Archive for “Young Kids” Tag

Sport Specific Youth Training: Part 2

Posted on: March 9th, 2011 by IYCA 2 Comments

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Sport Specific Youth Training Principles

The following are some guidelines for training and developing figure skaters from an athletic and functional perspective:

Promote concepts of multilateral development. This is a hard pill to swallow within the world of figure skating due to the fact that many coaches, parents and trainers are interested in pushing the limits with young kids in the hopes of national and international success. Your job as a parent or coach with young skaters is to introduce them to as much athletic stimulus as possible.

The nervous system of a young athlete is malleable and requires input to develop optimally. If you are prescribing little more than basic fitness and on-ice type movements, you are robbing the child of potential athletic growth and limiting his or her prospective success. Look at Kurt Browning and Elvis Stojko respectively – one played hockey the other took martial arts. Diversity contributes to athletic success not hinders it.

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Train a Group of Young Kids With Different Abilities

Posted on: November 7th, 2010 by IYCA 4 Comments

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Is it really possible to effectively train a group of young kids with varying levels of

ability at the same time?

What if some of them were highly skilled in movement aptitude while others (in the same group) had Autism?

Watch this fascinating ‘practical’ video from 2010 IYCA Trainer of the Year, Dave Gleason, and see for yourself:

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Childhood Obesity: The Threat To Youth Fitness

Posted on: October 28th, 2009 by IYCA 21 Comments

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Childhood Obesity

Liz D:

I’ve posted a question on a local moms forum asking what parents think are the root causes of Childhood Obesity/inactivity.

Certainly the typical ideas came forth: too much fast food, lack of exercise, not getting kids engaged in good habits early.

One idea did strike me and I’ve heard other moms tell me this. Heck, I even live this circumstance now:

One serious threat to youth activity is the lack of safety in our neighborhoods. We have so much access to information that we know when a sex offender moves into the ‘hood. We also hear about creeps on the news and evildoers who have even taken a child, hand-in-hand away from her backyard to bring her off premises.

With all this scary stuff afoot, moms and dads are definitely afraid to give their young kids especially too much liberty outside.

Has anyone ever polled parents to see if this comes up? Heck, for you IYCA parents out there, is this a factor in your life? Is organized sports the only recourse people see? Is there a solution to this or at least a good rib-tickling one-liner I can give these people? (Just goofing there)

Please chime in on your ideas.

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Youth Sports Conditioning Goal Confusion – Part 2

Posted on: March 30th, 2009 by IYCA 6 Comments

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Youth Sports Conditioning Principles

Soccer is no different than any other sport at the youth level – and I am not
inferring that anyone suggested otherwise – but every youth coach of every
sport, seems to think that the technical nuances of their sport are some how
more intricate or specialized than the skills of other sports… and that is not
the case.

And you can replace ‘Soccer’ with ‘Baseball’, ‘Basketball’ or any other sport
in the above paragraph.

The point of the Goal Confusion article can be summed up in one sentence –

Coaches and Trainers must learn how and when to apply certain teaching
techniques and when to let kids ‘learn’ things for themselves – and that is
especially true when we design drills in which we tell our players that the
success of a drill is based on the outcome rather than the form.

If you have been a subscriber for any length of time, you know exactly how
I feel about teaching skill – it is imperative and an ability that frankly, many
Coaches and Trainers lack (when in consideration of pedagogical science
and individual player temperament).

Having said that, by not letting young kids simply ‘have at it’ on their own
once in a while or at certain phases of development, we risk limiting free
nervous system adaptability at large – and this has been a prevalent problem
in North American sports for years.

We over-teach our youngsters and do not allow them free exploration
(which is at the crux of sport development) but then marvel at how much
more ‘naturally skilled’ international athletes often tend to be.

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Why We Confuse Our Young Athletes

Posted on: February 25th, 2009 by IYCA 16 Comments

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Young Athletes Correct Coaching

Soccer is no different than any other sport at the youth level – and I am not inferring that anyone suggested otherwise – but every youth coach of every sport, seems to think that the technical nuances of their sport are some how more intricate or specialized than the skills of other sports… and that is not the case.

And you can replace ‘Soccer’ with ‘Baseball’, ‘Basketball’ or any other sport in the above paragraph.

Goal Confusion for young athletes can be summed up in one sentence –

Coaches and Trainers must learn how and when to apply certain teaching techniques and when to let kids ‘learn’ things for themselves – and that is especially true when we design drills in which we tell our players that the success of a drill is based on the outcome rather than the form.

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