Can Summer Basketball Lead To Injuries, Emotional Burnout, and Diminishing Skills?

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As mentioned in the audio, if you play too many games compared to working on skills, your improvement will be limited.

It may take 20 games or MORE to get enough shots to match what you could do in just 1 skill session.

Along with the improper use of summer basketball to improve players, there are some other problems such as overuse injuries and emotional burnout.

Injuries

When summer basketball teams play 30 to 60+ games and weekend tournaments that have 3 to 9 games within 36 hours, the players are more prone to injury. Often, the athlete's muscles start to fatigue after 1 or 2 games. When the muscle is fatigued, your chance of injury increases exponentially. There is a reason many NBA GM's dislike their players participating with their national teams. A better option may be a summer program or summer league that involves 2 to 3 skill sessions a week and 1 to 2 games a week.

According to the book, Sports Specific Rehabilitation by Robert Donatelli, "In 2001 an estimated 18 million children were treated for a sports/physical activity-related injury. Approximately, 50% of those injuries (9 million) were attributed to overuse mechanisms resulting in muscle damage."

That's a lot of overuse injuries. Could multi-game weekend tournaments and too much of the same sport have something to do with it?
Emotional Burnout

Specialization and playing too many games can also lead to emotional burnout. This doesn't necessarily happen right away. Often times, it happens around ages 13 to 16. A recent study by AAHPER revealed that over 80% of kids who play in organized youth sports no longer play that sport after the age of 13.

I often hear the argument, but the kids want to play. This may be true and it's fine to do some summer basketball. However, you don't want to play 50 games! It's better to keep them wanting more than it is to force-feed them until they can't take anymore. It also helps build excitement for next year.

In addition to burning them out, specializing in a sport at a young age can hurt them as an athlete. In the book Children & Sports Training, Jozef Drabik states that coordination is best developed between the ages of 7 to 14. If this is true, wouldn't you want children to be involved in a wide variety of sports that challenge them differently to produce better athletes? Lebron James played football. Kobe Bryant played soccer. Steve Nash played soccer. Michael Jordan played football and baseball. Who knows how many sports they played as children that helped them turn into great athletes? It surely wasn't 1 and was probably more than 2.

My advice to youth parents and coaches would be to play seasonal sports. Play a bunch of different sports and make them fun. Kids are kids. A passion won't develop for something that isn't fun. If the passion to do something is gone, so is everything else.

When it comes time to start specializing (somewhere after age 15) and the athlete has a passion for a sport, they will come to you.

What do you think about the lessons and advice shared? Please leave your thoughts and opinion below...

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Ken Stone says:
6/25/2009 at 7:58:14 AM

I agree with kids playing a variety of sports at an early age, but to the level of competition they play each sport concerns me. I have two sons (11 & 9 ) who play basketball competitively, but we as Father and Son (s) play, tennis, flag football and we work on boxing skills. To have kids playing competitive full contact Football and then within a few weeks competitive Basketball and into Baseball in my opinion is too much for a youths body and mind. Because of our money driven society the majority of parents make their kids destination the NFL / NBA or MLB and forget to make the journey fun, loving and memorable.

Scott says:
6/25/2009 at 8:30:46 AM

I have all ways thought that practice was more important than games. I give this analogy; in school you study 5 to 10 days or more to take 1 test. It is no different in sports, no matter what the sport is. You must take the time to teach the individual fundamentals, show and work on how they apply to the over all offense and or defense you are running. You need to do this over and over again, most people learn best though repetition. For instance you wouldn't hire some one for a job they know little about and then constantly tell them to do things when you haven't shown them how, but I see coaches do this time and time again. Take rebounding, I don't know how many times I have heard a coach yell from the bench to Timmy or Suzy, "Box Out, Box Out" when I know they have spent hardly any time on boxing out. These skills are not written in to they're DNA. They do not come with the ability to jump high and run fast.
Just as using different exercises to better improve muscle strength is best, so you don’t get burnt out on one routine. I think it is best for kids to play different sports to best improve their hand eye and foot coordination. Most play in to the other and keep the player conditioned and working in a team atmosphere. Basketball most of all, I think, based on the amount of running, jumping and lateral movement. I am amazed at how I have to work against the coaches of the other sports my players participate in. They all tell the kids and they're parents that they should play only they're sport, this started in 6th grade or earlier. I have a simple out look on this, when it is basketball season I am pretty strict about being at practice and games, with penalties for missing either. In the spring and summer I carry a large roster so I always have enough for practice and games. I encourage my players and have gone to see them play at time's the other sports they are in volved in. This in contrast to they're other sports coachs, who are militant about playing and working on just they're sport, has lead a few of those players to quit that sport or team or just hate the coach, while I have become beloved by most of my players and basketball has become, for most, a sport they love to play

DuWayne Krause says:
6/25/2009 at 11:21:24 AM

Scott is absolutely right. The harder you "squeeze" kids the harder they fight back. Do we want them to love the game or view it as a job they have to go to?

TOM PEARSON says:
6/25/2009 at 12:32:25 PM

This is so true.I have a 13 yr old boy,he has been playing b-ball since 7yrs old.this last year
he played for his jr high team,from oct to feb,
then played AAU ball untill this june.the last 6 weeks of AAU,was tough on him,he was just tired of playing and practice.just burned out.
now,I am worried he wont ever get that drive
and love for the game he once had,back.He is going to just relax and be a kid this summer,He
and I will play some ball in the drive way.I hope he will be ready to play again for his school team in oct.

Jim says:
6/25/2009 at 12:53:55 PM

This is a never ending problem. I coached a sixth grade school team last season, and we had a player who is an absolute joy to coach, always works hard, listens, and was easily one of the top 2-3 kids in our entire league (18 teams). Our school rules state that we are limited to four events (practices + games) during the week (usually worked out to three practices and one game), and equal playing time in games for all players. His father completely disagreed, and thought the kids should be playing many more games. So halfway through our season, he put his son on an AAU team that practiced two times per week, and played 3-5 games/week. Within two weeks of this schedule, he looked like a completely different player. His fundamentals eroded quickly, had very little energy, and went from one of the best in the entire league to the fourth or fifth best player on our team. The poor kid just could not handle the load. Both our AD and I tried to approach the father, and were told that we didn't know the first thing about basketball, and he knew what was best for his child athletically.

Bruce Blanton says:
6/26/2009 at 11:19:25 AM

Kids need the opportunity to be kids, enjoy all kinds of sports. It has to be fun for them! Recently a young man who was one of the best high school players in the state of KY. who led a small school to 3 consecutive state tournaments and the semi-finals this past season. This young man who had numerous division 1 scholarships, said he has had enough basketball, he is suffering from "hoops burnout" has played nothing but basketball since he was 8 yrs. old. Camps, leagues, AAU, middle school and high school, games every summer. Had no desire to continue his game because of burnout, will attend college in KY on academic scholarship. This is what basketball coaches/parents want to stay away from. Players should love and have a passion for the game!!

Jake says:
11/17/2010 at 11:37:38 PM

I''m 17 years old, and I have played baseball and basketball since i was old enough to understand the games. the past few years, i have been getting tired of just going to practices, and dreading game days. i completely agree with the burnout theory and the pressure to go out and play, and play well, from parents, coaches and peers has just made sports something I really don''t look forward to anymore

Joe Haefner says:
11/21/2010 at 11:26:54 AM

Sorry to hear that, Jake. Just make sure to work hard and have fun. Sometimes, coaches forget that it's a game.

Michel Godbout says:
4/27/2011 at 9:39:16 AM

Can't agree more on that. Kids should take part in several sports activities. First reason ? Having fun. Second. Discovering a variety of new sports. I live in a country (Canada) where a lot of people are hockey lovers and in my province a lots of kids play this game pratically on 12 month basis. This is too much and I am suspecting that some of these kids will drop out soon because it is too demanding. One of my basketball player plays also hockey and told me this past winter that he will quit hockey. Why ? Because it is not fun anymore ! He's only 12 years old ! There is a problem somewhere.

Josh says:
4/27/2011 at 11:41:44 AM

So is it wrong for coaches to keep the door open? I understand burn out and i dont want that. I ecourage kids to play all sports. I tell them when they are not playing another sport the door is open mondays and wednesdays for open gym or individual help.

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