Upon Further Review: Dead period helps prevent ‘burn-out’
High school athletes and coaches spend most of their time during the off-season working hard in the weight room and doing conditioning work to help improve the team’s ability to perform.
It takes a lot of time and effort, and in some cases the result is a burned-out athlete or coach.
Taking this into consideration, four years ago the TSSAA (Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association) decided to take steps in order to eliminate the burnout of athletes and to keep coaches from trying to practice 12 months a year.
Here at your friendly neighborhood sports department, we try to keep up with most of the rules and regulations concerning high school sports. And just in case we don’t have the answer floating somewhere in the back of our heads, I have the TSSAA handbook sitting on my desk for quick access to any questions that may arise.
Over the past few weeks several questions have been thrown at me about practicing, and who can be a high school or middle school coach, or “open gym” policies.
First, let’s address the practicing issue since the dead period started last Sunday. Now for those of you that don’t know what the dead period is, here’s a short explanation.
The dead period is a two-week period preceding the Fourth of July and the week of the Fourth. During this two-week period there can be no coaching or any contact or observation by any coach, faculty or non-faculty, with any student-athlete unless written permission has been granted by the TSSAA. All indoor facilities of schools must be closed unless approved in writing by the TSSAA. This means no open-gym or any contact — period!
As a close coaching friend of mine would tell his players during the dead period, “if you see me at Wal-mart turn and go the other way. Don’t even wave to me.”
Now just to make sure I had all my ducks in a row before writing this column, I made a phone call to the TSSAA office and talked to Gene Menees, who is the assistant executive director of the association.
During my phone conversation I found out several things about the dead period. One, it has only been in effect for about four years. I thought it had been around for at least 10. Two, it was not only implemented for the sake of athletes, but for coaches as well.
It seems the TSSAA over the years had heard from so many coaches about not having any time off during the summer to be with their families. Coaches spend countless hours during the summer working with their players, and before they knew it, it was time to start school. Their own kids grew up and moved out before being able to spend any quality time with them. I hope this gives everybody a better understanding of just how much time these coaches spend away from their families in order to help our kids become better athletes and grown-ups.
The dead period is intended to benefit both the player and coach as everybody needs a couple of weeks off.
On the flip side of this are the coaches who push their players beyond the breaking point. Some fell that athletes should play only one-sport and devote all their time to that sport. This is truly a mistake. After doing a little research through the National High School Athletic Association, over 65 percent of athletes who play one sport and practice that sport 12 months out of the year end up quitting their senior year or getting so burned out they don’t play up to their potential. In other words, they lose their competitive edge and just don’t care anymore.
I have seen athletes go from being an outstanding player their freshman and sophomore years, and even all-district caliber, to being fourth of fifth best on a team, just because of being pushed too hard in one sport.
Parents, give it some thought. Don’t push one sport on a kid, let them play several. Is it for their glory or yours?