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before a game at the end of the season, the conditioning should focus more on power and on sprinting, as that is by Angelo Gingerelliwhat is used in his sport. If overtraining vertraining is a common problem in has already become a problem for a youth sport teams, especially when team it is important that the coach they are coached by inexperienced or immediately reduce the training load volunteer coaches who have had little or no as soon as the problem has become formal training. The problem is compounded evident. This will hopefully reduce the by the fact that many coaches still ascribe to the effects of overtraining and prevent the out-dated theory that "more is better." This kind problem from progressing to the of training in which practices get progressively point where injury is inevitable. One harder throughout a season regardless of time way to relieve the effects of overtrainof year or the state of the athletes often results in ing is to supplement traditional traintired and worn-out athletes that are too ing with other activities like exhausted to compete at the necessary level. swimming or playing other games; Signs of overtraining include but this will give the mind a break are not limited to: increase or and provide variety for the body. decrease in appetite, changes in body Overtraining is a serious weight, disturbances in sleeping problem that can lead to diminpatterns, general body fatigue, ished performance and possibly feelings of "burn out", lack of interest injury, the best way to avoid in the sport, changes in demeanor these undesirable outcomes is to and inability to perform at high inten- be as educated about sport trainsities. The youth sport coach must be particularly attentive to younger athletes, as these changes may not be as pronounced as in older populations. Overtraining can be avoided if the coach is aware of the ing and conditioning as possible and demands the season places on the to be attentive to the needs of the bodies of young athletes and plans athletes as the season progresses. his training accordingly. Also, every effort should be made to make the training as sport specific as possible. For example a baseball player should not be running five miles the day Overtraining in Youth Sports O Carry the Olympic Torch. Throw out the first pitch of a Texas Rangers baseball game. ... And play a little indoor soccer. Next season, Tatu hopes to lead his Dallas Sidekicks to a championship with yet another league: this time the "new" MISL. The Sidekicks' first home game is Sept. 28 vs. the 2002 MISL Champion Philadelphia KiXX. and fun for them. The importance of winning should be down-played as well as reminding the children of who is watching them in the Adam Mistr audience. These factors can raise levels of anxiety and lead to higher dropout rates. A major topic that should be dealt with very delicately by coaches is that of failure. If a child is feeling like he or she is always a failure, their interest will decrease, anxiety will rise, and their feeling of self-worth will decline. For young athletes, a majority of the feelings of failure are generated when parents or coaches tell them that they have failed. To avoid failure, coaches must be competent in the knowledge of the skills necessary for a particular sport and must know how to properly teach them to the young athletes. Also, coaches must reinforce the positive aspects of a child's performance in order to take their mind off of the negatives associated with failure. Over organization is another situation that can lead to high dropout rates among young athletes. Coaches must ensure that practices are not boring or that the children do not become physically inactive. This can remove the fun component from the athletic experience. The coaches should concentrate on more active teaching and drills than just simply talking the children through it. Let the children participate so they do not get bored and become complacent. Drill work during practices should be varied throughout the season. Constantly repeating the same drill can increase dropout rates. The children should also not be overworked. Coaches must avoid the two extremes of the spectrum. A happy medium is most beneficial for the learning process and the enjoyment that young athletes can experience. All in all, coaches and parents are the most important figures and supporters of young athletes. The role played by these two groups of people can have a tremendous effect on whether or not a child chooses to continue with a sport or dropout of athletics all together. The behaviors of coaches and parents have a great influence on the attitudes and mental growth of young athletes. Reducing Youth Sport Drop-out by ropoutamongyoungathletesisatopicthathas become of more concern in recent times. Y oung athletes are quitting sports teams or dropping out of athletics all together There are many . reasonsthatcanbeattributedtothisbehavior aswellas , manymeasuresthatcanbetakenbycoachesinorder todecreasethenumberofyouthsportsdropoutsorto eliminateitcompletely . A major reason that children are dropping out of sports is the amount of playing time that they are receiving on a particular team. Research has shown that children would much rather play for a losing team than sit the bench on a winning team. Young athletes value playing time much more that a winning record. Coaches can help decrease dropout rate by ensuring that all players are learning skills and participating successfully. Negative feedback is another aspect that can lead to increased dropout rates among child athletes. Children are susceptible to negative feedback as they interpret it as ridicule and they are unable to put the situation in perspective and begin feeling down about their performance. Coaches should focus their comments to the children on performance and not on the character of the young athlete. Coaches also need to be careful on how they deal with errors committed by the young athletes. This caution is necessary, as there is a direct relationship between the reaction of the coach and the amount of learning that the child gains from the comments. Children should be part of a team that is comprised of other children of the same skill level. If this is not the case, mismatching can occur and a child of lower skill level can feel left out or have a sense of being left behind. The environment in which the young athletes are participating should be as carefree and enjoyable as possible in order to decrease the occurrence of dropout. Stress can also play a part in the dropout rate of young athletes. Children should be competing in a challenging manner but the athletic experience should also be rewarding D These two articles are from Coaching Youth Sports, an electronic newsletter on the Virginia tech website edited by Richard Stratton, PhD. G O A L I n d o o r • June-July 2002• 27

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