Specializing brings risk of burnout

Two years ago, Coley Davis had just wrapped up the best summer of his promising junior golf career, so by all means he should have been more excited than ever about playing golf.

But he wasn't.

Instead, when the school year started, Davis didn't have the energy to hit the links after school, nor did he have the motivation to practice every day. Looking back, Davis and his father, Gary, recognize the apathy Davis felt as symptoms of burnout, one of the biggest concerns doctors and researchers have regarding the trend toward early specialization and year-round training in youth sports.

Because of many potential hazards, including burnout, experts don't recommend athletes specialize in one sport before adolescence. Although the risk of overuse injury among athletes who specialize declines as kids get older, experts think the risk of burnout remains strong.

"You've got to have some gas in the tank if you're going to be an international wrestler at 28," said Dan Gould, director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University. "There's a delicate balance with all this."

That's exactly how Davis, now a rising junior at Bluffton High School, felt two summers ago: Out of gas. He had played year-round as a freshman, practicing every day and getting his golf game in the best shape of his young career. But going into his sophomore year, he simply didn't want to play anymore.

He also missed playing basketball, a sport he had given up during his freshman year to hone his golf skills, so he decided to play basketball as a sophomore. The return to the hardwood was a success -- he was voted the most valuable player on the Bobcats' junior varsity squad -- but his golf game suffered as a result. Between preseason workouts and six-day-a-week practices, Davis didn't have time to hit the range or the course, and by the time he got his game back in shape, the high school season was over.

Davis is back to playing every day now, and he said he's considering going back to training year-round in hopes of landing a scholarship to play golf in college, so he might give up basketball again this year, depending on how the summer golf season goes.

The potential for burnout doesn't end after high school, though, and longtime Hilton Head Preparatory School basketball coach Rich Basirico says he has seen it strike after an athlete earned a college scholarship.

"I've seen our own players in past years who played multiple sports and somewhere along the line someone convinced them to play one sport all year long," Basirico said. "Then they get to college and go, 'Whoa, I don't enjoy this as much as I used to.' "