Burnout in 17 year old club swimmer

I swam with someone in college who was burned out. She cut way back on practices and just allowed herself a year of not being so intense. Amusingly, she ended up swimming just as fast at the end of the year. I think your son might benefit from something similar. Sometimes we type-A people need to learn how to not be so intense all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if he still swam fast and had a lot more fun if he allowed himself to relax a little. Either way, as much as I love swimming, your son's initiative to take 5 AP classes (not to mention his abilities) is awesome. That's going to take him far, no matter what... Amy, you posted while I was writing my epic one. :) And actually, that's what he has decided to do for now. Have I mentioned that his coach is awesome? My son has been with him for 4+ years. He is my masters coach, and my daughter just moved to his pre-senior group this year. We feel so fortunate to have him. He is great at motivating the kids, providing interesting and challenging workouts, and recognizing their individual needs. It amazes me how effectively he coaches masters as well, as he is primarily an age group coach. I credit him with my significant time drops over the past couple of years. I'm swimming faster than I ever thought I would. Yesterday before practice our son met with the coach. This is the coach who has brought him from a 13 year old basically non-swimmer to where he is now. My husband and I watched him change from an awkward strictly academic, non-athletic kid to a confident, self-assured student athlete. It was as if a switch were flipped. I cannot begin to say how much swimming helped his self-confidence. If it weren't for swim, I'm sure he would be just as successful academically, but not nearly as outgoing and confident as he is now. For this reason, his swimming is near and dear to all of our hearts. His coach "gets" him. He knows how hard our son works, both in practice and in school. He and our son decided that for now at least, he can miss a practice or two every week for homework-related reasons. That way he won't have to play catch-up (and he'll also be able to sleep). I guess this is one of the benefits of our son being with the coach for so long. They are also going to meet later this week to set both short-term and long-term goals. There were some other things said, which definitely seemed to help our son's outlook. I asked him if the solution was workable, and if he thought that he would have enough time for his schoolwork and enough motivation for his swim. For now, at least, he said that he would. It may be that later on he may need to drop back more and consider other options, but we'll play it by ear and hope for the best (whatever that is). Thanks for the insight, everyone -- it has been invaluable. I swim now, but as an adult-onset athlete I've never had to deal with this situation.

he could take fitness swimming or W-polo during the regular 1 hour P.E. class. :agree: Do juniors and seniors have PE? Not here, they don't. The word "enjoy" as applied to AP classes is seriously stretching it. My son admits to somewhat liking one of his four.

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. Uh, nobody enjoys AP classes. They're more fun if you're aiming for a C, but I would bet Subject isn't doing that. As for being proud of grades, those are a measurement of obedience. Only the messed up kids are proud of that.

As for being proud of grades, those are a measurement of obedience. Only the messed up kids are proud of that. How is that for messed up kids only? Your statement has to be one of the dumbest comments ever posted. Studying hard to get good grades is no different than working hard in the pool to get good times.

Everyone has different priorities in life, but skipping practices or leaving early can send the wrong message to the rest of the team. Oohhhh I went through this so many times. I do not mean to criticize your point of view since it is a valid one. No doubt. However, when pushing the thinking to the limit, as far as you can get, philosophically speaking, you end up with the following dilema: - Should we risk individuals to be destroyed, for the sake of the team, in an individual sport such as swimming? My answer: No. In fact, we should never take this risk. Ask the question to another coach, the answer might differ. It's really a matter of philosophy more than physiology or even team management. A good team can certainly live despite a few accommodations and exceptions. There are 2 reasons why I think this way. 1) I am old (and fortunate) enough to have survived a full generational cycle. I coached 10yo kids which I was fortunate to meet 15 years later. 2) I have witness some of these accommodations. They generally work great. A lot of swimmers, including kids, swim way too much. So the possibility truly exists, that the OP's kid starts to perform even better on a leaner swim diet. In fact, the best youth I have ever seen (51.6 over 100m at age 15) was on such a diet. No swim in the morning, no swim during the weekend. Therefore he was training 5 times per week, afternoons. But, But.... You'd ask this guy a 100% effort, believe me, you'd get 110%. Sadly, he had to struggle very often to keep his status within the team, precisely because some would start to question the message sent to the rest of the team.

Studying hard to get good grades is no different than working hard in the pool to get good times. I disagree. It is really difficult to accurately measure understanding of a subject from a test. Getting an A certainly means you have a good knowledge base on the subject, but it could mean that you are just a good test taker. I also think Jazz is right that you don't take AP courses because you enjoy them.

Don't let school get in the way of your education.

I disagree. It is really difficult to accurately measure understanding of a subject from a test. Getting an A certainly means you have a good knowledge base on the subject, but it could mean that you are just a good test taker. I wasn't referring to taking AP classes. I think his statement that good grades are for messed up kids is dumb. There are smart people out there that don't have to study very hard to get good grades. There are those of us that had to work very hard to get good grades in school. Students that study hard to get good grades are not messed up. They are people that want to do well and they take pride in what they are doing as well. Calling them "messed up" is an insult to the students that work hard everyday. Then again, jazz doesn't believe in swimming either to get faster, so I shouldn't be shocked that he thinks students shouldn't study hard either.

I’ll undoubtedly “Catch all the thunder in the world” for saying this, but if your son is having a problem fitting time for being on the swim team into his academic schedule, he (and you as well) should consider dropping after school sports altogether so he can concentrate on school (and preparation for employment). The current “recession” (more like a “Depression”) is hanging on like 7 year itch and the employment market is getting more brutal by the day. As the famous career counselor Marty Nemco said on his talk radio show (on KGO San Francisco) “When you go out looking for a job, employers don’t give a damn about your school’s gym or sports program”. Just for everyone’s info, here’s Marty’s career site: http://www.martynemko.com/ However I agree that allowing him to participate in an athletic activity is a good idea and as a previous poster said, he could take fitness swimming or W-polo during the regular 1 hour P.E. class. :agree: Good luck – D2

He and our son decided that for now at least, he can miss a practice or two every week for homework-related reasons. That way he won't have to play catch-up (and he'll also be able to sleep). This is a possible solution I was wondering about. Its seems to me that going from 5-6 days a week to 4-5 would not be too detrimental. I say this having not done the mega-yardage that some folks did as a high school swimmer, so I wouldn't really know what I was missing. It sounds promising that the folks involved (especially his coach) are working towards a solution. Good luck. :banana: