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Parenting & Education in Ireland

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Parenting & Education

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Is your little sports star training to hard? Advice for parents on youth exercise training



The benefits of children participating in sports are evident: children learn new skills, become part of a team, make friends, improve confidence, become fit and healthy and most of all, have fun! Young players in popular Irish sports like soccer, football, hurling and rugby may train up to four or five times a week or more and these highly competitive atmospheres see driven young athletes truly maximising their physical and mental ability.

However, there are drawbacks too, and too much exercise and excessive training can cause injury, decreased motivation and apathy towards a sport. While parents should always support their children's’ athletic pursuits, they must also recognise and be vigilant so that kids don’t push themselves too far and face injury or burnout.

Overtraining and Burnout

Older kids and teens in competitive sports may push themselves to the limit when it comes to training. According to leading physical therapists and clinicians, overtraining can have a serious effect on a young athlete's body and these injuries are on the rise in Ireland. Because children are still developing, overuse and continual stress on growing muscles can lead to injury, and without proper care this can have long term issues on a young person’s body. One of the most common problems that arise with overtraining is Burnout. Burnout occurs when youths respond to too much stressful activities and by decreasing their participation in the sport or they worsen performance despite intense training.

Overtraining and burnout have many symptoms including muscle pain, injury, decreased motivation, mood swings and fatigue. Kids and teens exhibit similar symptoms when they are exhausted both mentally and physically. Here are some common experiences that may open a player to risk.

Causes/Risk Factors:

    • Youth playing/training in multiple teams during same season
    • Year round participation, overlapping seasons. No rest season.
    • Pressure to train/compete at high level.
    • Failure to treat injury and rehabilitate properly.

With proper recognition and care, parents and coaches can avoid overtraining and burnout by reducing intense activities, scheduling youth training properly, having plenty of rest days and having proper injury treatment and rehabilitation.

How much exercise is too much

Age, sport and types of training vary but experts agree that young players should train under these guidelines:

    • Have one day rest per week.
    • Have ‘off-seasons’ each year (2-3 months)
    • Participation in one sport up to five days a week.
    • Crosstrain. Young athletes should vary their training such as swimming, running , cycling etc
    • As a general rule, youths should not train or more than 18-20 hours per week.

Parents who are worried about overtraining are advised to take more participation in their child’s training program by engaging with team managers and monitoring injuries and kids stress levels. Often kids will do whatever their coach tells them to do, so parents must take greater responsibility with their training. Most of all, make sure to check their motivation, for example, asking, ‘is it still fun?’

For more on children’s health and well-being, please see our dedicated section

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