Youth athletic development and youth fitness are often talked about as “being important,” but truly understanding the foundations of these topics is critical if we’re going to make a difference in the lives of young people. IYCA contributor and co-founder of SPIDERfit Kids, Brett Klika, created this in-depth video for the IYCA to lay out some of the fundamental principles involved when working with athletes 6-10 years old.
In the video, Brett discusses youth athletic development and youth fitness in ways that most parents and coaches don’t fully understand. He lays out the concepts of motor development, games and play, fundamental movement skills, applied movement skills, body awareness, spatial awareness and more so that we can have a better understanding of how to integrate all of these factors into our training programs. Taking advantage of all of these concepts will allow coaches to create more engaging programs for young athletes that will also improve overall physical literacy.
In addition to being a featured presenter and contributor for the IYCA, Brett takes puts these principles into practice with his SPIDERfit Kids program as he works with kids on both youth athletic development and youth fitness. These aren’t just things he talks about – he has used these principles with thousands of young people.
This video will help you understand how to integrate information from the IYCA Youth Fitness Specialist certification with the concepts of game play and long-term athlete development. All of these concepts work together to help foster complete athletic development and youth fitness, but it’s often difficult to know how to incorporate all of this when you’re actually working with a young athlete.
Sometimes, great coaches shy away from working with young athletes because they don’t understand how to keep them engaged. Other times, it’s because these coaches simply don’t understand how to develop a young athlete. The more we learn about and understand the importance of youth athletic development and youth fitness, the more we will have quality coaches working with young people. Take a few minutes to watch this video on Youth Athletic Development Fundamentals and start integrating these concepts into your programming.