Getting Serious About Sports
Mapping A Game Plan For Optimal Athletic Development In Children
By Selena Chavis
| 5 Basic S’s Of Training Istvan Balyi’s Long-Term Athlete Development model (www.ltad.ca) suggests these guidelines for optimal athletic development in youth: Stamina (Endurance) The optimal window of trainability for stamina occurs at the onset of the growth spurt. Aerobic capacity training is recommended before children reach their fastest rate of growth. Aerobic power should be introduced progressively once their growth rate decelerates. Strength The optimal window of trainability for girls is immediately after their fastest rate of growth and at the onset of menarche (first menstruation), while for boys it is 12 to 18 months after their fastest rate of growth. Speed For boys, the first speed training window occurs between 7 and 9 years old; the second window occurs between the ages of 13 and 16. For girls, the first speed training window occurs between the ages of 6 and 8, and the second window occurs between the ages of 11 and 13. Skill The window for optimal skill training begins at age 9 for boys and age 8 for girls. This window ends at the onset of the growth spurt. Suppleness (Flexibility) The optimal window of trainability for suppleness in both girls and boys occurs between the ages of 6 and 10. Special attention should be paid to flexibility during the growth spurt. |
“Each stage [of development] will come at different times for each individual,” said Randy Hill, head physiologist with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and the U.S. Ski Team. “Each individual should first focus on developing the skills and fitness necessary to reach the next stage—the big picture of first developing the athlete, then the competition.”
Istvan Balyi, co-developer of the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model, suggests that for most athletes it’s more important to become “physically literate” in the early years. “If young athletes are over-competing and under-training, they are not going to make it,” he said. “It’s often the belief of parents and coaches that the more kids compete, the more they will succeed. That’s just simply not true.”
Early Specialization vs. Late Specialization
According to Balyi, sports can be classified as either early or late specialization. Early- specialization sports include artistic and acrobatic sports such as gymnastics, diving, and figure skating. “You have to learn complex movements when you are young,” he said.
In such sports, Hill said kids typically learn basic skills at 5 to 8 years old and begin competing seriously around 12-14 years old. In gymnastics, for example, kids would start with tumbling in a club for an hour twice a week, and slowly progress to more sessions each week as their skills progress. Swimming, tennis and table tennis would follow the same progression. “By the age of 13, [coaches and parents] already know if the kids are on track for elite squads.”
Most other sports are late-specialization sports, Balyi said, and athletes who specialize in these sports too soon tend to become one-sided and burn out early. “The recommendation is to participate in as many sports as possible to become physically literate.” Athletes who wait until they are 12-15 years old to select a late-specialization sport have greater potential to reach elite or international stardom in the chosen sport, according to research.
Hill agreed. With late-specialization sports, or “engine-based sports,” as he calls them, the serious stages of development begin after puberty. “For example, in triathlon, a child might actually learn how to swim at age 6, buy his or her first bike at age 8, and play a few team sports, such as Little League baseball or football, at age 10; but it might not be until age 16 that all three are put together. Generally, the timeframe to get serious in a sport is between four to six years after starting the sport.”
When To Get Serious
According to Hill, parents and coaches should consider overall growth and development of kids before pushing them to the next level. That includes not only physical capability to perform the required skills correctly but also physical maturity, emotional maturity, love of the sport and underlying physical talent.
Based on sports research and principles that have been widely studied around the world, the LTAD model recognizes the distinct stages of physical, mental, cognitive and emotional development in child athletes, Balyi said. Key to the LTAD method is understanding the difference between growth and maturation. Growth refers to observable step-by-step changes in quantitative and measurable changes in body size, such as height, weight, and fat percentage. Maturation is the qualitative system changes in the body’s progress toward maturity, such as the change of cartilage to bone in the skeleton. And, because children of the same chronological age can differ by several years in their level of biological maturation, chronological age is a poor measure of determining if a child is ready for serious training and competition, Balyi added.
On average, the LTAD model suggests that males 6 to 9 years old and females 6 to 8 years old are developmentally prepared to focus on such fundamentals as overall movement skills, general participation and fun, Balyi said. The LTAD model also includes guidelines for young athletes to progress to the “Learn to Train,” “Train to Train,” “Train to Compete” and “Train to Win” stages.
While competition may not be at the heart of early development in young athletes, Hill said there still are no shortcuts to success. “All sports require good old-fashioned blood, sweat and tears. The bottom line is that every sport requires a great deal of practice and perfection to master. Even the most genetically talented athletes must put in the hours to be the best.” suggests that males 6 to 9 years old and females 6 to 8 years old are developmentally prepared to focus on such fundamentals as overall movement skills, general participation and fun, Balyi said. The LTAD model also includes guidelines for young athletes to progress to the “Learn to Train,” “Train to Train,” “Train to Compete” and “Train to Win” stages. While competition may not be at the heart of early development in young athletes, Hill said there still are no shortcuts to success. “All sports require good old-fashioned blood, sweat and tears. The bottom line is that every sport requires a great deal of practice and perfection to master. Even the most genetically talented athletes must put in the hours to be the best.”