thinking about this the other day.  My kids had dozens of rec sports available to them from an early age, but not too much else.  There isn't a rec-level band anywhere starting in 2nd or 3rd grade.  There are some theater groups, but any of the academic groups were really difficult to get into.  It seems like sports is the easiest thing to get involved with.  Other types of activities just are not as prevalent.   

[Shooby]

That's the absolute Truth Thyme!  You can give kids an opportunity. A good coach can encourage and inspire. However, there is a point at time where a child has to OWN it or not. If they don't, there is no parent or coach who is really going to make them live up to their potential.   There is a ton of Potential out there but not a whole heck of a lot of Actual.  I coach 6th grade Girls' Bball. I ask them "Do you want to be Basketball Players or do you want to be Girls Who Play Basketball"?  It is when being a "basketball player" becomes part of their identity and they grab hold of their own skill development that they will really excel and succeed.

  However, part of the problem with sports is that there too many kids on teams who simply do NOT want to be there.  Those kids get dropped off.  They come, they don't really care or they don't try.  And, the parents of these kids are usually the most difficult to deal with.  And, they put other kids at risk, especially in contact sports because they don't pull their weight and other kids are left trying to pick up their slack and that is when those kids get hurt.  It USED to be that you felt you had a responsibility to your Team.  That you had the responsibility to practice and work hard and make yourself better for the sake of your team.  I think we need to get back to having actual Try Outs.  If you really are interested, you will practice and then work hard and try out and keep working.  For too many, it's just free babysitting.  That is a waste of time and personally, I have no interest to coach teams like that.

 

[billisonboard]

Oct 12, 2015 11:24:01 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

... I'm guessing the kid had an idea that he wasn't going to get there. 

Exactly. Super sweet kid but genetically, height wasn't the only thing that his parents failed to pass on to him in great quantity.

[Shooby]

We love sports.  DH and I played and our kids play. DD is on a travel basketball team. It costs money to travel and stay in hotels but we have had a blast doing it and she is really looking forward to it. In reality, I know it's a hobby. None of my kids are going Pro. Maybe play in a D2 or D3 school or something but that is purely for fun. However the JOY of sports is the discipline of learning to do a sport well. That is true joy. Working hard and getting better and the game opens up to you as you really begin to understand it.   

[alabamagal]

We went through all the youth sports drama. We love sports and glad our kids participated but they have all moved on. Youngest had opportunity to play D3 football. He had combination of size and ability for offensive line and Grades and SAT score to get academic scholarship. He decided against it and is at large university and watches from stands. Academic scholarship there also.

We do know of some successes. I am watching Steelers game where friends nephew is rookie but not playing much (yet). Kids schoolmate got baseball scholarship and then drafted and played minor leagues for a while. My nephews cousins got baseball scholarships to small schools in Midwest. One football teammate got scholarship to mid level D1 but had knee problems and graduated. One kid got golf scholarship.

But the kids who did well we're not the ones with the high pressure parents. There were lots of them and none of the kids I know of never made it to college sports.