When do kids burn out?

[Anonymous]

I know some burn out at 5 and others 45 but is there an age when there is a palpable trend in kids burning out? If your kid cannot get enough of soccer 24/7 when does that wane?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know some burn out at 5 and others 45 but is there an age when there is a palpable trend in kids burning out? If your kid cannot get enough of soccer 24/7 when does that wane?

Kids do not burn out as much as they become interested in other things. Moving on to another interest or activity should not be seen as a negative so stop calling it “burn out”. Do we say girls burn out of Girl Scouts or do they just have other interests?

Middle school years is about when kids start to try new things and forge their own identity and it is perfectly normal.

[Anonymous]

take a look at your clubs age groups. Notice with each passing year the number of teams per age group gets smaller and smaller. By the time you get to the U16 age group most clubs have 1 maybe 2 teams. By the time U18 most clubs have 1.
I said most I know some huge clubs will challenge that but its because they are huge not because they are doing something amazing there and keeping kids interested. The dream of being a pro wanes with each passing year and reality strikes. Add in new interests and they can now decide on their own what they want to do rather than follow their parents direction.
In short, around U13/14 I would say a drop off happens and then it accelerates each year after

[Anonymous]

Burnout is a cop out... We dont ask when do kids burnout from school or going to church. so why do we choose to point the finger at other activities? Im not arguing personal priorities just the fact any activities should be looked at objectively. Many people go through life with blinders on. They dont understand any and all activities pull from an individuals personal limits. Everyone is an individual and everyone handles the stress of life on different levels.

[Anonymous]

Age 13.

70% of kids quit sports by age 13, with burnout being one of the leading causes.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-04-10/youth-sports-mental-health-pandemic

[Anonymous]

Better to burn out than to fade away!!!

[Anonymous]

The kid on the second team know there is no way to make the top team. The top team player playing the same position from u9-u15. The rest of the team players who are ignored by the coach at practice. I remember kids joke about the coach only knowing the names of three players. Having a bad coach or a coach who is checked out for a years or two. Tired of 3-4 days of practice and a weekend game out of state again. Tired of homework and dinner in the car.

Kids are not dumb. They know when they are an afterthought and get tired of the travel/car/practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some burn out at 5 and others 45 but is there an age when there is a palpable trend in kids burning out? If your kid cannot get enough of soccer 24/7 when does that wane?

Kids do not burn out as much as they become interested in other things. Moving on to another interest or activity should not be seen as a negative so stop calling it “burn out”. Do we say girls burn out of Girl Scouts or do they just have other interests?

Middle school years is about when kids start to try new things and forge their own identity and it is perfectly normal.

Because the other things often end up being nothing. We call it burn out because a large portion of girls go from participating in athletics to participating in nothing

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't really know what it means to "burn out". I guess it means to just get tired of something, right? So I agree with one of the previous posters that a kid can get tired of something at any given moment. What I do see in my kids and their friends is that kids rarely tire of things that they are good at. Things are more fun when you have success. So with soccer, it's a tricky situation. If they don't play enough, will they lack the skill to find that success and want to keep going or will they train too much and just not find the joy or even the time to do it. All I know if that my son started playing organized soccer at U5 and still trains religiously. Most of his friends train just as hard or harder. Most of his friends are at the DCU/MLS Next/ECNL level. I don't see any "burn out" in sight for him. My other kid could care less about competing and floats around from rec to rec sport and has "quit" some sports. He certainly didn't burn out from any of them. He just didn't want to do it anymore. So for me, I don't listen to people who say kids will burn out from playing to much soccer because they can quit just as easiliy from not playing enough. I don't even listen to the "over use injury" stuff because I still have yet to hear anything tangible about what muscles or whatever soccer players over use compared to a "multi sport" athlete. Basketball, track, lacrosse, volleyball, dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, the ground is lava, tag,...they all run and jump just like soccer players. sometime knees start hurting regardless of what you do. If the kid wants to grind, let him grind. If he doesn't support him too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Burnout is a cop out... We dont ask when do kids burnout from school or going to church. so why do we choose to point the finger at other activities? Im not arguing personal priorities just the fact any activities should be looked at objectively. Many people go through life with blinders on. They dont understand any and all activities pull from an individuals personal limits. Everyone is an individual and everyone handles the stress of life on different levels.

+1

[Anonymous]

They get burned out when it gets boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They get burned out when it gets boring.

So can kids burnout on school, or family ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They get burned out when it gets boring.

So can kids burnout on school, or family ?

Yes, and it manifests in different ways. Soccer (or any sport) is easy to "quit." While you can "quit" school or family, the repercussions are immediate and lasting.

That being said, don't be obtuse - you know what I meant.

[Anonymous]

I think that the kids who want to play soccer 24/7 are less likely to burn out than the kids who are being pushed into playing more than they want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that the kids who want to play soccer 24/7 are less likely to burn out than the kids who are being pushed into playing more than they want to.

The difference is when kids do something like soccer because they love it versus kids doing it for parents’ ego fulfillment. Some parents force things including making their kiddos do a sport or other activity they don’t find passion for. Parents sign their kids for ever soccer activity they hear about. FOMO is contagious and these parents assume that because their children do every single activity in soccer their children are elite but reality is that their children have a horrible first touch, lack of soccer IQ and do not how to read the game which results in bad or no passes, no runs, only chasing the opositor team player for 90 percent of the game instead of developing opportunities for their own team.