Different approach to avoiding junior rep burn out

Feb 25

Feb 25 Different approach to avoiding junior rep burn out

Two Southland sports organisations are thinking differently in a bid to avoid burn out, drop out and injury amongst their best young players.

The Southland Basketball Assocation (SBA) and Invercargill Netball Centre (INC) started talking late last year about the impact their respective programmes were having on each other.

Tonight, the two codes are inviting parents, coaches and players from across all sports to continue the discussion about how to work together to achieve the best outcomes for young athletes.

“Especially with our representative campaign we found that girls were going to national basketball tournament then straight into national netball tournament, so two weeks straight,” INC development officer Jodie Whitson-Morris said.

“Also, when it came to practices we found the girls were being pulled and having to make choices as to which practice they went to when both codes were on the same time.”

When SBA development officer Leyton Haddleton arrived in Invercargill from Christchurch last April, he quickly identified that one of the advantages Southland sport had was also something potentially holding it back.

“We are a small community relying on the same people to fill most of the volunteer roles. This also applies to our athletes,” he said.

“Our athletes play multiple sports, and in many cases in multiple teams. This means they are having to deal with many and very stressful factors which affects not only their personal performance but also the team’s performance. I was really pleased that netball, in particular, were on the same wavelength.”

Working with Sport Southland community sport manager Steve Gear, and with support from Academy Southland coordinator Carly Anderson, a focus group involving 14 14-16-year-old girls was pulled together to provide an insight into what was most important to young athletes.

Haddleton said the focus group had provided some consistent themes.

“We really wanted to see if we could do something to put together products or services from what we learned from our focus group. Athletes are wanting to make their lives less cluttered, more organized and most of all have something that allows them to focus on trying to perform to their best.”

Whitson-Morris said the insights had proven valuable.

“This discussion was an eye opener. The girls were really open and honest about what is happening now and what they would like to see happen,” she said.

“Basically, they felt they were burning out doing too many practices and often doing the same thing, like fitness testing twice or three times in the week, where they thought they could do it once and that information gets passed on.

“They wanted help with mental skills, planning their life, nutrition and how to communicate with coaches. They also wanted coaches to talk to coaches, within the same code and across codes.”

Gear said while retaining and increasing participation had becoming a major talking point in sport, it was also important to provide quality opportunities for those at the achievement end of the spectrum.

“This is about how do we look after these high performing kids and stop them burning out, but still get results for Southland and get them through to New Zealand representative levels,” he said.

“There were a lot of assumptions being made on behalf of the kids about what would work and what wouldn’t. Our first step had to be to talk to the kids and find out what their reality was.”

The focus group included girls from multiple codes, all of whom wanted to represent Southland and New Zealand all the way up to the Olympics.

“They love sport, but the challenges are significant – burn out, having a social life, time management, getting pulled between people, lack of communication and injury. Oftentimes we talk about kids like assets, but they are human beings.”

Gear said Academy Southland was able to provide expertise thorugh Anderson and strength and conditioning coach Tyson Huia.

“They were on board straightaway. They recognised that we need to fit into the lives of the athletes and make it meaningful to them. The biggest thing we need now is the parents and coaches, because their expectations and their communication play a major role in the athlete experience.”

The approach also aligns with Sport NZ’s Balance is Better programme, Gear said.

“It’s about how do we look after the athlete so they can represent New Zealand. It’s a collective impact, continuous improvement model, putting the person at the centre; and while kids have their ideas, we need to involve the wider community. We need a commitment from people about what we can do together.”