Why You Need an Off-Season
No matter what sport you do, you NEED an off-season. It seems like the common pattern is starting a sport in middle school, and playing for the school season, then, when the school season ends, playing the same sport in a club. This turns the sport into a year round endeavor. Among other issues of wear and tear on the joints and overuse injuries, the real issue here is burnout.
For a coach, the worst thing we see is watching a child fall in love with a sport and then grow to hate it later. This can easily be avoided by a structured time off from the sport. This doesn’t mean that the athlete doesn’t improve, on the contrary, they probably have a lot of weaknesses that they will benefit from fixing before coming back to the sport.
Another huge benefit of a scheduled off-season is that by the end of it, the athlete is itching to get back to playing again. This exactly what you want. An athlete who WANTS to play their sport more than the others is always going to stick with it for longer.
Give your athletes an off-season. give them a chance to improve in other aspects of athleticism. Give them an opportunity to de-stress. Give them a chance to stay in love with their sport.
Hopefully, you found this useful! If you’re interested in any of my coaching or programs, you can find them here! Otherwise, make sure to join my free discord to get access to form checks, weightlifting advice, and stay up to date on program launches, events, and other cool stuff!
-Coach Brian