Children’s Sport, Adult Lessons

The Telegraph ran an article last week titled “5 Ways To Make Your Kids Good At Sport” (Read here>), it was nicely written and a good overview of elite performance using research from adults who made it professionally. I have seen my fair share of aspiring Rugby players over the years after writing the Book Rugby Fitness Training: A Twelve Month Conditioning Plan back in 2006. The main points of the article were:

–More Unstructured Play Time – The more successful athletes had fewer coached hours, but more time learning by messing about, small-sided games, loads of touches, freedom to try stuff etc, all without coaches hovering around.

–Don’t Specialise Too Early – A favourite theme from Eastern bloc sports science still holds true, don’t lock into one sport too soon. Multiple sports builds broader skills, keeps it fun and lowers injury risk. The best kids still catch up later when they finally do focus.

–Let The Better Kids Play With Older Kids – The really good players should compete with older kids so the ability levels have become matched. This is what happens with Rugby in New Zealand where rugby is based on weight to avoid mismatches. This is a problem with youth sports, while both kids may be 13 on paper, one may be 15 in puberty terms while the other just 12. 

–Be Kind To End of Year Babies – While development age varies, age group sport has literal age difference where the children born at the end of the year are perhaps 11 months younger. The book Outliers, showed most age group national teams were heavily populated by those born at the start of the age group year. The article pointed out how Arsenal lost £150 million of talent having released two end of year age group academy players (Harry Kane & Eze).

Don’t Helicopter Parent – To no one’s surprise, those annoying touch line parents aren’t helping their kids. You should cheer, support, get them there on time but then let them breathe. Over-involved parents increase anxiety, kill enjoyment, and stops your kids thinking for themselves on the field. Asking questions after the game, not coaching from the touchline, is the way to go.

*********

Personally, I am not overly worried about elite level kids. The reality is they are the best in their year group, will be good at sport for the rest of their school life and then it is down to how they navigate adulthood like everyone else.

My main concern is normal children, every year I am sent a couple of teenagers who don’t really want to be there for a session or two. The problem is by that stage the damage has already been done. For a long time, I have been saying I reckon school P.E does more harm than good for fitness. From what I have seen from classes in Battersea park over the years it is just crowd control while teaching children to not enjoy exercise.

If I was in charge of all schools I’d separate out the kids who want to compete, are good at sports, and love exercise into one group. They can do traditional school sports. The rest I would put in another group and teach them to enjoy exercise. They would learn the basics of aerobic training, how zone 2 aerobic does not hurt yet gives massive benefits, how they can use higher intensities, yet in a way it does not hurt. I’d teach the same concept with strength training, how the basics do not hurt, how you can push it without pain. Finally, the basics of flexibility and how this again should never hurt but make you feel great. This would be life changing, they would have the skills to carry exercise on forever. This is of course easy for me to say, as I don’t have to actually put this into practice with a wild horde of children in front of me but still. 

********

These exact same skills is what every adult should also know but very few do, hence most people are very inconsistent with their exercise. In alignment with the article, if you do want to make your kids (or yourself) better at sport, here are four fun things you can do to help your movement skills, whether you do or don’t have kids, but if you do, then do it together:

Throw, Catch & Kick a ball – Hand eye co-ordination and predicting movement covers the basics of most sports. It is completely trainable, yet few do it. You should progress it based on your level. There are different options, throw the ball (try with right & left hands), catch the ball (one handed using both hands). Kick the ball to each other (using both feet). Throw a ball off the wall and catch it. In my experience, even people really good at sport become dreadful when they use their non dominant hand.  

Multi-direction movements – In every rugby club I have trained people, including the Swedish national team, I saw player’s movement patterns fall apart when they had to do all movement directions while still facing forwards, e.g. diagonal backward running etc. These basic multi-direction movements underpin sport. Practice by keeping your hips facing forwards at all times, then run a square, or diamond pattern. Alternatively, set out cones to run a + pattern, or X shape.

Jumps – These are the foundation of reactive strength, which underpins sprint speed, that affects most sports again. It is also great for bone density and general health. To do this simply try using different jumps, start two legged with simple jumps side to side, forward to back, or diagonal. These can be progressed to split or one legged over time. If your joints hurt doing this (knees, ankles etc) then you will need to sort them out first.

Find Your Zone 2 Exercise Thresholds – Perhaps the most important thing to do in all of exercise, finding a way to do fitness without it hurting (Often called zone 2 heart rate for aerobic fitness) and being ok with this lower intensity. School sport teaches children that exercise hurts, you probably think this is true too, you are wrong. You can make great progress without pain in both fitness and strength if you are consistent. You should also be able to learn how to push it a bit harder in a way that you don’t feel it is too challenging. The magic then happens over time, as your body begins to tolerate much more effort without you thinking it is hard, painful or an effort.  

What This Means For You

With or without kids you should try some of the above games and movement patterns to become better at sport, they are such good fun to do.

Photo – Me doing some rugby coaching in Brazil & the article mentioned —

Need Support Getting In Shape?

Changing your body on your own without support or an effective system usually ends in failure sadly. To avoid this outcome you can become one of my coaching clients either online or in person. I provide Holistic, Healthy & Sustainable Body Transformations. Contact me to discuss your goals further or see below for more details and the options available to you based on your location / preferences:

Worldwide (Online) – For transformations, coaching and support wherever you are in the world read more here>>>>

London (Battersea) – If looking for Personal Training Battersea please contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or Personal Training Battersea Park. To see my locations please visit my Battersea Personal Trainer page>> 

London (Oval / Kennington) – For Personal Training in Oval & Kennington please  contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or parks.

**************

Read My Book – The Grand Unified Theory of Weight Loss – My latest book is available in print, kindle/ebook and audio formats. You can read more about it and see where it is available here>>> 

Follow Me – You can get more great advice, tips, hacks and more by following me on one of my social media channels. Follow Me>>>

Instagram>> You Tube>>   Facebook>>  Twitter>> Tik Tok>>   My Weekly Newsletter>>

**************