In the November 2, 2009 ESPN the Magazine, Ric Bucher writes and article titled, “Want to win it all? Then you’d better be willing to lose a few.” The article quotes Ray Allen who says:
“A body wasn’t made to play 82 games.”
If the body of a highly-trained, well-paid professional athlete with access to medical care, massages, therapy, athletic trainers, nutritionists and more is not made to play 82 games, how many games should a developing athlete play each season?
Most high school players play 25-35 high school games during the high school season. However, during the off-season, many play 8-10 more games in a spring league, summer league and/or fall league, meaning 24-30 more games just with the high school team, basically an entire second season.
Many of these players also play with a club team participating in anywhere from 4-12 (maybe more) tournaments where they play anywhere from 3-8 games per tournament or anywhere from 15-60 more games.
These amateur players with developing bodies are playing anywhere from 60-120 games per year, which does not leave a lot of time to develop skills, prepare one’s body for the next season, rest and recover, lift weights to prevent injuries or the other activities that a true off-season provides.
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I cannot agree more! We as parents and coaches have placed soo much importance on competition that we forget to allow our kids to just be kids. They need rest and need time to develop skills. It makes me think back to a time when there was no AAU or organized off season teams – what did we do with all our free time? I am not saying that AAU is an “evil giant” but that we as parents and coaches need to make sure we give our kids time to be themselves and have fun being kids!
I am glad I found this site. My son is a 4.4 student high major basketball and football prospect but right now he is just tired. He had team camp with his high school, multiple elite camps at the colleges of interest. Elite football camp, two high school summer leagues and shootout, showcases. All this without mentioning his AAU schedule with all those games and the travel. WOW!
He has not been able to lift or develop his skills. He is also 16 and at times needs to just be a kid away from all this drama. I AM DEMANDING MANDATORY REST DAYS! The rest days will irritate some coaches, teammates and parents but it is right for my son.
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