My kid is better than yours. No he's not, mine is!

I write about this a lot because I see, hear about and get questions about it more than anything else regarding kids. Kids and overtraining. Parents in their rush to a scholarship or the next great fill in the blank are part of the problem. So are schools, coaches and the guy who calls me to ask about it his 11 year old is ready for the stuff they do at the major university.

First after over 20 years in college athletics I know MOST kids will not earn an athletic scholarship. Among those who compete in college that played in high school, fewer will get significant minutes, start and earn any honor (like they did in HS). Of those, even fewer will ever make a living in professional sport. Any sport. I was asked once by a high school sophomore "how does an average player make it in the NFL," my answer, "they don't." The kid looked at me and said "but I work hard."

Yes hard work, talent, skill, discipline, confidence, maturity and genetics all play a role in successful athletics. The higher the level of competition the fewer the pool of qualified participants. That's the key, qualified. The moral is, it's more important that your kid have fun than now than wonder if he will ever be as good as that other kid.

Now what about overtraining. Overtraining happens when an athletes does too much too soon. He or she doesn't get enough rest (due to multiple reasons) in order to recover from the training. Now lets look at that 11 year old. The kid may be involved in multiple sports or teams or both all at the same time. He or she my have family commitments, school and homework, social pressure (yes kids are different than they were 20 years ago). So if the key to improved performance is rest, when? Between practices of the same sport. Maybe the kid will improve if you let'em get some rest because Kids are also growing at this time this is happening. Oh yea. Michelle We grew 10 inches in 3 years (age 14-16) and no one could figure out why he golf was suffering. Well Duh!

So let your kid get some rest. He or she doesn't need to play that many games in that many leagues, blah, blah, blah. Kids are not miniature adults! If you start to notice your child performance dropping off (the thing parents get on their kid about the most), has chronic muscle soreness or joint pain, personality change or a lost desire to practice your kid is showing signs of overtraining. So get him or her some rest or all the money you spent on that great club coach just went down the tubes.