I don't know if you know this or not. I have stuff on this swimming and soccer is not a goof fit together. Swimming involves the over extending of joints. In soccer that can leave the player to acl problems.
My daughter was competitively swimming at 6/7 years old. She was good, but it was a TIME sink. There were 3 practices a week for 1.5 hours each. There were Saturday clinics for another hour or two. Then meets about every other week that were 4-6 hours long on Saturday's and Sunday. It was too much and she started to hate it. If she did soccer this much, she would quit soccer too. I can say that swimming and soccer complement each other only in endurance. As nicklaino said, joints, cartilage, and ligaments are being stretched to the max in swimming (constant resistance against them from water). Taking those stetched out parts to a soccer field where quick movements, bends, contraction and flex occur opens the chance for serious injury. Our club trainer recommends a running club to supplement.
Regardless of the sport, if it ain't fun it ain't worth playing or coaching....regardless of the level...MANY club coaches seem to forget this basic fact...!!
I agree with this as a guiding principle, but clearly not every moment is going to be fun. For example, some kids really hate doing ball-work (Coerver-type stuff). I have some kids on my U8 team who can't stand being the defender in keepaway games. I think it's OK to require players to participate in drills that they despise, so long as it's in moderation. One of my sons used to play for a club that way over-emphasized ball work to the point where most kids dreaded going to practice because they knew that they were in for an hour of toe touches and other mind-numbing treats. That's going too far for my taste, even if you are a Nazi for "getting touches"! So, the caveat I would add to @england66's great point is that each training session should be, on balance and overall, fun, even if some of the component parts of the training session are dreaded by certain individuals involved in them. And the not-so-fun parts should be dolled out in moderation rather than force-fed.
I would like to see this info, would be helpful. Right now, my daughter is incredibly tight through her hamstrings and calves. She has very heavy musculature for her age, probably from the swimming. Her calves, thighs and upper body have large muscles, more than most boys her age. She is strong but can't easily touch her toes like most 8 year old girls can. She is so tight that it is probably a limiting factor in her running speed and play (and maybe her swimming). You can see her "tightness" when she is sprinting-- her legs don't seem to get full extension. But that is her muscles -- hard to know if her joints and ligaments are more stretched out from swimming, so I guess an entirely different issue I never thought about. I just assumed her strength would help protect against injuries, and that cross-training is good for joints and muscles. And swimming seems to really help her endurance on the field.
It's funny you bring that up. My daughter, now 15, started playing because of my passion for the sport. I coached her until she got to club at U-9, and still enjoy the time breaking down her play in the car to/from games. She has her own passion for it now. I would bet most of our kids get there passions/interests from their parents/
I agree with this....I was born in Manchester (England) and was a regular at Old Trafford with my dad and granddad from about the age of seven. Of course I grew up in a country where 'soccer' was, and still is, king. So my formative years were spent in England playing and watching the game. Not sure I much agree with you 'disecting' your daughters play in the car after games...are you truly qualified to do so, soccer wise..? I tell the parents of my varsity girls team ( I coach at a local high school) at our first 'parents meeting' prior to each season...'Soccer is the easiest game in the world to play....while sitting in the stands'...!! I encourage the parents to support all the girls but tell them that the girls are under strict instructions to ignore ANY comments coming from ANY source other than myself or my assistant. We recently won Division 1 of the state high school championship....and did it starting ONE senior....in other words we will be very strong again next season.
My daughter's club coach is a guy I have known and played ball with for years and he has no problem with my input. My daughter isn't the most athletic player, not the fastest of strongest, but she knows the mental side of the game better than most 15 year old kids. I am totally convinced this comes from growing up inside Columbus Crew Stadium every Saturday and watching 1-2 EPL games a week on TV. It's essential for kids that aspire to play in college to watch the pros as much as possible IMO, and that goes back to the thread topic of burn-out. If the kids don't love the sport enough to want to watch it played by others, you can't force it on them or they will push back.
I never swam and can't stand swim meets, so that one is easy -- "Not mine." Soccer is something I played. But I thought it would be just a casual sport for her since it seemed she had already "picked " swimming. I was surprised when I put her in rec at U6 how much she loved it and how good she was. And how fun it was to play with her and watch how quickly she learned. I wish she only played one sport competitively (and then dabble in others recreationally), would be much easier on the family, but she likes and is good at both and wants to keep them up, at least for now.