
Science, research and decades of experience all point to the same thing: children will become active, stay active, and even compete at elite levels of sports if they do the right things at the right time.
This is the logic behind Sport Canada’s Long-Term Development Framework. It takes athlete development step by step, without jumping over any crucial elements.
Sports as fun
In the FUNdamental stage, young children play and are active in structured and unstructured environments. It is during this period they develop fundamental movement skills and enjoy being physically active.
Learning to train
In the Learn to Train stage (U12 or Pee Wee or Bantam in team sports) kids should be participating in a wide range of sports, developing fundamental skills with activities geared toward fun.
Some training using body weight and simple equipment is appropriate. It’s very important not to over-specialize at this stage. The goal is to develop physical literacy: a combination of motivation, confidence and physical skills. This includes learning to move well and honing basic skills such as lunging, squatting, jumping and running.
Training to train, compete and win
In the teenage years, U14 and U16 levels, young athletes transition toward the Train to Train phase.
This is a critical phase for commitment to high performance. Key elements include skill refinement, introduction to free weights using good technique, mental preparation and principles of optimum recovery.
As teens mature, they will progress to the Train to Compete phase as well as Train to Win, specializing in one sport and competing at elite levels. It is here we see many young adults lose interest as competition becomes the focus.
We need to recognize (and accept) that competing is not necessarily the path all young athletes will follow. We should encourage our children to remain active and engaged in a sport or physical activity they enjoy, regardless of whether it involves a podium.
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