Take a Basketball Break

Throughout the course of the year, if a kid completely concentrates on basketball, he/she is bound to develop some type of injury.  There just isn't enough time for the their bodies to rest.  I believe there needs to be a change because they NEED a break.

Over the course of a year a good high school player will compete in roughly 25-30 high school games and 40-50 AAU games.  If you add in 40-50 high school practices (I think that's right, might be a little high) to go along with 20+ AAU practices.  I can't forget about potential summer or fall league with their high school team which gives them roughly 20 more games.  Think about all those numbers again.  Over the course of a year they are playing in roughly 100 games to go along with 60+ practices.  On top of that, many of their own skill trainers that they work with during the spring, summer, and fall.  That'a a ton of basketball for developing bodies.

My biggest concern is burnout.  I've seen several players that just get sick of playing when they get to college or during college because they are "forced" to play so much.  It just isn't fun anymore.

Another huge concern is overuse injuries.  You look at a lot of middle school or high school players and they are completely concentrating on basketball (or another sport) at a very young age.  That just isn't good for their bodies, especially when they are still growing physically.  That is also the reason why you are seeing more and more stress reactions/fractures, back injuries, and knee issues in younger athletes.  Their bodies can't take the same consistent pounding of one sport over and over.

They need other sports in order for their body to adjust and do different movements.  Even if the sports are similar there are slightly different movements that will help with development.  And college coaches also like to see athletes play multiple sports in high school. Why? They know that when the athletes actually concentrate on one sport they will develop even more once they get to college.

Even if you concentrate on one sport as a high school athlete you need to take several breaks throughout the year in order for your body to recover.  As my wonderful wife would say, take a "zero week" because your body needs a break.  It just isn't healthy going non-stop from November to July.

You can look at college basketball for a perfect example of concentrating too much on basketball.  That perfect example is Kevin Ware, formerly of Louisville, and his broken leg.  He landed on his foot like any player would throughout the course of a game, but his leg snapped.  He had a stress fracture in his lower leg that was ignored for months.  Legs don't break like that on a play like that if he didn't.

As far as I know, Ware was a prep basketball star that didn't play another sport in high school.  He was constantly on the go for his high school team and then AAU team.  He then went immediately to college and is consistently pounding on his legs for a few more years.  He didn't take much of a break or one at all.

If you look at the top high school players in the country and they go non-stop from November (or whenever their HS season starts) until the end of August.  There's the high school season, AAU from April to July, then the All-Star circuit in August, which players in Minnesota just got involved with.  Potentially, there is open gyms multiple times in a week during the fall and we go right back into the high school season.

Kids need a break and us, as coaches, need to enforce that.  And a break shouldn't consist of just a weekend.  They should take at least a week off multiple times a year in order to rest their bodies.