|
September 14,
2009
News For
SWIM PARENTS
Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale FL 33309
___________________________________________________________________
Burnout Or Choice
Coach Garry Nelson, formerly of the Plantation Swim Team, in
Plantation FL advocates a broader perspective on one of the most
common self-criticisms of age group swimming.
The term "burnout" is widely used in the sport of swimming.
Many swimmers quit swimming every year. Many coaches and
parents believe it is caused by burnout. The Physician and
Sportsmedicine in a recent article, described burnout as "loss of
energy and enthusiasm for the sport but that it is not caused by
anxiety and stress. Sure, all of us have known that certain
parent or coach who puts excessive pressure on a child to win or
set records. Most of those swimmers quit because they no
longer can handle the pressure and they need to quit because they
need to get away from its cause. That is burnout.
At the Plantation Swim Team (Florida), we have approximately 30% to
35% turnover in our membership each year. I would think that
our club is very close to the national average (Editor's note: U.S.
Swimming Domestic Technical Director Bob Steele cites an average
annual turnover of 33% of registered swimmers). People
associated with swimming, group all of these swimmers as
burnout. In fact, very few of these swimmers are really
burnout cases.
There are hundreds of reasons why young people quit swimming.
I believe that most swimmers who are no longer swimming quit
because they are no longer improving as fast as they used to, and
the results are no longer worth the time and commitment.
Throughout my coaching experience, I know that I have had my fair
share of swimmers leave the sport. Looking back, I can
remember very few that I would consider in the burnout
category. For example, if a swimmer is very successful as a
young swimmer and has achieved success with limited commitment and
a modest workload, when the swimmer begins to get older he or she
must increase his or her commitment to remain successful. The
athlete may not want to put the required time into the sport.
At that point they face a choice of working harder, scaling back
their goals, or doing something else with their time. But
that's not burnout, it is rather a choice.
Not every young person who has left swimming is a burn-out
case. Most young people who have left our sport, have simply
exercised their freedom of choice.
In conclusion, let's limit our use of the term burnout, which is
giving swimming a bad name. Coaches should strive to make
their programs more creative and appealing to minimize loss of
interest. Parents and coaches should know when to make kids work
and when to let them play and not be afraid to have some fun.
The next time you use the term burnout to describe a swimmer who
has quit the sport, think again. Maybe they didn't burn out,
maybe they just chose to stop swimming.
|
