“The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested players.”
Don Coryell

What's Ahead
Parents:
   Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth?
Coaches:
   Are You Communicating Clearly?
Players:
  Don’t Give Up!

Maine Youth Sports
www.maineyouthsports.com
P.O. Box 442
Cumberland, ME 04021
inquiry@maineyouthsports.com
(207) 415-6321

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Nine Symptoms of Burnout

School days, homework, chores and family activities all take their toll on a young person’s time. Add in an active schedule and little time is left for down time when kids can refresh and recharge their emotional batteries. When this happens, something has to give or kids begin to suffer from burnout. Parents and kids may not even be aware that burnout is a problem. Some symptoms of burnout to watch for include:

1. Moodiness or irritability
2. Fatigue or difficulty waking up in the morning
3. Poor performance in sports or school activities
4. Loss of interest
5. Lack of emotion after a win or a loss
6. Loss of appetite
7. Sadness
8. Unusual focus on aches and pains
9. Problems with friends

All of these symptoms are also a part of every childhood. So, burnout may not always be the cause. This is one of the many areas where parents are essential to youth sports. If burnout is the problem, then the answer is to take a vacation or break from a hectic schedule. Parents should consider limiting their child to "In" season sports only and providing more unplanned time to let a child gain the down time necessary for a balanced life.

Recognizing Player Accomplishments

One of the secrets to coaching is to praise activities that you want repeated. Praising is an inexpensive form of reward that is especially effective with young players who are trying to please. Another level of praise can take the form of certificates that can be handed out after a game or practice to recognize players in a public way for an accomplishment or superior effort.

When using certificates, some things coaches should consider are:

• Certificates communicate with players directly and parents indirectly about things coaches find valuable to the team.
• Sometimes certificates for “best passing” or “best support away from the ball” can help focus a player’s attention on needed team skills.
• Overuse of certificates is probably better than underuse.
• Regular awarding of certificates provides a consistent way to communicate to players.
• Coaches should praise or recognize something in every player.
• Less skilled players need encouragement to get to their next level of development even if that level is well below average.
• Certificates offer good short term goals and rewards for players and help them measure their progress in ways other than just counting wins.

Certificates may not fit with every coaching style. However, whether delivered on paper or by some other means, praise always helps motivate players.

Player Assigned Homework

Player Assigned Homework Because most coaches don’t assign “homework” after practices, players may come to believe that attending and working hard at practices are all it takes to become a great player. At younger ages, this might be true, but as age increases so does the need for players to take an active interest in their own training and development.

Self-imposed homework tasks can include activities to improve skills, as well as activities to improve knowledge. Players should consider the following activities for their personal practice time:

• Watching players at older age levels (not just professionals) and learning from their play.
• Discussing the sport with players who have been playing longer or at more advanced levels.
• Running and other exercises that help stamina.
• Doing push-ups and other exercises that improve strength.
• Sprinting and other exercises that improve speed.
• Practicing specific skills repetitively to achieve higher performance and consistency.
• Reading books and other materials to increase game understanding.
• Using older players, private instructors or camps to assist with skill building.
• Working with friends to develop skills such as passing.
• Discussing the days practice with parents. By revisiting the days events, the more likely you will be to retain.
• There are many things players can do to improve themselves and players cannot rely on coaches to give them a precise roadmap for success.

How fast should my Speed of Negatives be?
Eccentric Contractions

Quick bit of information:
Concentric Contraction - when your muscles exert force as they shorten (i.e. a curl)
Eccentric Contraction - when your muscles exert force as they lengthen (i.e. straightening your arm) - these exercises are often called negatives.

Which contraction produces more force? Although we'd imagine the arm can produce more force while shortening, it's actually the eccentric contractions that can produce more force.

Because of this, you've probably heard that you should bring your weights down slowly so you get an extra workout. The question is, how slowly? Researchers from the University of Southern California used MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to monitor muscle firing and found the rapid eccentric contraction of the upper arm activated more than slow eccentric contraction of the upper arm. Hence, 2 seconds to lockout works your muscles better than 10 seconds to lockout. More weight faster will work your muscles more than less weight slower.

(Med Sci. Sports, 33:196-200, 2001).

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