If you’re a parent of a club volleyball athlete, you’ve probably seen how demanding the sport can be. Between multiple weekly practices, strength training, weekend tournaments, travel, and school responsibilities, the schedule fills up quickly. Most athletes handle that load well for a while. But when the physical and mental demands stay high without enough recovery or perspective, burnout can start to take hold.
Burnout in young athletes isn’t just about being tired. In sport psychology, it’s typically described as a mix of emotional and physical exhaustion, a reduced sense of accomplishment, and a gradual loss of interest in the sport. An athlete who once loved going to practice may start to dread it. Effort can feel heavier. Confidence may dip, even if performance hasn’t changed much.
Signs of Burnout
Burnout usually builds gradually, and the signs are often subtle at first. Parents might notice changes in mood before anything else. Increased irritability, emotional swings after practices or tournaments, or a general flatness that wasn’t there before can all be indicators.
Other signs include persistent fatigue that doesn’t improve with normal rest, frequent complaints of soreness or minor injuries, difficulty sleeping, or getting sick more often during heavy training periods. Academics may start to slip, not necessarily because of ability, but because mental energy is depleted.
You may also hear statements like, “I don’t care anymore,” or notice a lack of enthusiasm for things that used to matter. When effort drops or anxiety before practice increases, it’s worth paying attention.
None of these signs automatically mean your athlete is burned out. But when several show up together and last for weeks, it’s a signal that something needs to be adjusted.
Rest and Recovery
One of the most common contributors to burnout is simple: not enough rest. Research on overtraining (Meeusen et al., 2013) makes it clear that when training stress consistently outweighs recovery, performance and mood both suffer. Adolescent athletes need regular days off and, at times, true off-seasons. In club volleyball culture, there can be pressure to keep adding more—another lesson, another camp, another league. But recovery is not falling behind, it is part of long-term development.
Pressure and Expectations
Pressure is another major factor in burnout, and it is often more subtle than athletes and parents expect. It rarely shows up as yelling or harsh criticism. More often, it develops through expectations, such as playing time, scholarship conversations, financial investment, team rankings, and the unspoken understanding that performance matters. Over time, those expectations can shape how a teenager experiences the sport. When athletes begin to feel that their value is tied primarily to how they perform, stress increases, and enjoyment tends to decrease.
Motivation
Motivation plays a central role as well. Deci and Ryan’s work on Self-Determination Theory, along with more recent research expanding on it (Ryan & Deci, 2017), consistently shows that athletes thrive when three psychological needs are supported: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In simple terms, athletes do better when they feel they have some ownership in their sport, when they feel capable and improving, and when they feel supported by the people around them.
As parents, you influence all three.
Giving your athlete space to voice opinions about their training or commitment level supports autonomy. Recognizing improvement and effort—not just results—supports competence. Providing steady support regardless of stat lines supports relatedness.
Specialization
Another area worth paying attention to is early specialization. Research in the last decade has linked year-round single-sport participation at younger ages with increased injury risk and higher burnout rates (Jayanthi et al., 2015; Bell et al., 2018). Club volleyball often becomes a near year-round commitment earlier than families anticipate. That doesn’t mean club is wrong, but it does mean balance matters. Cross-training, multi-sport participation during earlier years, and intentional breaks can protect both physical and mental health.
What parents can actually do (without turning into the training police)
1) Protect at least one true day off each week when possible.
A real day off is not “light reps” followed by a lesson or optional extra work in the driveway. It’s intentional recovery. That means allowing the body and mind to step away from structured training so that fatigue can actually reset. When athletes never fully unplug, stress accumulates in ways that aren’t always obvious at first. Protecting a consistent day of recovery communicates that long-term health matters more than squeezing out one more marginal gain.
2) After tournaments, don’t make the car ride a performance review.
The drive home is often when emotions are still high, especially after a tough loss or limited playing time. If your athlete asks for feedback, have the conversation. But if they don’t, it is usually better to let the moment breathe. Home should feel like a place where they are supported regardless of how they performed, not like another evaluation. When every setting becomes a place of critique, the sport can start to feel like an ongoing test instead of something they chose to play.
3) Praise what they can control.
Wins, playing time, and statistics are influenced by many factors outside of a single athlete’s control. Effort, preparation, attitude, focus, and resilience are different. When parents consistently reinforce those controllable elements, they help build a stronger internal sense of competence. Athletes who understand that growth and effort matter are less likely to tie their identity to a single stat line or weekend result.
4) Check in on the overall load, not just volleyball.
Volleyball does not exist in isolation. Academic demands, social pressures, lack of sleep, and family responsibilities all add to an athlete’s total stress load. Even if training volume has not changed, overall fatigue can rise when other areas intensify. Periodic conversations about how everything feels together—not just how practice went—can reveal when adjustments are needed before burnout fully develops.
5) If the joy is consistently gone, treat it as a signal.
Every athlete has rough stretches, and temporary frustration is normal. However, when enjoyment disappears for an extended period and is replaced by dread, indifference, or ongoing anxiety, that shift deserves attention. It is not automatically a discipline problem or a sign of poor character. More often, it signals that something in the balance between demand, recovery, and motivation needs to change.
Need Extra Support?
If your athlete is dealing with burnout, anxiety, confidence struggles, or simply feeling stuck, I offer one-on-one mental coaching specifically for volleyball players and competitive athletes. If you’d like more information about individual sessions or team workshops, send me an email at coaching@stuartbriscar.com or reach out to me on Instagram
References
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Meeusen, R., et al. (2013). Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the overtraining syndrome: Joint consensus statement (ECSS/ACSM). Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 45(1), 186–205.
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Gustafsson, H., DeFreese, J. D., & Madigan, D. J. (2017). Athlete burnout: Review and recommendations. Current Opinion in Psychology, 16, 109–113.
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Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness. Guilford Press.
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Jayanthi, N., Pinkham, C., Dugas, L., Patrick, B., & LaBella, C. (2015). Sports specialization in young athletes: Evidence-based recommendations. Sports Health.
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Bell, D. R., et al. (2018). Sport specialization and risk of overuse injuries: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 142(3), e20180657.