How Hard Should Children Train for Sports?

Youth sports these days are year round in communities all over Chester County, PA. Often, children focus on one sport all year and dabble in others for fun or competition. This requires a large time commitment by the child and the parents to shuttle them to practices and competition. The pressure on children to succeed is tremendous. With winning as a paramount goal set by parents, coaches and even the children themselves, optimal training and conditioning becomes a key issue. With this in mind, athletes have worked out so hard that they become dizzy, commonly vomit and become significantly fatigued. These are signs of over training.

Over training can have a serious effect on the body of a young athlete. If workouts are too intense, feeling dizzy, becoming sick or too tired can indicate the body is overly stressed. Recovery from this type of physical activity can take time for a young body to adapt and physically improve. More intense training does not enhance improvement and can be dangerous.

Additional signs and symptoms of over training can include nausea, elevated resting heart rates, and blood pressures, sleep problems, diminished appetites and even increased susceptibility to infections with immune system suppression. Other issues that over training can effect are boney growth plate damage and even stress fractures in feet and lower extremities.

Every parent wants to see their child to have fun, grow up safe and well, and succeed. Improving athletic performance does not necessarily require excessively high levels of physical training. If your child does experience symptoms discussed, they may be over training and causing harm to themselves. To assure they are moving forward safely, be sure the trainer or coach are well trained to develop optimal conditioning in your child. Be sure your child gets a pre-season physical, sees an appropriate physician if any of the listed symptoms persist, and if injured, seek out a physical therapist that has experience with youth and sports.