Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Model, Stage 3 'Learning to Train'

Michael Jordan Jordan, M. (2019),

“Never say never because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” 

Whenever there is a roadblock in your way, it is mainly psychological. When you place some sort of mental roadblock, it becomes something to fear. You may doubt that you can reach the next goal or milestone, but that is just your mind playing little games on you (Jordan, M. 2019).

We, discussed about FUNdamentals in the last article where the major learning and area of focus is ‘FUN’, which should be an intrinsic reward for any child for participation in any sport or recreational activity, rather than parents pressuring their daughters or sons to pursue such activities, to get rid of their own problems conflicting with their objectives as well as intentions of their children. For many, it is a process. For some, it is a ritual.

While growing up, for me it was all about having the place to run around from one corner to the other, with all the energy pumped up from a long day at school, the homework and not having that sports-hour for the day. It was the way out to express myself and drain all that energy out. All of that, to get pumped up for the next day again not having that sports-hour and the homework. Playing any sport, for me has always been ‘A Way of Life’ rather than just another activity or any random task to be done.

Mike Singletary (Singletary, 2019),

“Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.”

That opportunity to play, makes a massive difference in the early stages of child development, through sports and recreational activities. For girls age group being 8-11 years and for the boy's age group being 9-12 years, children are all set to start formalized training methods, but at this stage as well the emphasis has to be on general sports skills suitable for the number of other activities and tasks pertaining to sports as well as day-to-day life. As parents, there is always a temptation to start excessive single-sport training as well as early positioning in any team sport, while this could end up over-developing the talent. This shows effects in the later stages of child development if the choice is a late specialization sport. Effects such as one-sided physical, technical and tactical development, which also increases the likelihood of injury and burnout. 

While learning to train, the focus must be on identifying sports and activities where the child can have fun with a taste of success, which can be achieved by narrowing down to 3 or 4 sports\activities throughout the year. If the child is inclined towards late specialization sport, it is the responsibility of the parents to monitor and contact the coaches to ensure, your child is ‘not’, over training, over competing or specializing too early.

The program should be developed in such a way, that training should be 70% of your child’s participation in any sport or activity and the remaining 30% should be formal competitions to gain experiences for further development. Parents should also ensure, the coaches\trainers are well trained and certified, and parents should also be encouraging their children in unstructured other than formal activities listed in the program. At this stage of child development, we as a society and parents should promote core values such as, 

Fun | Inclusion | Fairness.

Reason being, overall development of children to ensure we create better human beings while being a successful athlete. Using sports and recreation activities as a medium, towards building a better society, ‘For’ the younger generation. ‘By’ the younger generation. ‘With’ the younger generation.

For, long term athlete development (LTAD) to show its significance, the parents should also monitor their child’s development with constant support from the schools in terms of quality physical education along-side child training and development program to take up the respective sport as a professional career option.

Paul Bryant (Bryant, P. 2019),

“Winning isn’t everything, but it beats anything that comes in second.” 

As athletes we always must be on their toes, ready for competitions and challenges, not just from the sporting activity perspective but from societies point of view as well. Learning the art of training is a crucial step towards being a strong individual both physically and psychologically, on their way to become future World Champions and influencers for the society to look up to. Losing is part of this incredible journey, eventually one of the best teachers in sports.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Jabbar, K. 2019) said,

“You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.” 

Training to Train will be our next step towards getting the children involved extensively, with more specifics to be covered in order to get ready for their road to glory, being ‘The World Champion’ and make their country proud, their parents proud and their friends look up to them with respect and honor. As parents, coaches, mentors and sports managers, we should be constant reminders for the young champions to let go of the loss and focus on winning the upcoming challenges with the best they have.

Jimmy Connors Connors, J. (2019),

“I think my greatest victory was every time I walked out there, I gave it everything I had. I left everything out there. That’s what I’m most proud of.” 

Please Note:

This article was published on my LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/learning-art-training-hitesh-harry-mangtani/