by Dave Gleason
Setting short, medium and long term goals is the foundation for any action plan. Creating and attaining any goal is a process.
In the context of Goal Setting for young athletes, often a trainer or coach will direct the question of desired goal(s) by giving away the answers. A typical pre-exercise questionnaire will ask the young athlete (and/or parent) to choose from a list of goals ranging from speed, agility, strength and flexibility to injury resistance and more confidence.
This is a terrific start but we need to reach beyond this for our young athletes.
Developing a specific culture in your facility or programs is instrumental in differentiating what you do from your competition. Everything you do should point back toward the same ethos that your culture is built upon. Goal setting is no exception.
For a long term athletic development program this is critical. Can we honestly expect kids to stay in our programs for 2,3,5 or 10 years?
Setting up reward systems for young athletes will help them set and attain goals. All too often children are pressured to succeed merely for the sake of success.