BURNOUT: : Joe ‘Prep’ Athlete Has Everything Going for Him--Right? Not Always. He’s Often a Victim of His Own Talent and Faces Undo Pressures : Hours of Schoolwork, Practice and Homework Take Their Toll

Joe Athlete was dealt a winning hand.

He is generally big, strong and fast--a naturally gifted athlete.

He is one of the chosen few who can play several sports well, and he does just that for his high school. He plays on the school’s football, basketball and baseball teams, starting and starring for each.

His prowess in athletics has resulted in his celebrity status on campus. He is looked up to by administrators, teachers, coaches and peers. His parents are very proud. His success has placed his entire family on a pedestal.

He is envied by his teammates and idolized by younger players who are on lower-level teams.

Even to those who know him best, his life seems perfect.

Of course, it is not.

There are days when he doesn’t feel like going to practice, or even to school. There are many mornings when his sore muscles beg, in vain, for a day or two off. As the sports seasons change, he changes with them, but without the benefit of rest. Minor injuries have never had time to heal completely. Sometimes it is as if he can feel all of his strains and bruises simultaneously.

Long days of schoolwork, practice and homework without the benefit of any free time has left him mentally worn too. Often, he can’t sleep because his mind continues to race even though he’s physically exhausted.

He presses on because people are depending on him. His parents enjoy the special attention they receive. His peers count on him as a leader.

And then there are the coaches. They expect him to play, to lead and to produce.

Joe Athlete, in this case, is a fictional person. But his problems are very real. For some high school athletes, talent can be more of a burden than a blessing.

There are no fancy medical or psychological terms that are used when an individual can no longer deal with the physical and emotional demands of a grueling daily schedule. It is called “burnout.”

Burnout is not limited to a particular lifestyle or job. It can affect custodians and salesmen as easily as it can the president of a large corporation. It can also happen to a high school athlete.

You know Joe Athlete. There are some like him at most high schools.

Desmond Cerceo and Jeff Pohl are two such athletes.

Cerceo, a senior at Granada Hills High, was the quarterback of the Highlanders’ league-champion football team. He is also an outstanding basketball player, having been selected to the All-City team last spring after averaging 22.7 points per game.

Pohl, a senior at Village Christian High, is one of the San Fernando Valley’s best place-kickers and soccer players. He was a second-team selection to The Times’ All-Valley team in football, and has been an All-Alpha League pick as a soccer fullback since his freshman season.

Both Cerceo and Pohl are good looking, popular with schoolmates, and are among the best athletes at their respective schools. They seem to have everything going for them. But peace of mind is the exception.

When Cerceo was finished leading Granada Hills to the City football playoffs, losing in the first round, he was expected to immediately assume a starting role on the basketball team.

But he could not meet the request.

Cerceo missed several practices and didn’t play in the team’s first four games before finally returning to the Highlanders’ lineup last week in the Birmingham High School Christmas Invitational basketball tournament.

Pohl was in much the same situation. He was asked to shift directly from the football field to the soccer field, just as he had done in three previous years. Only this season, he couldn’t comply. After a week of practice, he quit the soccer team.

Cerceo and Pohl each say they were burned out after football season ended. The long hours in school and on the practice fields had caught up with them.

Said Cerceo: “The toughest part of going right on into the next season was just thinking about it. There’s school, homework, the team . . . Sometimes it just got to be too much.”

For Cerceo, it was never a question of wanting to play basketball.

“I wanted to play,” he said. “I just wanted to take a week off before I started practice,” he said.

Cerceo and Pohl both said that they had felt some pressure to play--Cerceo by his coach and Pohl by his family.

Said Cerceo: “My parents want me to play, but there wasn’t a lot of pressure. They just like to see me play.

“I felt more pressure from Coach (Bob) Johnson. We’d talk about me taking time off and I’d think that he understood, and then he’d end the conversation by saying, ‘So you’re going to be at practice today, right?’ He was trying to understand, but the bottom line was that he wanted me to play no matter what.”

Johnson, who is also a counselor at Granada Hills, said there is a fine line between encouragement and pressure.

“I was never trying to pressure Desmond into playing,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to know whether he was, or he wasn’t--either way. I encouraged him to play because I think he enjoys playing basketball. The only pressure I put on him was to make up his mind. If he doesn’t want to play, great, we’ll go on without out him. If he does want to play, we need to know we can count on him.”

Johnson said that he sees the effects of burnout in many senior student’s academic work.

“It’s called senior-itis,” Johnson said. “After doing the same thing year after year, some kids simply tire out.”

Johnson said that it is his opinion that off-season games and practice make it difficult for high school athletes to continuously perform at a high level.

“The kids have almost no break, even if they’re playing just one sport,” Johnson said. “If it’s football, you have spring practice and then summer conditioning. If it’s basketball, you have the same situation. Baseball plays all year-round too.

“Some kids love sports that much. If it were me, I’d need a break.”

Cerceo can’t afford such a break. College is around the corner which will be a time for decision-making. Football is his favorite sport, but he will play “which ever sport takes (him) the farthest.”

Football is also Pohl’s favorite sport. He plans on spending the time normally spent on soccer, working out with weights.

Pohl, who had been Village Christian’s most valuable soccer player the last three seasons, said he had thought of quitting the sport even before the football season ended.

“I’ve been playing in youth leagues since I was 8,” Pohl said. “In past years I’ve really been into soccer, but this year I just can’t get going. I have nothing to prove and no desire to play.

“Staying at school until late and then going home to do homework day after day was too much,” Pohl said. “If I liked what I was doing it wouldn’t have been so bad, but because I wasn’t enjoying it, the work got even harder.”

Village Christian soccer Coach Chuck Got gave Pohl until the end of the Christmas vacation to make up his mind whether or not he will play.

Got has not tried to coax Pohl into playing, though. Pohl said he felt more pressure from his family. He said his decision to quit the team was not a popular one at home.

“My brother was on the team two years ago and he was always telling me to stick it out for just one more year,” Pohl said. “My mother wanted me to play, too. She goes to all the games.”

Elizabeth Pohl said that, at first, she insisted on her son playing soccer.

“I wanted him to give something back to the school,” she said. “The school has done so much for him as far as guidance . . . Some just take and then forget.

“After a while, though, I realized it was his decision. He hurt his ankle and it was bothering him. I didn’t want him to be playing for me. That would have been a bad reason.”

Dr. Richard Lister is an Orange County psychologist whose clientele includes several professional, college and high school athletes. Burnout is one of the most common problems Lister has to deal with.

Most parents, Lister said, are not even as understanding as Elizabeth Pohl.

“Parents bring their budding athletes to me and want to know why their (kid’s) emotional state is deteriorating,” Lister said. “Some kids are being pushed from so many sides that they lose track of what they started their involvement in sports for--fun.”

Lister and Dr. David Kauss, of Westwood, were two of the psychologists interviewed for this story. Dr. Steven Schultz, former director of the child psychiatry residence program at Harbor UCLA Hospital, was another. All three specialists agree that pressure from parents, coaches and peers, is a significant factor in burnout.

“Many times in consultation I find that the kid is playing more to please the parent or the coach, than himself,” Lister said. “Parents, friends and coaches all need to be encouraging, but they should never want it more than the athlete himself. When that happens, it’s burnout time.”

Kauss, whose specialty is sports psychology, said that burnout among high school athletes is fairly common.

“Kids that age reach the stage that they realize they no longer have to be programmed to do something they don’t want to do,” Kauss said. “That’s why some quit, or threaten to.

“Sometimes, leaving them alone is best. That way they decide what’s best for them. It often happens that they return to playing sports because they miss it. That way, at least it’s their decision, Kauss said.”

Said Schultz: “Up to the age of about 12 or 13 I think a child should be strongly encouraged to compete in a wide variety of sports,” Schultz said. “After that it should be totally the kid’s decision.

“Parents should convey their wishes up front. Say, ‘It would make us happy if you played football.’ That way, it’s still the kid’s choice. If he wants to play football for that reason, then fine. He can say, ‘My dad wants me to be a good football player.’ There’s a difference between saying that and saying, ‘I should be a good football player,’ because he feels that’s what his parents expect from him.”

Lister said a high school-aged athlete’s talent is sometimes more advanced than his maturity.

“Even though a young kid shows great talent and potential on the athletic field, people have to realize that they are still going through a number of psychological changes,” Lister said. “Their goals may change from week to week or season to season.

“Many times the parents are thinking further down the road than the child is. The child is playing to have fun and the parent is worried about a future pro or Olympic career. Coaches and parents need to encourage, but not push or pressure.”

The problem is then, when does encouragement become pressure?

The majority of top high school athletes go from sport to sport without major problems. Steve Armstrong, a senior at Agoura High, played football, basketball and baseball last year, making first-team All-Frontier League in each sport. He plans on playing all three sports again this year. Donnie Rea, a junior, will be on the same teams.

Armstrong said he has never had a problem staying mentally and physically fit to play each season.

“It’s something that I’m prepared for,” Armstrong said. “No one has told me that I have to play or put any kind of pressure on me. Sometimes I get tired, but I wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t enjoying myself.”

Camarillo High senior Scott Cline is an example of an athlete who made an early decision regarding the direction of his high school athletic career.

A major college prospect in football and baseball, Cline played three sports as a sophomore before dropping basketball for his final two years. The daily grind of practices, during the school year and summer, simply became too much.

“I felt that spending extra time on football and baseball would be more advantageous to me in the future,” Cline said. “There was no pressure to play from anyone. I wasn’t that good anyway. It wasn’t a situation of hurting the team at all. If it had been, the decision would have been more difficult.”

Desmond Cerceo never did get his week off, but the time off from school during the holidays has improved his frame of mind.

“It’s a big adjustment, going from one sport to the other,” Cerceo said. “You have a different coach; you’re playing with a different group of guys; and it takes time to get the old touch back. It comes, but it comes slowly and that’s one of the most frustrating parts of the whole ordeal.

“You remember what you did last year and how easy it was at the end of the year. Then, you switch to another sport and have to start all over again.”

It has taken a few weeks, but it appears that Cerceo is well on his way to making the difficult transition. He played in his first game of the season last week and scored 26 points and had 15 rebounds in a little more than three quarters.

“Things are starting to come together,” Cerceo said. “It’s funny. A lot of people think I have so much going for me. What they don’t realize is how much is expected from me. After a while, it gets to a guy.”