Welcome to the 52nd Monday Reset for Sports Parents, a short reflection inside The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe.
Each Monday Reset brings you one word, one idea, and one mindset to help you start the week calm, clear, and connected.
This week’s word is Burnout.
A dad wrote to me last week. His son had been playing hockey since he was five. At 13, he started faking injuries to avoid practice. A few months later, he broke down and said: “I haven’t wanted to play in two years. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
Burnout doesn’t announce itself. Most of the time it doesn’t look like a kid who explodes or quits. It looks like a kid who still shows up, still competes, sometimes even improves, while something behind the eyes has gone quiet. It’s not weakness or a lack of commitment. It’s what happens when the demands on a child consistently exceed their ability to recover.
This week, ask your child one question and make it feel like there’s no wrong answer: “If you could change one thing about your sport life right now, what would it be?”
Then listen. No fixing, no defending, no reassuring.
Take a breath. Reset.
The kid who feels safe enough to say “I’m not okay” is the kid who doesn’t disappear on you.