Long Term Athletic Development
What is long term athletic development and what does it mean? Frankly, this day and age it does not mean much. Everyone is looking for the one camp, clinic, team, or exercise to make them an instantly better player. The days of kids being outside riding bikes, climbing trees or playing tag are a thing of the past. There are 5 reasons why we are failing to take the long term approach to athletic development. 1) Lack of practice/fundamentals. 2) Parents. 3) Trainers/Guru’s 4) Overtraining/Burnout 5) Sport Specialization
Practice….were talking about practice. Not a game, practice! – Allen Iverson
Now more than ever athletes only want to play in games, showcases or clinics, but the fact of the matter is everyone needs practice. Practice is where you push the limits to try and simulate a game. This is where you try out some new moves, jukes or plays. BUT this is not where you get recruited….and almost every athlete and their parents are trying to get their child recruited.
How about we play the long game and work on the fundamentals required to play sports. The ability to sprint/jump/throw is a great place to start. If you cannot sprint/jump/throw I can guess you will not be getting much playing time because every sport consists of some variation of each. Once you are able to do each of these then it is time to start working on the specifics of each sport….throwing with a stick, swinging a bat. Often, I see kids who play basketball just out shooting 3 pointers, but they fail to understand that Steph Curry didn’t become a great basketball player simply because he can make 3 pointers. Steph Curry is an elite level athlete that begins each day shooting inside the paint before working his way out. Steph is also a triple threat because he is an elite ball handler, passer and scorer which allows his to be such a threat from beyond the arc.
Parents
As someone who does not have kids…I cannot speak for myself, but most parents I talk to or have worked with tell me how great of an athlete their kids are. I am not saying their kids are not great athletes, but kids who get cut from teams or are not starting are quick to blame the coaches or tell me their kids are better than others…. but for some reason or another they aren’t playing. Are parents forcing kids to participate in sports they do not want to play in? Are parents giving their kids the option to play multiple sports? Are parents forcing their kids to work with trainers? At then end of the day if the kids do not want to be there do not waste your or their time. The athlete must want to be there for them to want to get better. The best learning environments are the ones where kids are having fun. Not the ones where they are being yelled and screamed at. Before you go sign your child up for another camp/clinic or travel team make sure you check with them and make sure they want to be apart of that commitment.
Trainers/Guru’s
As a sports performance coach myself I can speak on this topic. There is never a short list of personal trainers or gurus out there who are going to make your kid bigger/faster/stronger. Now, before I discuss this topic, I want it to be known that there are great trainers out there. What makes a great trainer? That is for you to decide. The one thing that is true across the board is there is a low barrier of entry to become a trainer. Just because the trainer played at a Division 1 school or was a high school or college All-American does not qualify them as a good trainer. What I feel makes a good trainer is someone who has the athlete’s best interest at heart, who the athletes enjoy being around and has a long-term athletic development plan for the athlete. Before you pick a trainer and spend top dollar on your kids make sure you give this trainer a chance to prove himself. There is nothing worse than over-paying for someone who does not have your kids’ best interest at heart.
Overtraining/Burnout
Is over training a real thing? Yes, it is.Usually over training can lead to burnout.This pertains to all age groups.As your kids get older into high school and college, they will not be able to recover at the same rate as young kids.If you look at some kid’s schedules, they are going to school five days a week.After that they are participating in after school athletics.From there some go and participate in travel team sports that are practicing 2-3 nights a week.On the weekend if kids are not already participating in game/games they will head to clinics or showcases or work with a sport specific trainer or a performance trainer.I take a step back and question myself when their time is off to recover from all this stress.Just like parents who work 5 days a week and get the weekend off, kids also need time off.Why do kids need off? For your body to regenerate and grow you need to recover.Another reason why is because kids need to be kids.At the college level once, the season is over athletes are given 2-3 weeks completely off, but high school kids go from one sport usually to the next.Be careful into how quick we rush our kids into the next season, practice, or training session.With day after day, month after month, year after year of constant non-stop training is usually when we see burnout becoming an issue.Again, let the kids decide how much they want to participate in…I promise we will all get more out of it that way.
Sports Specialization
Early onset sports specialization is becoming a pandemic. Earlier than ever kids are starting to participate in one sport year-round. As with anything to much can be bad. Playing multiple sports helps expose athletes to different movements and skills which helps lay down a foundation for long-term athletic development. You hear coaches like Nick Saban of Alabama say they like to recruit multi-sport athletes. Exposure to different age groups, skill sets, and backgrounds enhances competition and can fill up some buckets of athletic development that may have been empty prior.
In summary that is a macro level of long-term athletic development and characteristics that can directly affect it. On a micro level it comes down to coaches allowing time for development. If we look at NFL quarterbacks who are early round draft pick and forced by their fan base an organization to play early in their careers they usually struggle. Looking at guys like Sam Darnold who was forced into a system to perform and took some bumps along the way. Joe Burrow is another that comes to mind with a limited supporting cast and ended up getting injured in his rookie season. Was playing these guys in their first season best for long term development in the NFL. On the other hand, we look at a guy like Aaron Rodgers who sat his first few years and was able to learn a system and speed of the game through reps in pre-season and in practice. Development wise he has panned out okay. Let us make sure we are not in a rush because there are athletes who mature early and some who are late bloomers. Just like anything it takes time. For every high school freshman phenom who pans out there are athletes who do not. Therefore structing a long-term development plan is vital from there we can see where the chips fall.
Colin Masterson
@ColinMastersonPerformance