How much is too much extra work for your athlete

We’re sure you’ve heard it before: this professional player at Arsenal spent three hours a day training on their own when they were 13. That teenage phenom at Ajax did four hours a day when they were 11. As a parent, you read those stories, you add your kid’s aspirations in soccer, and it equals a lot of individual training they need to achieve their goals. But how much training is too much training?

Yes, the truth is they are going to have to perfect their technical skills and athleticism on their own time. Team practices will never be enough. In the end, every player has their own limitations, there are certain indicators that your athlete may be doing more harm than good to their health and athletic future. It’s not about how many hours they’re putting in, it’s how they feel while doing it.  

Here’s how to tell how much work is too much work for your athlete:

Know What Burnout Looks Like

Hard work is just fine, as long as you enjoy what you’re doing and it makes you feel good. Burnout is the point when this stops happening. You’re working harder than ever, and yet you’re not getting any joy or fulfillment out of it. Instead of walking around with confidence and vitality, you feel irritable and exhausted.  

At this point, it’s only natural to ask yourself: Why am I continuing to play this sport when it’s making me feel this way?

You can prevent this common scenario by recognizing when your athlete may be on the verge of burning themself out. The first sign is a change in your athlete’s attitude towards their sport, or their responsibilities as an athlete.

Is Your Athlete Losing Interest in Soccer?

When your athlete has less energy, practice and games become more stressful than fun. They are chores you have to do, not places you genuinely want to be.

An early sign your athlete may be working themselves too hard is complaining about individual training. They ‘forget’ that they were going to work on it before or after school, or they will always opt for a video game session over some time with the ball.  

To be clear: this doesn’t mean your athlete is lazy or won’t meet their goals. The truth is every player has their own journey, and if they’re spending too much time training for them – at a particular moment in time – their tank will be on empty and they need to refill it. Reaching for the PS5 controller is them trying to refill their tank.

Generating Agency Within a Player 

It’s normal for a player’s passion to ebb and flow – progress is never a straight line. Most soccer players’ development is pretty flat, then all of a sudden it jumps up like a light switch was turned on.

This is why we focus on helping our mentees develop mental resiliency as a skill set. Their journey will have peaks and valleys and we need their passion for the game, their agency to continually focus on improving to stay the same whether they are on top of the world or in a funk.

The reality is that this is a process that takes time and cannot be rushed – the process of building mental resiliency progresses at the speed each athlete allows it to. But once they have it, they are unstoppable.  

What You Can Do as a Parent of a Soccer Player with High Aspirations

There isn’t a magic number where if your athlete spends X amount of time training individually that they’ll achieve their goals. Pushing them to get their time or touches in will often make it feel like a punishment and progress will slow.

Instead, talk to them. Ask them how they’re doing, how they’re feeling. Odds are they’ll start with the ‘fine,’ responses and it will take some prodding before they open. And if this seems hard, it is. As parents, we know how hard it can be to get our own kids to talk about their feelings, their fears.

The good news is this is exactly why we are here. We work with our mentees on this sort of challenge every day as they don’t have the same mental block talking to us as they do with their parents. We are honest sounding boards and get them to talk through their emotions about the game and get to the point that they have the strength to push for their goals without fear of failure.

So, if you’re concerned about your athlete’s training regimen not being enough, let’s set up a mentoring session today.