Young sports performers are often showing signs of burnout because of too many demands, writes Dr Giles Warrington
ALTHOUGH LEVELS of inactivity and childhood obesity are rising in Ireland, according to research conducted jointly by the ESRI and the Irish Sports Council the number of children and adolescents engaging in recreational and organised sport and the level of participation has increased dramatically in the past 20 years.
The demands placed on young sports performers are ever increasing. As more children become involved in organised and recreational sport the reported incidence of overuse injuries, overtraining and burnout has become a growing problem.
According to the American College of Paediatrics, there appears to be an increasing number of children and adolescents specialising in one or more sports at an early age, training intensively throughout the year and competing at an "elite level".
Overtraining is a condition associated with athletes, which refers to an imbalance between training load and recovery, resulting in a prolonged failure of the body to cope with chronic training stress, leading to a maladaptive response and a marked decline in performance. This performance decline is usually not recovered with reduced training load, and requires prolonged or complete rest.
In addition to physiological and psychological fatigue associated with overtraining, more seriously, young athletes may also experience the signs and symptoms of burnout whereby a lack of enthusiasm and motivation about training or competition may lead to a complete withdrawal from the sport. In the long term the manifestations of burnout may have a detrimental health impact on a child's participation in sport as a lifelong physical activity.
Although burnout is regarded as a possible serious consequence of overtraining, the two terms are generally used interchangeably within the scientific and training literature.
In Ireland, anecdotal and empirical evidence has suggested that incidence of burnout within talented young athletes and players has become an area of particular concern. In 2007 the GAA established an expert taskforce to investigate patterns of player burnout within Gaelic games. The report of the taskforce showed that of the 534 inter-county players surveyed, almost 10 per cent were in the final stages of burnout; approximately 30 per cent suffered from elevated physical and emotional exhaustion, and one in 10 young players aged 16-18 years had begun to question their participation in Gaelic games.
To date, the precise mechanisms of overtraining and burnout are currently not fully understood, and has led to the condition being termed by the scientific community as "Unexplained Underperformance Syndrome" or UPS. What is clear is that the causes appear to be multi-dimensional and may be a response to one or a number of factors such as excessive training load, insufficient recovery during and between training sessions, and poor lifestyle practices including inappropriate nutritional intake and lack of rest and sleep.
It is now common for young children and adolescents to engage in sports participation throughout the year, with the most talented being in high demand and often playing on multiple teams simultaneously. The GAA taskforce report revealed that almost one-third of the players surveyed played for at least five teams within one competitive season with the minor age-group players representing the largest number of teams.
Additionally there is an over-emphasis placed on competition in many sports at an underage level rather than focusing on practice, technique and skill acquisition which is clearly detrimental to long-term player and athlete development. Athletic talent in Ireland is a scarce resource which should be carefully and gradually nurtured over time by implementing age-appropriate training interventions which cater for individual needs, rather than trying to adopt the "peaking by Friday" approach.
During the early stages of development children and adolescents involved in sport should be encouraged to engage in a variety of sports and activities which promote the development of a broad range of fundamental movement skills. Despite this, young aspiring athletes commonly engage in high-intensity training programmes and early sports specialisation beyond their stage of development, which may place an artificial ceiling on their performance potential as well as increasing the possible risk of burnout.
Evidence suggests that unless fundamental motor skills are mastered by about the age of 12 years, although they may go on to be successful sports performers, young athletes may not attain their full genetic potential in adulthood.
Prevention of burnout should be the priority of any coach or parent with an emphasis placed on a balanced approach to sports participation which takes into account other pressures and lifestyle demands on young performers such as school, work, social life and relationships.
In particular, a priority should be to encourage talented young athletes in their developmental years to be well rounded and well versed in a variety of activities and skills, rather than over-emphasis being placed on one sport.
Key preventative measures to reduce the risks of burnout in young performers would include: 1) recognising the signs and symptoms of burnout and identify those most susceptible; 2) minimise known causes such as sudden increases in training, lack of lay-offs between sessions and poor nutrition; 3) keep training sessions varied and interesting with age-appropriate games and activities with an emphasis on fun; 4) individualise training in recognition that athletes have different training tolerances; 5) programme recovery as an integral component of training, and monitor athletes for early warning signs of burnout; 6) encourage athletes to take personal responsibility, be in tune with their bodies and self-monitor for the signs of excessive fatigue.
According to the Long-Term Player/Athlete Development model produced by the National Coaching and Training Centre "the health and wellbeing of the nation and medals won at major games is the simple by-product of an effective sport system". The ultimate goal of youth sport participation therefore should not focus exclusively on sports performance for the fortunate few with the innate ability to succeed at the highest level. Instead it should promote engagement in lifelong physical activity and recreational sport for the vast majority.
To avoid the pitfalls of young player and athlete burnout, a balanced approach to sports participation and performance which recognises the importance of non-sport and other lifestyle factors is therefore critical.
...
Dr Giles Warrington is a sports and exercise physiologist and lecturer in the school of Health and Human Performance at Dublin City University