Posted on March 27, 2018 by Jenny Cromack

Something a little different from me this week… With Jenny a month or so away from giving birth to our first Motive8 North baby. I thought it a good opportunity to talk about athletic development and training for children, young people and teenagers. But what will I cover…?

– Difference between youth and adults
– Physical literacy
– Holistic development

So, to answer your question….What has this got to do with me? Even if you don’t have children it may still be relevant, maybe your nephew is keen on sport, maybe your younger sibling has started training or maybe (like me) you just want to know what you could have done in your youth to excel in a sporting or physical environment.

Difference Between Youths & Adults

  • When training the younger age groups, it is important remember it is not the same as training adults, they aren’t just ‘mini-adults’. They need a different approach, sometimes more encouragement etc.
  • Moreover, exercises and programmes need to be competitive and fun. Therefore, it is sometimes important to training in small or large groups – competition adds that element of fun straight away.

Physical Literacy

For me the key point to get across, is that youth athletes should have a good physical literacy and all-round athleticism. Just because they are playing one or two sports – does not mean that they just need to focus on the main physical qualities required to play these sports. They need be great all-round athletes – with a specific skill set for the sport they play. What are the key physical qualities I would look for in long term athletic development?

  • Whole body strength
  • Uni-lateral force control
  • Trunk Stability
  • Linear or non-linear speed/acceleration
  • Mobility
  • Aerobic capacity

Holistic Development

Although all of the above is vitally important – personally the physical development is only half of the battle…I believe in a holistic approach to developing children so yes they should do the correct exercises, but also they should developing in nutritional knowledge, recovery strategies and most importantly they should be developing as people. There is no point having a great athlete that is not a great person… A great read for this is the following book 

I hope this blog gives an overview to long term athletic development, and give you something to think about it you think you have a budding athlete in your family.