Over the last 20 years, there has been a push inΒ youth sportsΒ to spend any and all available practice time on developing specific sport skills at the expense of developing all-around athleticism. You would think that, with all this specialized practice in one sport, we would be seeing a generation of superstars. In fact, itβs just the opposite: Injury and burnout rates are at an all-time high.
I have seen young athletes as young as 8-9 years old competing at a regional and national level for their perspective sports, and yet they cant do basic things like :
1. Balance on one leg
2. Complete an honest pushup
3. Never learned to fall correctly.
Amazingly these skills don't require special training.
Proper general movement training can go a long way toward helping improve overall athleticism. Movement sessions for children should be fun, engaging, challenging, and most importantly, semi-organized. Between school and sports, children spend their entire day in an organized setting being constantly told what to do. A good training program will let young athletes develop their own style of movement to be able to solve movement problems in their own unique way. Children develop this movement sense by practicing, exploring movement, and trying things out.
#LTAD
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