Build balance, coordination, mental & emotional skills in young athletes

All junior athletes dream of reaching the heights of their sporting heroes. The globalization of sport had created sporting mega stars who enjoy a life of wealth, fame, success and the glossy lifestyle that is the envy of many. What we need to remember is that building the right foundations in our junior athletes takes time.

We are seeing an alarming trend in junior sport where it has become popular to push our juniors from an early age with excessive hours of practice and exhausting competition schedules. Growth and development are a slow process and cannot be rushed, despite many sports offering elite performance programs for primary aged children.

Early success in sport does not guarantee a professional career. Early growers will often enjoy success in junior sport purely because they are bigger and stronger than their peers in that age group. Increasing training loads to fast-track success only imposes greater risks of injury and burnout.

Build Strong Foundations.

Strong foundations are the key to building athletic bodies and they include encouraging kids to play a multitude of sports in their junior years. Physical aspects of strength, balance, coordination and endurance can all be developed in children, and finding the right balance between organized training and fun activities is crucial.

Despite the temptation to spend extra hours on sport specific practice it is more important to look at the overall week for the athlete and the demands on their time from a physical, mental and emotional aspect.

Strength training for juniors is an excellent option because a skilled coach will focus on building strength through the pelvis and core first, which will facilitate overall strength development. If you look at a skeleton, the pelvis, spine and rib cage are significant, so we need to build strength from the inside out, to create a strong and stable body. These changes are not always easily visible, so we tend to look at legs, shoulders and arms for visible strength improvement and muscle size. But no amount of muscle size and strength in arms and legs will improve performance without a strong pelvis and torso complex.

Strong young bodies must be able to exert power for performance, but they must also have the ability to absorb force, which is why the pelvis and torso complex must be developed first. Elements of force absorption include impact on

bones, muscles and joints from ground reaction force when landing in running and jumping and also physical contact from other athletes in sport.

Build Balance & Coordination.

Balance and coordination are entwined with strength development as they allow the athlete to feel in control of their bodies in motion, which is essential for performance. Too often we see junior athletes carrying injuries, many of which are preventable. When injury does occur, thorough management and rehabilitation are essential for correcting any imbalances or stability issues. Left unchecked these issues can become significant problems that impair and reduce performance potential.

Build Mental & Emotional Skill.

The components of physical performance must be combined with mental and emotional skill development because physical performance will never produce success in isolation. Once again, mental and emotional development takes time, and each individual is unique. These elements cannot be rushed. No amount of physical work will produce results if the athlete is not mature enough or ready to be actively engaged in their development.

This is proven every day when we see junior athletes with outstanding physical talent, who are driven from an early age, fail to reach elite status due to injury, burnout or mental health issues. Building strong foundations throughout the development phase builds the strongest and best, both physically and mentally. Junior athletes need to develop a solid perception of self and be comfortable with their lives outside of sport. The biggest issues arise when we see athletes who rely solely on their identity as an athlete and weigh their self-worth on the win/loss results.

Once again building strong foundations is crucial throughout the growth and

Success in life is more important than success in sport.

development phase. Take time to get the foundations right. In nature a skinny sapling grows tall quickly but is vulnerable to the environment and will blow over in a storm. However, the oak tree will take time develop, growing a large foundation of roots to hold it in place and will weather even the biggest storms for many years.

Jane Kilkenny has over 25 years’ experience in health and fitness. She specialises in exercise for kids and teenagers having trained at the Children’s Hospital Institute of Sports Medicine (CHISM) Westmead NSW in 2004. She is also a High-Performance specialist and a Level 4 IAAF athletics coach. Jane can be contacted via her website.