When More Practice Isn’t the Answer: A Lesson in Recovery for Teen Athletes

Beth Jones Author

My daughter has an insane week ahead of her.

Soccer practices, tryouts, and games each day for the next 10-days. It’s a lot.

Her first tryout is tomorrow for a team that’s she could move up to. Her current team’s coach is making practice today optional. I’m encouraging her to take the day off, but she’s insisting that she goes - “I want to go. The more I get practice the better I will be for tryouts.”

And this is the moment most parents of teen athletes find themselves in -- caught between more training… and what their athlete actually needs.

The Bigger Problem

It’s common for our teen athletes to want to go-go-go. This is often the message that we’ve given them for years.

• You have to practice in order to be promoted.
• How you show up on the field is what matters most.
• Dig deep, push through, show up.

We’ve done a great job of teaching our athletes how to push. We haven’t done as great a job teaching them how to recover.

• What is your body telling you today?
• Taking a day off won’t delete your hard work.

We need to start normalizing recovery and making it part of their training. Not only is it a key piece of injury prevention and improved performance physically, but it also strengthens their mental game.

Why Recovery Matters

Injury Prevention

Ten straight days of soccer sounds impressive -- but without recovery, it’s also where overuse injuries begin. In fact, without recovery, the body doesn’t adapt -- it breaks down.

Teen athletes aren’t just small adults -- their bodies are actively growing. And while their bodies appear to be able to handle those extra loads, in truth we are putting excess strain on open growth plates and developing tissues. This makes teen athletes much more vulnerable to injury that adults.

Overuse injuries are sneaky - the creep in gradually with some minor pain and discomfort, but can quickly explode into conditions like Osgood-Schlautter’s (knee pain), Sever’s Disease (heel pain), and even hip issues. And while many athletes can train through these conditions, the only true remedy for them is complete rest.

When we build in recovery days, we allow our bodies the space to repair and strengthen tissue, and also give our nervous system time to reset so that it can better handle the stress of sports training, and everyday life.

Performance Gains

Those extra touches on the ball only matter IF their bodies can absorb them.

There is a misconception that performance gains only happen with more, intense training. The truth is that strength, speed, and endurance improve during recovery!

Training is the stimulus. Recovery is where adaptation happens.

Recovery allows for muscle repair and glycogen replenishment. Both of these are needed in order to see those gains, and can actually work against each other when we don’t get enough recovery time.

The bottom line? No recovery = no progress, no matter how hard they train.

Mental & Emotional Recovery

A tired athlete doesn’t just move slower -- they think slower, react slower, and doubt themselves more.

Mental performance is often overlooked as a key component of athletic performance. The fact is that burnout is a real concern, especially in the overtrained athlete.

Our teens are juggling more stress then ever just in their everyday lives. Academic performance, homework, social schedules, family commitments -- and then sports training on top of that. Many teen athletes are perfectionists who feel the weight of needing to perform and be on top of everything. The thought of failure can send them over the edge. Add on the pressure of tryouts and how they identify as an athlete, and the nervous system can become extremely overwhelmed. If not managed, this pressure to perform in sport, school, and life can quickly cause them to shut down.

A fried nervous system cannot perform at a high level. Building in recovery days allows for a nervous system reset, and support focus, confidence, and enjoyment in their sport. These three factors alone allow our teens to better push themselves during those intense training sessions, and see positive progress in their development, instead of plateauing or even regressing.

So what does recovery actually look like in real life -- for busy teen athletes and families?

5 Ways to Integrate Recovery Into Training

1. Prioritize Sleep Like It’s Training

I’ve worked with several athletes who have made it normal to go to bed after midnight, and get up before 6am due to trying to balance after school training and studying for school. It’s a grind that they’ve normalized for themselves, but in reality, it’s only taking away from the benefits of their training.

Most teens need an appropriate bedtime, with an average of 8-10 hours a night. And no, sleeping late on weekends does not make up for less-than-average sleep during the week. Similar to when they were babies, teens can benefit from a solid “bedtime routine”. Instead of bath and story time, this now might look like helping them organize their time around school and sports, to fit in school work. A bedtime before midnight (we aim for lights out at 10pm for my son who wakes at 6am) is ideal, but adjust for what works best for your family and schedule.

2. Fuel the Body for Recovery

Most of us know about the importance of food for our teen athletes. We’re aware of the importance of the pre- and post-training meals, and often consider packing something for them during training as well. But knowing and implementing are two very different things -- especially when we’re rushing from school pickup to practice, or maybe even from one practice to another. Our intensions are there, but the truth is that these meals often look like a protein bar or a quick value meal from the drive through. It’s something, but is it enough?

The fact is, under-fueled athletes don’t recover - they compensate.

Under-fueled doesn’t simply mean that they are not getting enough food, but rather that they are not getting enough of the nutrients that actually help the body adapt to the training they are doing -- to repair muscles and replenish those energy store.

We don’t always have time to prepare something home-cooked for our teen athletes, and that’s OK. But, we can try to do more than a packaged snack on the fly. That post-training meal is very important to recovery - aim for something containing protein & carbs. I personally love Chipotle, Jimmy Johns, or Tokyo Joe’s for this when I can’t get them something at home. But, since I’m also a budget-minded sports mama, this will usually look like a packed turkey & cheese sandwich (Uncrustables are a close second), with yogurt and fruit. My kids are also fans of chicken strips, carrots & hummus, and either yogurt or cottage cheese. I will often make a handful of these on a weekend to have ready for those busy week days.

When we’re racing from school to practice or similar, I’ve been loving some pretzels and yogurt (pre-training carbs). I’ve found that these are also really easy to grab at a convenience store if needed. I’ll also sometimes grab a chocolate milk to drink for some quick recovery on-the-go.

3. Build in Low-Intensity Movement

Recovery days don’t have to be sedentary days. In fact, light, restorative movement is beneficial to help the body recover.

We’re looking for very light (think Zone 1) cardio here -- walking, light cycling, paddle boarding, gently yoga or mobility flows, stretching, etc.

This gentle movement helps to keep the blood flowing to our muscles, and also brings in an almost meditative benefit to our mental recovery.

4. Protect Time for Social & Emotional Recovery

A well-rounded athlete is a more a more resilient athlete.

With our busy sports schedules, we often overlook the opportunities for our teens to connect with who they are outside of sports, but this is so important. Recovery days are the perfect opportunities for them to spend time with non-sports friends, plan a family outing to see a movie or similar, or explore other activities that they love outside of sports.

My daughter is a big fan of roller skating, and this is a key recovery activity for her. She’ll spend part of her day at the local skating rink spending time with her non-soccer friends, and also getting a little active recovery in. She comes home re-energized and happy -- like a weight has been lifted off of her. Even allowing time during the days for screentime and chatting with friends can quickly shift her mood after an intense few days of practice.

If your teen’s social network is their teammates, that’s great! But, encourage the coach to build in some non-practice social time. It’s an overlooked piece of sports performance that is so important to athletic performance.

5. Use Simple Recovery Modalities

If you want to go above and beyond on your recovery days, consider investing in some modalities that can support the bodies innate healing abilities.

One of the most under-utilized recover modalities is a simple breathwork practice. Starting with 5 minutes of box breathing, or listening to a guided breathwork mediation, can really help your teen shift from a state of “fight or flight” to one of “rest and reset” by helping to support vagal tone.

If you can invest a little more financially, consider scheduling a recovery session at a local studio who provides red light therapy, PEMF mats, and/or compression boots. I have several athletes who come into my studio for my 25-minute Reboot Sessions where they simply sit in chairs with these modalities and relax. Some will also schedule a relaxing massage with the focus on calming the body, instead of invigorating or deep tissue work. These tools can support recovery—but they don’t replace the basics.

Recovery is truly that missing link in athletic performance and helping our teens meet their athletic goals. So today, I’ll still be the parent who keeps my daughter at home so that she can be at her best during tryout tomorrow. While she may thing those extra touches or sprints mean the difference between one offer or another, I know that the benefits of a day off will have a more positive outcome for her.

If your athlete is always tired, sore, or pushing through… recovery might be the missing piece.

Think of training like a wave: push → recover → adapt → repeat.

Recovery is scheduled, not accidental. Performance improves when stress and recovery are balance.

If you want help figuring out what that looks like for your athletes and your schedule, just reach out. Even a simple “recovery” message is enough to start the conversation.

Or, if you want to see what a weekly schedule might look like, click here to download my free “Train Hard. Recovery Smarter.” guide.

Categories: : injury, parenting, performance