Today, competitive youth sports are being played…pre-Covid…year round. Girls and boys sports have allowed families to come together to enjoy all the emotional experiences that arrive during athletic competition. Moreover, these programs also tend to emphasise a fitness progression component within them. Unfortunately, the fitness returns will in time become limiting for the sport(s) all young athletes love to play.
Why?
The programming that goes into these repetitive weekly practices lack the makings of how Physiology can directly assist raising the playing value of a young developing athlete.
What is Sports Physiology?
Sports Physiology is how the strategy of exercises can alter the function and structure of the body, taking into account the sporting demands and characteristics required to be successful at the highest level of competition.
How does this translate during practice?
Quality over quantity. If they have been playing their same sport consistently, then they are ready to move into how their skills can transfer over to new strategies and challenges. That is unless they have also picked up repetitive stress injuries a long the way, which is another reason why Physiology must be introduced sooner than later to avoid non-necessary injuries.
What should I be looking for?
Your child’s practices, over time, should become less focused on their specific sport and more on improving skills required within sports. For example, the varying extent of the energy systems that get used during competition, the directional changes when manoeuvring, without overtaxing the joint or their ligaments, the reactive processes of fast twitch muscle fibres when accelerating, and the force coupling demand when decelerating.
Can my child get this outside of practice?
The short answer is Yes! Your encouragement outside of practice to perform different activities that don’t directly relate to their sport can be a win-win opportunity. Going on a bike ride, hiking, indoor rock climbing, or at the very least, those simple chores around or outside the house can be a tremendous opportunity to practice movement and strategy. You can also search for local Athletic Clinics that can focus on **“filling the gaps” of your athlete.
What if my child is injured?
First and foremost, always seek out the insight of your Primary Physician, so at the very least you may become better aware of what you are dealing with going forward. Once all said and done, you can research for a Strength and Conditioning Coach that has experience with programming young athletes.
Should my athlete just rest at home?
Rest is always good for the short term. However, the expectations to come back to the field at the exact same level (or even better) should not be expected. Each little injury will only add up and in time, become the limiting factor over their ability to play the sports they love.
Have any further questions or would like your athlete assessed? djsanidad@gmail.com, subject: My Athlete (Name)
**filling the gaps: a term used in Strength & Conditioning programming to address the physical (sometimes mental) limiting factors of an athlete, thus lessening their chance of injury while also heightening their capability for bettering lifelong performance.