Ryan J. Richmond, MS, USAW, CPT
Optimizing Your Performance
What is Long Term Athlete Development?
Athlete development is a complex, inconsistent and long term process that allows athletes to develop at chronological age, physiological age, and gender-specific ages. One of the most important terms in the previous sentence is ‘long term’. In its simplest terms, Long Term Athlete Development describes the things athletes need to be doing at specific stages of their life.
What Affects Athlete Development?
Parents and athletes have many influencing factors keeping them from developing safely and appropriately. We have it ingrained in our minds that we must be training year-round in order to be the best athlete in our sport. Again, so many social factors influence this drive to be the best at such a young age.
Social Media
Old School Thinkers
Directors / Coaches / Business Owners
Sport Recruiting Ages
Social Media
Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc. are overflowing with content that showcases an inordinate amount of training, coaching, and highlight reel plays. These videos, posts, pictures, and comments directly influence the thought process of our athletes. Now, taking a step back, we can say that some of it can be positive. Coaches and athletes that utilize these platforms as a means for education can grow in their field. An important idea to remember is that complexity does not equal results. Simplicity is key. Doing the little things correctly can make a world of difference when it comes to the big picture of skill development or physical development.
Old School Thinking
We all know this parent or coach that is stuck in their ways. “I played high school/college (Insert Sport), back then we did this. It helped us win a state championship. We need to do that.”. Unfortunately, that train of thought is somewhat destructive in the grand scheme of things. In the past 30 years, science, research and our knowledge base of sports performance, coaching, and sports medicine have grown. With that growth, there must also be a change in how we “operate”.
Often with age, comes experience. Experience shapes how we coach, communicate and develop our athletes. However, if we use age as our only means of communicating, such as the old school thinker, the results will not be in your favor. Everyone should be a student for as long as they live. Utilizing tools and resources from younger professionals can aid in the overall umbrella of your team or athlete development.
Directors/Coaches/Business Owners
As an entrepreneur, we are always looking for a way to grow our business. More people involved in our programs will lead to increased revenue and increased overall growth for that business model. The problem with this is that there is a conflict of interest in an athlete’s development. Let’s take ice hockey as an example. Ice hockey is unique because it has a limitation on where and when you can train that specific skill. “Ice-time” is sparse in many areas and the costs of operation is harrowing for most parents, athletes and coaches. The term “sport-specific training” has grown to become a lavish name thrown around for anyone wanting to be the next Sidney Crosby. Gyms, ice rinks, youth programs, and others utilize the off-season to continue to bring in revenue for their facility by hosting youth athletes for hours of training or developing a summer travel team that can “showcase” their son or daughter’s skills to the NHL scouts at the mini-mite summer showdown.
Now some facilities do operate programs that allow for skill development, social development and something to keep you busy for the summer. This is better than sitting on the couch all summer and could lead to positive outcome. Additionally, many camps or gyms offer off-ice training or in any other cases, strength and conditioning for their athletes. General preparation strength and conditioning at age appropriate levels can be extremely beneficial for developing a balanced and healthy body. Athletes that refuse to play another sport can utilize this as an opportunity to improve their sport. A well-rounded program will offer concepts in general athleticism and train the athlete in multi-planar movements, potentially improving their ability to avoid injury.
Recruiting Ages
A problem that is truly out of our hands as youth coaches, parents, or sports medicine professionals is the structure and culture of the sport itself. Recruiting varies sport by sport. Football is a later developmental sport. Many athletes progress through middle school, Freshman, JV and Varsity. This eventually takes them to college where a progression through the ranks begins again. Some sports follow a developmental progression but the culture of the sport has created a mental lapse in development due to early recruiting ages, expectations, drafts and verbal commitments.
Two sports that come to mind are gymnastics and ice hockey. Now, these are not the only two sports, but these two sports have high skill requirements and have early recruiting ages. Gymnastics, for example, develops elite teams as young as age 11.
Ice hockey follows a unique route in comparison to the other popular sports. Similar to gymnastics, elite teams are assembled at an early age. Travel hockey on elite teams establish an opportunity for exposure, development from non-parent coaches, off-ice training, and exposure to a variety of competitors. Tournaments for these teams allow for easy access for scouts to recruit for junior leagues, prep schools, and college teams. With junior leagues drafting athletes at the age of 15 and colleges offering verbal commitments around the same age, pressure to make these teams rise. The major problem with early recruiting is that these athletes may not develop properly. A lot can change in a few years. Often an athlete that is elite at the age of 14 may not continue to develop at the same rate as the average or even the below average athletes their age. In the grand scheme of things, the average rookie in the NHL is 23 years old. Many players that go undrafted, don’t have elaborate commitments, etc. go on to have long pro careers. Aside from professional sports, long-term athlete development can assist in injury prevention, allowing for athletes to take the appropriate steps up in levels of play that allow for physical, tactical, technical and psychological adaptations.
What To Do…
Take your time developing
Follow 3:1 practice-to-game ratio
Play multiple sports
Follow a well-rounded, strength and conditioning program
Have fun playing your sport!!
For more questions, comments or interest in beginning a sports performance program, please feel free to reach out to T3 Performance!