The Youth Fitness Difference

Posted on: June 27th, 2010 by IYCA 10 Comments

[wpfblike]

Youth Fitness

“Fitness” in Early Childhood: Part I

This article is Part I of a series by Dr. Kwame M Brown. There will be more to come, including details about programming and resources for our members.

I spend all day around preschoolers and parents. We have a great preschool here at Lee District RECenter in Franconia, VA and the teachers here are all about play! I don’t regularly work formally with the preschool children, but interact with them and play little games with them throughout the day as they bang on my window, or I see them in the hall, or play hopscotch with them on the sidewalk outside. Our teachers are wonderful all by themselves and don’t really need me that much.

I am often asked how to do fitness programs for kids at this age. The answer I often give is that the programming is easy: Combine outdoor play (mostly) lots of pretend play and obstacle courses. For older toddlers, you can begin adding simple tag games, crawling or hopping relays, and very simple throw, catch and kick games. There are tons of great activities available on the web for this age group.

The hard part: the teaching!

With this group you have to be in equal parts:

Understanding
Engaged / Energetic
Patient
Creative
Silly
Uninhibited
Authoritative (for safety only)

Running a fitness program for older children and teens is as much or slightly more about the personnel as the program. Running youth fitness programs for the preschool age is overwhelmingly about the personnel more than the program.

If you consider yourself a fitness professional, or a highly qualified coach, you may not be successful in running preschool program. If you, on the other hand, consider yourself a play partner, you can be incredibly successful. Kids will ask when they will see you again. My assistant and I have kids who run and jump into our arms when we see them! They know that we are having fun being with them. They know that we’re not there to get performance out of them, but to enjoy their play experiences alongside them.

Learn to Train Kids from 6 – 18 (Athletes & Non-Athletes Alike)…

…with the Youth Fitness Specialist – Level 1 certification

Kids Coaching: My Memories – Part 3

Posted on: August 23rd, 2009 by IYCA 2 Comments

[wpfblike]

Kids Coaching Triumphs

Justin was overweight, shy, awkward and without a shred of athletic
ability.

But he had a ton of passion.

Loved baseball.

And I mean loved everything about the game.

You could see the delight in his eyes and practically feel the joy
in his smile when he slid his glove on, picked up a Louisville
Slugger or laced up his cleats.

This was the kind of kid you flat out just enjoyed being around.

Not because he brought a tremendous amount of vocal energy to
the field, but because of the way he walked around a baseball
diamond in a trance-like, dream state that conveyed absolute bliss.

And what he taught me about coaching was, and is to this day,
one of the most important lessons I have ever had the pleasure
of learning.

Justin went from the shy kid who didn’t really have any friends on
his team, to a hero.

And he did it all by himself…

I won’t belabor this story or add too much in the way of detail.

I’ll just get straight to the point by saying this –

Every Child Has Currency

They’re all important.

They all have hopes, dreams and ambitions.

And most importantly…

They’re all good at something.

Part of the Art of Coaching is knowing how to create enough
of a wide-spectrum training system that allows each and everyone
of your young athletes to be "the best" on a particular day.

(more…)