Burnout in 17 year old club swimmer

get permission to skip practices or leave early when school is tough. Everyone has different priorities in life, but skipping practices or leaving early can send the wrong message to the rest of the team. It is just as important that kids learn to follow through on all of their commitments and budget their time accordingly. Of course the coach might not mind, but I'd rather see someone stick with the requirements of a single training group throughout a season. I never took 5 AP's in a single year, but I did take 8 in total (4 max one year), so I'm familiar with the level of work required. If he comes back to the sport in a better mental space, he'll more than likely swim faster. This is the most important point. I'm guessing he could still navigate his way through the season, but if he's not happy it could turn him off to swimming forever or he might negatively impact the team atmosphere. But it also sounds like he might not be satisfied doing shorter practices. AP exams are only 7 months away :) I'd tell him to go for it. Actually, it totally depends on what he plans on doing in college. Assuming he improves, his junior year performances will maximize his scholarship potential. If he plans on being a walk-on somewhere or swimming DIII, he could just take a break for 7 months. If he wants to go DI, I'd recommend pushing through.

Not sure why guidance counsellors always push AP courses. It seems like there is plenty of time to take advanced courses in college and graduate schools. Bottom line: if you are a good enough swimmer, you can get into any university. As for the first sentence, though, colleges do look very closely at the difficulty of the classes you are taking. Sometimes that can make the difference as to whether you get into a particular school, I am told. Still, 5 AP classes seems a bit excessive. College admissions boards definitely look at AP classes or similar programs like IB. Course difficulty is an issue in admissions. As far as the original question, my advice is similar to others: let him meet with the coach, and tell your son you'll support his decision either way as long as he promises to join USMS at some point. (Just kidding about that last part.) I also really like Fort's decision with her own child that there has to be SOME sport/exercise, it just doesn't need to be swimming.

Five AP classes? Those are exhausting, and they take about eight times the effort of the 101 classes they sub for in college. Maybe at the semester break switch from AP English to, like, World Lit for Football Players. That's what I did and my englishes r greyt.

He is a decent swimmer, but definitely a better student. He will get into college based on his academics with swimming as an extracurricular activity. I can relate very well to your son's experience. I also worked very hard in swimming as a teen (with someone you know, I think), but was never better than "best of the rest." I could have swum at my strongly academic college, and I often wonder how my life would have been different if I had. But I could see that I was never going to be an Olympian or even a scholarship athlete, and I was tired of working so hard and so many hours at something that I did not excel at, and I wanted the chance to try some other activities that I could either be better at or be mediocre with less work. So I dropped swimming at 16 and picked it up again at 27. We've tried to explain the principles of athletic motivation to our kids, but they still seem to have somewhat unrealistic expectations. I think the unrealistic expectations are realistic for his age, though. At my age, good health and the opportunity to socialize through sports are so valuable that I can enjoy swimming regardless of each season's achievements. At his age, when he can take good health and socializing for granted, he probably looks around him and thinks quite reasonably, "why am I working so hard to be average?" Especially if he is good at school, and is an academic superstar through the perfect combination of hard work and talent, the comparison with swimming is probably very powerful in his head. Later in life, though, he'll realize that swimming taught him some very useful skills, including how to enjoy exercise and how to persevere and improve even at something that does not start out easy. As long as he continues to do something for recreation and fitness, it doesn't seem as if you and he can make a wrong decision.

As a 22 years H S swim coach ,I saw this all the time! 5 AP 's are the culprit. He & you must decide if he will be a burned out , over stressed kid that looks for another way out in a not so good way ? ! I have counseled many kids to keep swimming & cut back on the "I must be perfect or my parents ,coach, counselor will not like me idea ! ! !

Re: the 5 AP classes,how much time does he spend on homework and does he like the classes.The reason I ask is that AP doesn't necessarily make it harder.For some people, classes that keep ones interest are "easier" than classes that are not challenging,uninteresting, or just plain boring.

Not sure why guidance counsellors always push AP courses. It seems like there is plenty of time to take advanced courses in college and graduate schools. Bottom line: if you are a good enough swimmer, you can get into any university. I never found swimming fun as an age-grouper. I think to be good at anything takes work (2 per days) and becomes like a job. I think in anybody's world it is hard to call 15-20 K per day fun. Obviously, your student needs to back off on the swimming or the school (or you can go the tough love route and call him a ***--kidding :)) Totally agreed re: 5 AP classes being a bit excessive. We didn't want him to take the 5, especially since one of them is Calc BC and one of them is physics. He talked us into letting him, as a friend of his is taking six. His high school prides itself on their wide selection of AP courses and encourages the kids to load up, but I worry that the school is more concerned about the way they look than they are about the well-being of the kids sometimes. The kids at the top of the class always load up on APs, as the additional weighting of AP classes helps their class rank. Unfortunately they only weight AP classes and not gifted. He is a decent swimmer, but definitely a better student. He will get into college based on his academics with swimming as an extracurricular activity. I also agree that most kids don't consider practice "fun." We've tried to explain the principles of athletic motivation to our kids, but they still seem to have somewhat unrealistic expectations. I don't particularly care if he has "fun," but I just don't want him to crack under excessive pressure. Actually, his group only does two-a-days during school breaks. And as much as I might be tempted, I don't think I'll resort to name-calling. :)

Everyone has different priorities in life, but skipping practices or leaving early can send the wrong message to the rest of the team. It is just as important that kids learn to follow through on all of their commitments and budget their time accordingly. Of course the coach might not mind, but I'd rather see someone stick with the requirements of a single training group throughout a season. I never took 5 AP's in a single year, but I did take 8 in total (4 max one year), so I'm familiar with the level of work required. This is the most important point. I'm guessing he could still navigate his way through the season, but if he's not happy it could turn him off to swimming forever or he might negatively impact the team atmosphere. But it also sounds like he might not be satisfied doing shorter practices. AP exams are only 7 months away :) I'd tell him to go for it. Actually, it totally depends on what he plans on doing in college. Assuming he improves, his junior year performances will maximize his scholarship potential. If he plans on being a walk-on somewhere or swimming DIII, he could just take a break for 7 months. If he wants to go DI, I'd recommend pushing through. All good points as well. He also has a typical type A personality, so I'm not so sure he'd be happy with slower times due to an easier practice group. As far as college goes, up until a couple of weeks ago he talked about swimming at a strongly academic DIII school with a competitive swim team (similar to Emory in Atlanta). He is at practice now and presumably talked with his coach as he went a little bit early, so hopefully they'll have a solution that's workable for everyone. I really hope he takes a lighter course load next year when he is a senior.

Does his school have water polo? With a strong swimming background he would be able to maintain fitness, friends, and success. Unfortunately, no. But that sounds like something he would enjoy. Perhaps in college in lieu of swimming.

College admissions boards definitely look at AP classes or similar programs like IB. Course difficulty is an issue in admissions. As far as the original question, my advice is similar to others: let him meet with the coach, and tell your son you'll support his decision either way as long as he promises to join USMS at some point. (Just kidding about that last part.) I also really like Fort's decision with her own child that there has to be SOME sport/exercise, it just doesn't need to be swimming. Love the USMS part! I'm not sure I'd be completely kidding if I offered that as a qualifier. :) We've always had the same family rule that Fort has. It's a good one. It makes it even more effective when parents follow it as well. Hopefully his talk with his coach went well. I'll hear about it in a little over an hour. Keeping my fingers crossed that everyone will be satisfied.