Recognizing Progress and The Importance Of Regular Physical Movement In The Development Of Our Youth.
We circle the web and share inspiration and knowledge to support a successful youth sport journey.
Inspiration comes in many forms.
While there have been significant knocks against the structure and substance of youth sport and lack physical activity, there continues to be very strong advocates in most communities that are providing leadership.
Here are some examples:
1. When teaching college in Montreal years ago, the Physical Education program at Dawson had more than team and individual sports (aka more than “gym class”). They had martial arts options, aquatic and dance options, fitness courses, and they had a variety of outdoor education courses students could pick for their PE credit. Hiking and mountain biking were 2 of the options I remember teaching and thoroughly enjoying.
What about geocaching, fat biking, ultimate frisbee, dragon boating, kite flying and ice fishing?
This Physical Education teacher in Montreal is teaching life skills by experiencing life skills.
2. Speaking of mandatory health and wellness courses, one of the reasons I left teaching was the removal of compulsory Physical Education from the curriculum. Those same mandatory courses that brought so much to student life were being eliminated. It was great to read about one college that is bringing this back and seeing tangible benefits as a result. The beauty of this at the collegiate level is this sets up a new wave of leaders around positive lifestyle choices.
When it comes to coaching and supporting youth sport, knowledge is power.
I have seen more damage done by lack of knowledge in a particular area than anything else.
With that in mind, lets set the foundation for passing on positive guidance based on knowledge rather than myths.
Exercise Benefits Learning
Ever wonder what all the fuss is about when discussing the benefits of regular physical movement? Specifically, how exercise can improve learning (at any age) ? This bring some pretty good examples to light
https://www.strengthcoach.com/resource/62df13398b92dfc3e40557bc
The Silver Lining to Injury Rehab
Injuries are not uncommon for young athletes, with some more common than others.
Rehabilitation for a young person requires persistence, consistency, patience and proper guidance. This applies to parents, coaches and athletes.
Empowering ourselves on the rehabilitative journey is part of the support network that we , as adults can help with.
Here is an example of pro basketballer Stephanie Talbot going through the rehab process from ACL (knee) injury. While it dives into details, this article is digestible for us non-rehab professionals. The 9 month journey taxes even the elite, so having to overcome at the youth level is even more challenging. Some great insights here on multiple levels.
https://www.thenexthoops.com/wnba/inside-the-stephanie-talbot-journey-back-to-basketball/
https://www.thenexthoops.com/features/inside-stephanie-talbot-journey-back-to-basketball-2/
Injury Prevention
When my son told me he wanted to focus more and more on baseball (he was 14), I had 1 strong recommendation for him : learn how to build up your body to meet the demands of the sport.
8 years later, as a college athlete, physical training has not only become a staple in his life but it seems to be a calling as he is studying how to help others in this area post studies. While we witness(ed) many of his teammates get discouraged by having to sit out due to wear and tear injuries, he has benefited from consistently preparing his body over time.
While this is just one example, the preparation of our young athletes is major business as we have documented before. Navigating proper preparation as parents and skills coaches is critical in supporting our kids.
Let’s follow the ACL story with one on prevention.
While rehabilitation of a serious injury is a major undertaking, prevention is a recipe that many parents are not able to evaluate in the programming/training of their young athlete. As parents, and sport coaches, we need to know more what is being done during training time. There is no license required to be a strength and conditioning or physical preparation coach. The Physical Movement has covered how to evaluate such coaches here, but further to that with the ACL example.
Here is a great reference on ACL injury prevention: https://www.strengthcoach.com/resource/62df13348b92dfc3e4055770
While we are speaking of prevention, here is some great info around resistance training for kids.
Resistance Training with Kids
Some tips if you are struggling with evaluating resistance and progress with kids and appropriate resistance:
https://www.strengthcoach.com/resource/62df13388b92dfc3e40557a6
Mistakes in Training Young Athletes: (one of our most read articles)
