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Archive for “Youth Sports Injuries” Category

The Truth About Youth Pitching Injuries and Young Athletes

Posted on: March 8th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 

Youth Pitching Injuries: The Real Reason Why There are so Many

Youth Pitching injuries in young athletes

 

By Mike Reinold

 

This article that you are about to read is really disappointing. Pitching injuries in young athletes continue to rise despite research and effort designed to reduce these injuries, this is a problem.

 

To quickly summarize what we have learned about youth pitching injuries, we know that approximately one third of youth baseball pitchers will experience shoulder or elbow pain during a season. We also know that youth pitching injuries increased sixfold in the early 2000?s with Dr. James Andrews at his center in Alabama. This number is probably even higher now.

 

After years of speculation regarding exactly why these injuries occur. There is only one factor that continuously correlates to these youth pitching injuries. I’ve discussed the Little League curveball debate in the past. It isn’t throwing a curveball, it isn’t pitching at an early age, and it isn’t long tossing.

 

The reason is simple:

 

Youth pitching injuries are due to overuse.

 

But I think we are being polite by saying “overuse.” I would imagine we can even say “abuse” or maybe even “neglect.” Let me explain why.

 

After years of research showing that high pitch counts, pitching too frequently, throwing for multiple teams, pitching in showcases, and pitching while fatigued are significant factors in the rise of your pitching injuries, Little League Baseball and USA Baseball did the right thing. They consulted with many experts in the field of throwing injuries, including James Andrews, Glenn Fleisig, and the experts at the American Sports Medicine Institute, to develop pitch count rules to protect our youth from this overuse. Kudos to them for stepping up and doing the right thing.

 

But here is the problem….

 

A recent study published in Sports Health surveyed 95 youth baseball coaches about their knowledge of the safety guidelines established by the USA Baseball Medical and Safety Advisory Committee. The results are disappointing to say the least.

 

:: Overall, coaches answered 43% of questions correctly

 

:: 27% of coaches admitted to not following the safety guidelines, however only 53% of coaches felt that other coaches in the league followed the safety guidelines

 

:: 19% of coaches reported pitching a player while having a sore or fatigued shoulder or elbow

 

I’m sorry to say this, but…

 

Not understanding the safety guidelines is irresponsible and intentionally not following them is abuse.

 

The cause of youth pitching injuries are definitely multifactoral, however, overuse has been shown to be the most influential. Sadly, overuse also seems to be the easiest to address.

 

So what can you do? It probably starts with education. Share this article to help spread that word that overuse needs to end and safety guidelines need to be followed.

 

You can go back and read my article on Little League pitch count rules. USA Baseball also has some guidelines. To summarize them, in addition to monitoring pitch counts, players should not pitch with pain, should limit their throws from other positions (especially catching), limit their participation in our leagues, limit their participation in showcases, and not progress to more demanding pitches until their bodies start to mature.

 

All coaches need to be aware of these recommendations. Injury prevention with young athletes begins with the understanding of how injuries occur and what the specific safety recommendations entail.

 

The next step is getting on a proper injury prevention program. I’ve discussed some of these topics in my article on preventing Little League youth pitching injuries and have shared with you my Little League injury prevention exercises that I prepared for MGH several years ago. I probably need to update these but it serves as a good basis to begin.

 

It really is a shame that all these youth pitching injuries are occurring, let’s do our best to spread this education and help reduce these Little League injuries in our young athletes as much as we can! Consideration Prior To Training With Olympic Lifts.

 

 

 

Preventing Knee Injuries With Youth Strength Training Programs

Posted on: February 28th, 2012 by IYCA 5 Comments

Does Your Youth Strength Training Program Promote ACL Injuries?

 

Youth Sports knee injuries

 

The good news about knee injuries these days, and Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tears in particular, is that medical science has turned what used to be a career-ending injury into something most athletes can recover from in time.

 

The bad news is that ACL tears are occurring more often than ever. Anyone involved in a youth strength training program likely knows at least one athlete who has had a severe knee injury in the past year.

 

Why do these injuries occur?

 

The ACL is a small ligament that runs diagonally inside the knee and connects the upper leg (femur) to the main shin bone (tibia). It’s job is to prevent the knee from twisting or moving side-to-side more than just a few degrees. When pushed beyond its relatively small limit, the ACL can either be partially stretched or ripped completely.

 

Youth Sports training knee injuries

 

In a sports setting, the ACL almost always gets torn during a one-time event. This can occur due to contact with another athlete, or during non-contact moments where the knee may be pushed out of position from a high level of force placed on it. Non-contact situations where this normally happens are during cutting, pivoting, out-of-control stopping, and awkward landings on jumps.

 

Surprisingly, about 70% of ACL tears in young athletes occur during non-contact events. Female athletes are between 3 and 8 times more likely than males to tear their ACL. Although all youth sports have some level of ACL injuries, soccer and basketball have the most for girls playing sports. For boys, it is football and lacrosse.

 

With nearly 150,000 tears occurring annually in the United States alone, more focus has not just gone into the rehabilitation process, but also in preventing these injuries from happening in the first place.

 

How To Prevent ACL Injuries With Your Youth Strength Training Program

 

One big piece of preventing ACL tears is to focus on both the ankle and hip joints, strange as that may seem. Knees basically go where the ankles and hips send them, so ‘prehabilitation’ measures focus on those areas.

 

For the ankle, it is crucial that young athletes limit the amount of side-to-side movement that occurs in that joint. Either during one leg standing postures or when running, the more their ankles roll the better the chance it will push their knees either in or out during faster-paced athletic events. Kids who tend to roll their ankles a lot may be much more susceptible to knee injuries when they get bigger, faster and stronger in their later years.

 

The hip joint needs to both be flexible and strong to function correctly, making it a little harder to train. For the flexibility side, stretches that specifically target the hips may be needed for those with limited ability to do a deep squat. Very young athletes (ages 11 and younger) are almost never in need of these, but once the teenage years approach and growth spurts really kick in, more stretching may be warranted.

 

Youth Strength Training Program

 

Strengthening the hips can be tricky, because most athletes with weak hip muscles have learned to move in a way that shifts the stress to their stronger leg and back muscles. You’d think a basic exercise like a squat would work the hips very well, but not for those who are leg-muscle dominant already. Isolated strength for the hip muscles plus relearning other exercise patterns, such as squatting, must both be done to stabilize and protect the knees.

 

Just as important in this equation is for young athletes to learn how to move properly. Being able to efficiently absorb the force of gravity when landing on a jump can lower your ACL tear risk substantially, and is relatively easy to learn for most focused and dedicated athletes. In addition, controlling momentum during stopping and cutting movements will further decrease your risk. These skills tend to take much more repetition to improve on, but it certainly can be done.

 

Although it is true that the younger someone starts improving these skills the better chance it will lower their future injury risk, it is never too late to build the strength, flexibility and movement skill required in sports with a great youth strength training program to keep your knees stable and safe.

 

Help young athletes train the RIGHT way, perform to their full potential and learn from the very best in industry by getting your IYCA Youth Fitness Specialist Certification today!

 

Youth Fitness Training

 

SOURCES: British Association of Sports Medicine, www.livestrong.com

 

 

Damage Control: Reversing the effects of early specialization

Posted on: February 24th, 2012 by IYCA 3 Comments

 

Damage Control: Reversing the effects of early specialization

 

Early Specialization with young athletes can lead to many issues

 

By Mike Mejia CSCS

 

In last month’s newsletter, which you can access here, I wrote about why young athletes shouldn’t necessarily engage in sports specific training and instead, focus on developing more in the way of global athleticism. While certainly sound advice, for some it may come a bit too late. The unfortunate reality is that far too many kids have not only been specializing in a single sport from an early age, but many have also geared any fitness efforts solely towards enhancing their performance in said sport. As a result, there are legions of young athletes who’ve already developed significant movement restrictions and musculoskeletal imbalances that often serve as precursors to injury. Whether it’s a teenage swimmer with chronic shoulder pain, or a high school aged basketball player with “bad knees”, the message to be as diversified as possible when it comes to early sports participation and exercise habits is lost on some. So, what do you do when the ship seems to have sailed in terms of developing a well-rounded athlete and are instead, forced to deal with a young body in an obvious state of disrepair?

 

Not that there aren’t things you can do to help correct any existing problems. Changing the training focus to include more in the way of flexibility work and strengthening those areas that often go neglected to promote more balanced physical development is always a good idea. There are however certain “sensitive periods” where the acquisition of specific bio-motor skills is going to be much easier to attain. During the ages of 9-12 for instance, kids are developmentally ready to make the most rapid improvements in things like balance, agility and coordination. Or in other words, the kind of physical attributes that are the cornerstone of athletic success. Again, not that these types of skills can’t be attained to a certain degree later in an athlete’s development. It’s just that spending so much time specializing puts them at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to overall athleticism and in turn, runs the risk of imposing serious limitations of their ability to perform at a high level as they get older.

 

So, if you do have a fourteen, fifteen year old (or older) young athlete who is just now trying to undo some of the damage caused by what’s been a decidedly one-sided approach to sports participation and physical conditioning, he or she is going to have to go about things a bit differently.

 

One of the main things that will entail is forgoing a lot of the more popular forms of training aimed at enhancing performance (i.e. plyometrics, Olympic lifting and advanced speed and agility work) and instead, concentrating on some less glamorous but ultimately more necessary aspects of maintaining a fit, healthy body. These include things like:

 

Paying constant attention to posture: No kid wants to hear it, but employing good postural habits is one of the best ways to help guard against injury. Even if a young athlete were to completely revamp his, or her training approach to target all the areas the young athlete needs to work most, that’s still only on average about two to four hours per week where they’d be working towards correcting the problem. Compare this to the hours of repetitive motion involved in practicing and competing in their sport, as well as all of the time spent slumped over in class, in front of computers and texting and you can see where it’s hard to make any kind of lasting improvements. However, being aware of their posture as often as possible throughout the day is one of the best and easiest ways of helping them restore more structural balance.

 

Treating conditioning like a job: If a young athlete is going to spend that much time practicing and competing, they’d better find a way to put some serious effort into helping their body withstand the rigors of all that abuse. This involves a lot more than just hitting the weight room with reckless abandon. Improving soft tissue quality with things like foam rolling, doing a sound dynamic warm-up prior to all forms of physical activity and post workout stretching aimed at those areas where they’re especially tight, are all vital components of a well-rounded program. Gone are the days where kids could just enjoy sports for hours on end without giving any thought to what they were doing to their bodies. This age of early specialization has drastically altered the landscape; essentially forcing kids to approach conditioning in a whole new light- especially if they want to have any kind of staying power in their chosen sport.

 

Allowing more time for recovery and regeneration: Recovery is without question, one of the most overlooked aspects of athletic performance. Yet time and time again I see young athletes pushing themselves to their absolute limits, only to come right back the next day and do it all over again. True, kids do have the resiliency of youth on their side, but that doesn’t mean that the “more is better” mindset should always prevail. I’ve got nothing against seeing kids work hard, but there are limits. Allowing athletes more recovery time between practices, competitions and workouts will ultimately yield better results in terms of both performance and injury prevention.

 

Besides not scheduling their practices and workouts too closely together, encourage your athletes to employ other types of recovery aids during those periods of the season that are most physically demanding. In addition to the aforementioned stretching and foam rolling, things like epsom salt baths, contrast showers and even dietary changes like adding in more alkaline foods (leafy greens, sweet potatoes, almonds, green tea etc.) are all effective ways of helping to reduce inflammation and facilitate better muscle recovery.

 

While you obviously can’t go back in time and do anything about your child having succumbed to early specialization at an early age, there’s plenty you can do right now to help manage the situation and get them started on a healthier path. Encourage them to focus on posture, stretching and strengthening exercises that are going to promote more physical balance and create good lifelong habits. Because let’s face it; the vast majority of kids will never go on to compete at any sort of high level.

 

So, make it your business to help them avoid early specialization and having to experience any long-term effects from participating in the sport they love.

 

 

 

Multi-Planar Warm-ups with Young Athletes: PNF in Your Movement

Posted on: February 16th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 

PNF Warm-ups With Young Athletes

Young athletes PNF movement

 

By Wil Fleming

 

Ask coaches what their program should include and invariably the answer sounds like this “Strength, speed, agility, power and oh yeah warm-up“. The warm-up is always tossed in there, but not with much enthusiasm.

 

All too often our warm-ups occur in singular planes of motion, typically sagittal or frontal, and for certain joints this will not do. The hip and shoulder, in particular require motion that does not only go through these single planes, and in truth requires more than just the addition of motion through the transverse plane.

 

A great solution to this is to use PNF patterns of movement to truly warm-up the athlete. In using PNF patterns we are able to use patterns that efficiently recruit the most relevant muscle.

 

PNF or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, is commonly thought of as only a type of stretching pattern done by athletic trainers but is actually an entire system of movement.

 

In the great book Supertraining, Mel Siff described PNF movement patterns in this way “The importance of these patterns cannot be overestimated, since they can enhance the effectiveness of any training session.”

 

While the unloaded movement of a “warm-up” cannot satisfy all the necessary pieces to be considered PNF the important foundations of PNF which must be considered are as follows.

 

-The motion must use spiral and diagonal movement patterns

 

-The motion must cross the sagittal midline of the body.

 

-The motion must recruit all movement patterns including, flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, and internal/external rotation.

 

To use the techniques of PNF in our warm-up we use a lunge matrix and corresponding “reaches”.

 

Lateral Hip Rotator Lunge w/ Contralateral Reach

 

Have the athlete stand perpendicular to a start line, flex at the hip and knee with the lead leg. First internally rotate at the hip, move towards external rotation with the lead hip as they step outward as far as possible. Once the lead foot reaches the ground they will raise their opposite arm overhead and come across the midline of the body to reach the instep of their lead leg, the young athletes should follow this movement with their eyes until completion.

 

 

 

Reverse Lunge w/ X Reach

 

Have the athlete make a reverse lunge movement (that part is simple). While in this split stance they should reach with one hand to their opposite front pocket, move this arm across the midline of the body to an overhead position and rotate the torso. Again the athlete should follow the movement of their arms with their eyes. Do the same movement with the opposite arm and then reverse lunge with the other leg.

 

 

These modifications on traditional lunges will add multi direction skill and a more complete neuromuscular warm-up to your young athletes programs.

 

 

Training Young Athletes Where It All Begins

Posted on: November 30th, 2011 by IYCA 2 Comments

 

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Foot Strike: The most obvious but most overlooked component of training young athletes.

 

 

About eight years ago, one of my high school high jumpers, Danielle, came running down to me at a track meet to tell me the news. As the coach of the long, triple and high jumps I was making the rounds at a meet trying to miss as few competitive attempts as possible, in a facility that spread the jump areas out. Needless to say, I missed her high jumps attempts. She was about to fill me in.

 

Between spurts of laughter, Danielle, whose athleticism is best described as “she is a really nice girl”, managed to tell me that during her approach she fell, crashed into the standard, caused a ruckus but rather enjoyed the experience. She then bounded off.  Momentarily, I was relieved to have missed it. Days later I scrounged up the video to see what I expected. Poor foot placement in the latter steps of the approach and some other factors caused the wipeout.

 

Her problem was caused by the same part of athleticism that also led to many of the great performances that day: the” foot strike.”  “Foot strike,” refers to the foot contacting the ground while running. That instant is vital to the success or failure of nearly every sporting endeavor, yet it is rarely emphasized, coached, taught or even discussed. It definitely should be. Since then, the other co-head coach of the track team and I have focused many hours upon this very topic. Here are some things to think about:

 

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Preventing Youth Sports Injuries

Posted on: April 26th, 2011 by IYCA 6 Comments

Is there a difference in ‘Injury Prevention’ for soccer versus baseball with young athletes?

 

How about hockey versus volleyball?

 

Interesting topic…

 

Watch this video on Youth Sports Injuries and see what you think:

 


 

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How to Assess Young Athletes

Posted on: April 24th, 2011 by IYCA 2 Comments

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Do you ever ‘test’ your Young Athletes?

 

Their speed?

 

Strength?

 

Flexibility?

 

If so, why?

 

You know, most Coaches and Trainers can’t answer that question.

 

They test because they think they’re supposed to.

 

That they need to in order to show ‘results’.

 

But there are other reasons…

 

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Youth Sports Training Technique: Part 1

Posted on: February 15th, 2011 by IYCA No Comments

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I found this archived article and wanted desperately to bring it to your attention.

 

There is SO MUCH MORE to youth sports training than just selecting some exercises and counting reps… ‘Part 1’:

 

Demonstrating good technique from a sporting perspective involves applying optimal movement ability in order to accomplish or solve a particular task effectively.  A young athlete, for instance, who demonstrates sound technical ability while running is getting from point A to point B in an effective manner.

 

Technical ability in a sport is typically the underlying measure for potential success. Good athletes are more often than not technically sound athletes. This reality, however, does not start and stop with respect to sport specific skills; this fact extends itself into the realm of general athletic development and the promotion or advancement of general movement abilities. The crux of athletic development as a science resides in the notion that before we create a sporting technician or specialist, we must first build the athlete by instilling competency in both basic and advanced movement abilities; this would include not only multi-directional movement skill but also the technical requirements of basic to advanced strength and power training exercises.

 

The technical abilities demonstrated in a given sport can be categorized based on the rules or requirements of that sport –

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Injury Prevention Training for Young Athletes?

Posted on: October 13th, 2010 by IYCA 22 Comments

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Is injury prevention training necessary for young athletes?

 

Is a quality long-term young athletes development plan already equipped with injury preventative features?

 

I presented a seminar at Club Industry in Chicago last week and got myself into a raging argument with an attendee about this topic.

 

Would do you think?

 

Leave a comment below and state your case…

 

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Kids Fitness: Why they Shouldn’t Lock Out Their Joints

Posted on: January 10th, 2010 by IYCA 41 Comments

 

 

Kids Fitness Physiology

by Dr. Kwame M. Brown

 

This article will by no means be an exhaustive discussion of the evidence, but I look forward to elaborating as we get responses. 

 

Installment #476 in things I keep hearing people say:

 

“You should lock out the joints at the end of a (bench press, squat, etc)”.  The joints need stress to get stronger.” 

 

By this logic I should do the following:

 

1. Beat my head against a wall to protect myself from brain injuries (After all I am putting my cranium under much needed stress, right?

 

2. Yell at kids all the time and berate them to improve their self esteem

 

I think we can agree that just because something needs to get stronger, this doesn’t mean that all stress on that thing is good! 

 

I could just simply say that this is wrong, but it’s better for all concerned (especially kids) if we address the real problem.  The real problem is a combination of a lack of understanding of how joints work combined with a pretty loose application of terminology. 

 

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Physical Education Injuries: 150% Increase

Posted on: August 6th, 2009 by IYCA 41 Comments

Physical Education Injuries alarm bells

IYCA Member, Mike Howard, sent me a link to this incredible article.

 

I was floored.

 

Stunned.

 

And completely annoyed.

 

150% increase Physical Education injuries.

 

Read the article and then be sure to leave me your comments about
why exactly you think this has become such a problem.

 

I feel very strongly that I know the answer.

 

And tomorrow I’m going to tell you what it is.

 

But for now, I want to hear your thoughts.

 

Here’s the article:

 

 

New national study finds increase in P.E. class-related injuries

 

Annual number of cases increased 150 percent from 1997-2007

 

Physical education (PE) in schools is one of the main tools used to increase physical activity and to prevent childhood obesity, and PE-related injuries are on the rise. Although increasing physical activity may reduce obesity, it may also increase the risk of injury. While recognizing that PE classes and physical activity are important components in combating obesity, parents and school administrators should remain vigilant for injuries. A recent study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, found that the number of PE-related injuries to elementary, middle and high school students in the United States increased 150 percent between 1997 and 2007.

 

According to the study, published in the online issue of Pediatrics, the most common PE-related injuries were lower-extremity sprains and strains (23 percent), followed by upper extremity sprains and strains (14 percent) and fractures (14 percent). Middle school-aged children (11-14 years of age) accounted for the majority of PE-related injuries (52 percent). Elementary school-aged children (5-10 years of age) had almost double the odds of a head injury, compared with other injuries.

 

Nearly 70 percent of PE-related injuries occurred while children were participating in six activities (running, basketball, football, volleyball, soccer and gymnastics). Injuries were caused by contact with another person, playing surface, equipment, stationary structures, pulled muscles, overuse and activity-related illnesses such as heat stroke.

 

"The 150 percent increase in PE-related injuries presenting to emergency departments was consistent across gender and age groups. It is unlikely that this increase was attributable to an increase in PE participation," explained study author Lara McKenzie, PhD, principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and faculty member of The Ohio State University College of Medicine. "Identifying patterns of PE-related injuries is the first step toward preventing them. Injury prevention education should be made a priority for all PE activities, especially for those activities with the highest injury rates."

 

This is the first published study to examine PE-related injuries on a national level. Data for this study were collected from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which is operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The NEISS dataset provides information on consumer product-related and sports and recreation-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments across the country.

 

Injury Prevention and Youth Performance Training

Posted on: July 22nd, 2009 by IYCA 1 Comment

 

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Youth Performance Training,/h1>

 

So here’s where I chime in.

 

Want the truth from my perspective?

 

Blunt and to the point as usual….

 

 

Injury prevention and youth performance training is the same thing.

 

 

When working with young athletes in a well-designed developmental
process, the goal is simply skill acquisition and advancement.

 

Done correctly, injury prevention and performance gains take care of
themselves.

 

Now, this is in stark contrast to much of the industry who pontificate
about specific "6-Week Injury Prevention Programs" or "8-Week Off-Season
Speed Training Programs"

 

A well-designed developmental system of training involves little more than
teaching skill, progressing the skill and then subsequently applying it
to specific patterns or sports when required.

 

Biomotor gains (i.e. speed, strength, flexibility increases) occur naturally
as a bi-product of such a system.

 

So to does injury prevention.

 

When technique and force application is taught correctly and in a progressive
manner, efficiency of movement, systemic strength and range of motion increases
happen naturally.

 

When young athletes move better, are stronger head to toe and have full, complete
ranges of motion through joints, they are naturally less likely to incur injury.

 

It really is just that simple.

 

But do you know how to construct a fully developmental and progressive
training system?

 

Do you understand fully what sorts of training stimulus are necessary at certain
ages in order to maximize athletic performance?

 

Maybe it’s time to look very seriously at my Complete Athlete Development
System.

 

More than 10,000 young athletes worldwide, Coaches, Trainers and Parents
haven’t been wrong.

 

Click on the link below to see what I mean –

 

www.CompleteAthleteDevelopment.com

 

 

‘Till next time,

 

Brian

 

 

 

ACL Young Athletes Injuries Revisited

Posted on: July 21st, 2009 by IYCA 12 Comments

 

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Young Athletes Injuries

So yesterday I offered you a bevy of information from Erin Perry.

 

But as always, I want to hear from you.

 

IYCA Members are among the most talented and intelligent in the field
today and trust me when I say that I learn from each and every one of them.

 

Click on the link below, head over to my blog and tell me your thoughts
about ACL prevention.

 

Specifically…. What are we doing wrong?

 

How can we curb the increasing problem of ACL young athletes injuries?

 

What has to change at the Coaching and Training level to make this
happen?

 

The IYCA isn’t just about dispensing information.

 

It’s about giving our Members a voice.

 

Let’s change the industry for the better together.

 

Please, leave me your thoughts below

 

 

Youth Speed Training Exposed

Posted on: June 4th, 2009 by IYCA 3 Comments

 

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Youth Speed Training Mistakes

Everyone claims to be an ‘expert’ don’t they?

 

It’s the one title that I truly can’t stand.

 

And I say that because there are very few real experts in the industry of
fitness and sports training.

 

Gray Cook comes to mind as one of them.

 

So to does Alwyn Cosgrove, Al Vermeil and Carlo Alvarez.

 

Experts all.

 

Easy to spot on expert, too. They’re the ones who have a major track record
of success when it comes to training athletes, but are also ALWAYS on the
lookout for stuff they don’t know.

 

Lifelong learners.

 

That to me is what defines an ‘expert’.

 

The greatest expert I know in terms of youth speed training and agility training is a man that
I am 100% sure you know.

 

Lee Taft.

 

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A Lesson on Youth Sports Injuries

Posted on: April 20th, 2009 by IYCA 10 Comments

Youth Sports Injuries Can Be Avoided

Jim Ochse is an athletic trainer and strength and conditioning coach at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa. He serves as athletic trainer for the women’s Volleyball, men’s and women’s cross-country, women’s tennis, and baseball.

During the summer, Jim presents SAQ camps for athletes from 10-18 years of age in northeastern PA.

IYCA: What’s your background in youth sports and athletics? Have you worked with young athletes?

JO: I started out as a Health and Physical Education teacher for K- 6 for several years, but was disenchanted in how physical fitness was instituted in the educational system. I then became certified as an athletic trainer and have covered all aspects of youth sports for the past 22 years. I serve as a volunteer coach for soccer, basketball, and baseball for my local youth association. During the regular school year from September to May, my main responsibility is to the college athletes at DeSales University in Pennsylvania ; however, I do talks and clinics whenever possible to youth, and have a few personal training clients that I collaborate with. During the summer months I direct a number of Speed, Agility, and Quickness camps in my local area for youth from ages 10-18. I also do one day seminars on running, and other topics such as how to incorporate stability ball training to their strength programs.

IYCA: There are a lot of coaches, parents, and even trainers who treat young athletes as if they were "little adults." What I mean by that is they will take the training routine of a superstar athlete and use it as a guide when working with youngsters. Why, if at all, should we warn them against that kind of training?

JO: I see this mentality used by both parents and youth coaches, and obviously, this type of mentality is not appropriate for developing athletes. A training routine for youth should be individualized for that particular athlete. A young athlete is not mature enough physically, psychologically, or emotionally to even perform the same type of training as an adult. They do not have the base of aerobic/anaerobic conditioning that a more mature athlete has acquired, nor should they attempt a strength program that is meant or written for an adult. With their growth plate still immature, performing strength exercises for mature athletes may predispose them to unnecessary injuries. Weight training does have its place among young athletes; however, emphasis should be place on light weights, proper form and techniques, an implemented by a well qualified coach or personal trainer.

IYCA: The age old debate is "How old should an athlete be before beginning to lift weights." What’s your view on that controversial topic?

JO: I go along with the NSCA position on weight lifting. I believe that children can even be taught Olympic type weight lifting techniques, but not use extremely heavy weights. In fact, most of my teaching at this level is with either a broomstick or at most a light barbell. I even have my 8-year daughter lifting light dumbbells, and even perform modified pushups on a Swiss Ball, and performing abs curls. Physiologically youth athletes physiologically are not capable of withstanding great weights, due to their anatomical structure and rate of maturity. I use a lot of body weight exercises such as squats, lunges, and step ups. I use upper body exercises such as push-ups, chin-ups, and resistance bands, in place of weights. I want to make sure that the young athletes have the proper techniques down. When they are older, they can worry about increasing their resistance training.

IYCA: Using your ideals, could you define "functional conditioning" for us?

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The Young Athletes Injury Prevention Lie

Posted on: September 8th, 2008 by IYCA No Comments

 

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Young Athletes Programming Do Reduce Injuries

You can’t build a house on quicksand.

 

You just can’t.

 

When the base isn’t sturdy, the structure is bound to
topple.

 

And that’s the only real lesson you need to understand
when it comes to injury prevention for young athletes.

 

It’s all in building a foundation.

 

From the ground up.

 

As Trainers and Coaches, our entire obligation when
working with younger athletes (6 – 13 years old) is to
fill them with as much athletic knowledge as possible.

 

Nothing ‘sport specific’.

 

Nothing ‘position specific’.

 

Just a full and complete warehouse of information.

 

Force production and absorption.

 

Speed and agility skill.

 

Lift mechanics and positioning.

 

Teaching young athletes how to perform these critical
elements of sporting success in the undeniable key
to the becoming champions.

 

But it’s also the most important factor in preventing
injuries as well.

 

And that is one of the main issues we have wrong in
this industry.

 

True injury prevention does not come in the form of
6-week programs geared towards lessoning the risk of
certain incidents.

 

Real injury prevention occurs naturally as a secondary
result of proper developmental training.

 

It is not an isolating issue that needs to be addressed
separately.

 

Case in point, I was reviewing an ‘ACL Prevention’
program offered by a local hospital last week and saw
the curriculum they teach their young athletes during
this 6-week course:

 

a. Deceleration Techniques

b. Jumping and Landing Mechanics

c. Proper Strength Training Technique

 

Is there anything in there that shouldn’t automatically
be included in a well designed athletic development
training system?

 

What denotes this specifically as an ‘ACL Prevention’
program?

 

A good friend and colleague mine, Alwyn Cosgrove, is
found of saying, "If it isn’t injury prevention that
doesn’t that make it automatically injury promotion?"

 

Alwyn’s comment is meant to make you think.

 

All quality training programs should be based on
preventing injuries.

 

If they aren’t, than they’re promoting them – which
doesn’t seem to make any sense.

 

In the case of young athletes (6 – 13), the most
critical factor in preventing injuries is in understanding
the science and practical application of coordination
development.

 

 

Balance

 

Spatial Awareness

 

Kinesthetic Differentiation

 

Rhythm

 

Movement Adequacy

 

 

How each of these commodities apply to a training
session.

 

How to create fun and engaging drills for each of them.

 

Why they are critical for both future performance and
injury prevention.

 

And it seems to me that when it comes to working with
younger athletes, very few Coaches and Trainers truly
seem to get it.

 

ACL and other debilitating injuries that occur in the
teenage years can be prevented by applying the right
kind of exercise stimulus while athletes are still
very young.

 

Maybe worth looking at a resource that is considered
one of the greatest information products ever produced
when it comes to the training and development of young
athletes.

 

Complete Athlete Development has been field tested on
more than 15,000 young athletes worldwide and changed
the lives of countless Coaches, Trainers and Parents.

 

I’ve been coaching for 13 years now.

 

Not one major injury suffered to a single athlete
yet.

 

Could be chance.

 

Maybe I’m just lucky.

 

Or perhaps there’s some stuff about injury prevention
that you need to know better?

 

Have a look at Complete Athlete Development and find out –

 

http://www.developingathletics.com/cad-short-copy.html

 

Over 3.5 million young athletes will get injured playing sports
this year in the United States alone.

 

Tragic but largely preventable.

 

Give CAD a try –

 

http://www.developingathletics.com/cad-short-copy.html

 

 

‘Till next time,

 

Brian

 

Young Athletes And Injuries

Posted on: August 10th, 2008 by IYCA No Comments

I had an absolutely amazing meeting yesterday about Young Athletes.

 

It was with Scott Hopson – the international Director of

Education for Power Plate.

 

Known widely as ‘vibration training’, Scott wanted to get

together with me in order to discuss the potential of using

vibration training with young athletes.

 

Now, I have only known Scott for a few months, but already

understood him to be an exceptionally intelligent man and

someone who I respect a great deal.

 

Having said that – I had my reservations about the meeting.

 

I am a traditionalist to the core when it comes to creating

training programs and developmental strategies for young

athletes, and I really wasn’t terribly convinced that

vibration training would have much of a place in my system.

 

Boy was I wrong!

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to change directions with

my career or add a new component to my training systems,

but my meeting with Scott taught me a lot about something in

particular….

 

…. I have been right for a long time.

 

We talked about nervous system fatigue and its impact on

progressing a young athletes’ ability.

 

We discussed the importance of creating proper habitual

patterns of movement and the role that has sporting success.

We shared our views on over-training parameters and the effect that can have on young athletes injury potential.

Scott offered his perspective and I offered mine.

 

And we were in full agreement with each other.

 

In fact, the conversation drew me back to an experience I

had earlier that day with one of my Young Athletes.

 

Britney is a 14 year old soccer player who is currently

attending my summer development camp.

 

And yesterday morning, she came looking tired, pale and

extremely low energy.

 

After chatting with her and her Mom about what was the

matter, I found out that for the past few nights, Britney

had been trying out for a new soccer team and that each of

the 2-hour practices had involved nothing more than wind

sprints and various forms of ‘agility’ training.

 

Her new Coach, it seems, considers this time of year to be

the ‘pre-season’ and so was working at increasing the level

of his athlete’s ‘mental toughness’ and ‘conditioning’.

 

And this is the kind of crap that goes on day-in and day-out

worldwide with respect to young athletes and sport.

 

Coaches who don’t know.

 

Trainers who don’t get it.

 

And the troubling part is that it really is a simple equation.

 

Any sort of training stimulus sends the body into a

state of catabolism (a breaking down phase).

 

If the training was not too tough and in accordance with

proper recovery strategies (sleep, nutrition etc) the body

will ‘bounce’ from this catabolic state and become anabolic

(a building up phase).

 

But the primary factor necessary for this to happen is the

‘toughness’ of the training.

 

And I’ve got to tell you, we absolutely stink at this particular point.

 

We make things hard all the time for our young athletes and

truly believe that if they aren’t sweating or near

exhaustion, the training session just wasn’t worth the time.

 

Nothing and I am nothing could be farther from the truth.

 

That’s not to say you don’t train your Young Athletes hard

from time to time or create enough bodily stress in order

to create an adaptation – you certainly do.

 

But it’s the mindless attention we pay to the ‘hard’

component of our training programs that need a serious

second look.

 

On this topic specifically, here’s what you’re going to

learn in Complete Athlete Development:

 

1) Why training sessions that last more than 50 minutes are

a bad idea for teenage athletes.

 

2) How to create a training system that keeps your young

athletes getting faster, stronger and more flexible without

the risk of over-training them.

 

3) How to design speed and strength programs that are

exactly what young athletes need – in the right doses and

using the correct form.

 

You know, many Trainers want to earn a living working with

young athletes.

 

Several Coaches want to know what’s best so they can create

championship teams.

 

Most Parents will shell out thousands on dollars in order

to ensure the sporting success of their children.

 

And yet just over $200 for a complete system that shows you

all of that is considered ‘not worth it’ by some.

 

Honestly, I don’t think I understand that.

 

Give Complete Athlete Development a try for a risk-free

365 days and see the power of what you don’t know –

 

http://www.developingathletics.com/cad-short-copy.html

 

Because what you don’t know is destroying our young athletes.

 

‘Till next time,

 

Brian