Burnout in 17 year old club swimmer

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. 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. Great post with great insight. This is exactly my son's situation, and I'm sure it applies to many swimmers who are better students. 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 ! ! ! I've thought and am concerned about the possibility of him finding unhealthy ways of relieving stress. While I do agree that the 5 AP classes may be too heavy of a load, he is an academic kid and has always enjoyed challenging himself. I would have preferred that he take 3-4 AP classes, but this was his call. We've always emphasized that school comes first, but have also promoted physical activity as a way to stay healthy physically and mentally. It just doesn't have to be at the commitment level that he is doing now. He's the kind of kid who has always put a lot of pressure on himself, and we try not to add to that. He may perceive that we do, though. 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. The homework load is a bit heavier than it has been in previous years, as is the subject matter. He is doing homework and/or studying for 3-4 hours per night. If he didn't have over three hours per day (including travel) committed to swim, it wouldn't be such an issue. However, I worry about the one-dimensionality of a solely academic schedule. This seems like weird advice. Kristen's son sounds like a typical type A intellectual swimmer who likely puts demands and pressure on himself. (Correct me if I'm off base, Kristen.) And it's normal for teenagers to feel some stress in high school. That doesn't mean they shouldn't work hard. The worst option would seem to be to continue in a sport that could be making him unhappy (if that's the case). It can also be hard to cut back and embrace slower times -- who wants or can do that very well? On the other hand, I know our USAS team has a "high school prep" option that is for kids who aren't as serious about swimming. Perhaps cutting back or taking a break (while still staying fit from other exercise) would clarify things somewhat. Yep, Fort, that's him. Type A to the hilt. Seems to be common among kids who are attracted to sports with a strong individual component. And these are the kids who stress out the most over their decisions. The high school prep group sounds like our club's senior 2 group. That is definitely an option that he has considered. I hope you don't project this anti-intellectualism onto the kids you coach. This kid may enjoy taking hard classes and achieving strong academic results. He may enjoy the work he does in the classes more than he enjoys the work he does in the pool, and he may get more pride from his academic results than he does from his swimming results. If so, cutting swimming might be a good choice for him for now. He can always pick it up again if he decides he misses it, and unless he is a serious candidate for a college scholarship he won't have lost anything irreplaceable by pausing at 17 to think about how he wants to organize his limited and valuable time. Yes. He has always been an academic kid first and foremost. It's his comfort zone. He has always loved to learn, and is enjoying the challenge of his classes now (albeit frustrated with the homework load). He's much more likely to be a candidate for an academic scholarship than a swimming one. Frankly, I think there should be a sprinter option in more USAS programs. There is a volume intensive, anti-sprinter bias in most USAS training. Some kids would do just fine or even prosper in 50s and 100s on very little, but very quality, training. Burnout and time problem solved, for some. Our club has a sprinter lane in the National group, but nothing at the lower levels. Most of the sprinters end up swimming in the senior 2 group, as they use the easier intervals to work speed. Unfortunately, my son was "blessed" with my endurance genes. I disagree with this. My high school (and I'm sure most high schools) take the best kids for their sports. If every parent had this philosophy, obviously not all kids would be able to do every sport they and/or their parents want, simply because space wouldn't allow it. Other than a brief tryout for track one year (when I was cut), I didn't do a single sport in my entire high school experience. That said, I'm in far better shape today than any person who I went to high school with and know today (for real, Facebook, etc) who did. The high school had one of the best swim teams in the state, but the guys and gals are so burned out that not a single one swims at all today (I've been trying to convince some to come back). College admission officers, at least when I was looking, look for a variety of things. Participation in any high school activities, classes, as well as work experience all can be factors for admission. While I didn't do any sports, I was quite active with a variety of other extra curricular activities, took both several AP classes at the school and real college classes (my high school had arrangements with nearby colleges), as well as worked several jobs. I received partial scholarships (academic) at every school I applied to. I don't think anything was said about requiring that the kids be involved in an actual organized high school sport. Kids need to stay active -- just look at the obesity problem in kids nowadays. Kids who are active as teenagers are less likely to be obese now and later in life, not to mention the psychological benefits of exercise. While there are a number of people (you, and me as well) who became fit as adults, I don't believe that we're the norm. Most of the people on my masters team were age group swimmers at the least, and many were DI scholarship swimmers. It's important to encourage kids to be physically active on some level, and it's equally important for parents to walk the walk. Sorry for the long, quoted post, but there are a lot of great things being said here.

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. 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. Great post with great insight. This is exactly my son's situation, and I'm sure it applies to many swimmers who are better students. 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 ! ! ! I've thought and am concerned about the possibility of him finding unhealthy ways of relieving stress. While I do agree that the 5 AP classes may be too heavy of a load, he is an academic kid and has always enjoyed challenging himself. I would have preferred that he take 3-4 AP classes, but this was his call. We've always emphasized that school comes first, but have also promoted physical activity as a way to stay healthy physically and mentally. It just doesn't have to be at the commitment level that he is doing now. He's the kind of kid who has always put a lot of pressure on himself, and we try not to add to that. He may perceive that we do, though. 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. The homework load is a bit heavier than it has been in previous years, as is the subject matter. He is doing homework and/or studying for 3-4 hours per night. If he didn't have over three hours per day (including travel) committed to swim, it wouldn't be such an issue. However, I worry about the one-dimensionality of a solely academic schedule. This seems like weird advice. Kristen's son sounds like a typical type A intellectual swimmer who likely puts demands and pressure on himself. (Correct me if I'm off base, Kristen.) And it's normal for teenagers to feel some stress in high school. That doesn't mean they shouldn't work hard. The worst option would seem to be to continue in a sport that could be making him unhappy (if that's the case). It can also be hard to cut back and embrace slower times -- who wants or can do that very well? On the other hand, I know our USAS team has a "high school prep" option that is for kids who aren't as serious about swimming. Perhaps cutting back or taking a break (while still staying fit from other exercise) would clarify things somewhat. Yep, Fort, that's him. Type A to the hilt. Seems to be common among kids who are attracted to sports with a strong individual component. And these are the kids who stress out the most over their decisions. The high school prep group sounds like our club's senior 2 group. That is definitely an option that he has considered. I hope you don't project this anti-intellectualism onto the kids you coach. This kid may enjoy taking hard classes and achieving strong academic results. He may enjoy the work he does in the classes more than he enjoys the work he does in the pool, and he may get more pride from his academic results than he does from his swimming results. If so, cutting swimming might be a good choice for him for now. He can always pick it up again if he decides he misses it, and unless he is a serious candidate for a college scholarship he won't have lost anything irreplaceable by pausing at 17 to think about how he wants to organize his limited and valuable time. Yes. He has always been an academic kid first and foremost. It's his comfort zone. He has always loved to learn, and is enjoying the challenge of his classes now (albeit frustrated with the homework load). He's much more likely to be a candidate for an academic scholarship than a swimming one. Frankly, I think there should be a sprinter option in more USAS programs. There is a volume intensive, anti-sprinter bias in most USAS training. Some kids would do just fine or even prosper in 50s and 100s on very little, but very quality, training. Burnout and time problem solved, for some. Our club has a sprinter lane in the National group, but nothing at the lower levels. Most of the sprinters end up swimming in the senior 2 group, as they use the easier intervals to work speed. Unfortunately, my son was "blessed" with my endurance genes. I disagree with this. My high school (and I'm sure most high schools) take the best kids for their sports. If every parent had this philosophy, obviously not all kids would be able to do every sport they and/or their parents want, simply because space wouldn't allow it. Other than a brief tryout for track one year (when I was cut), I didn't do a single sport in my entire high school experience. That said, I'm in far better shape today than any person who I went to high school with and know today (for real, Facebook, etc) who did. The high school had one of the best swim teams in the state, but the guys and gals are so burned out that not a single one swims at all today (I've been trying to convince some to come back). College admission officers, at least when I was looking, look for a variety of things. Participation in any high school activities, classes, as well as work experience all can be factors for admission. While I didn't do any sports, I was quite active with a variety of other extra curricular activities, took both several AP classes at the school and real college classes (my high school had arrangements with nearby colleges), as well as worked several jobs. I received partial scholarships (academic) at every school I applied to. I don't think anything was said about requiring that the kids be involved in an actual organized high school sport. Kids need to stay active -- just look at the obesity problem in kids nowadays. Kids who are active as teenagers are less likely to be obese now and later in life, not to mention the psychological benefits of exercise. While there are a number of people (you, and me as well) who became fit as adults, I don't believe that we're the norm. Most of the people on my masters team were age group swimmers at the least, and many were DI scholarship swimmers. It's important to encourage kids to be physically active on some level, and it's equally important for parents to walk the walk. Sorry for the long, quoted post, but there are a lot of great things being said here.