Sport System Alignment and Integration

The need for LTAD arises in part from the declining international performances of Canadian athletes in some sports and the difficulty other sports are having in identifying and developing the next generation of internationally successful athletes. In addition, participation in recreational sport and physical activity has been declining and physical education programs in the schools are being marginalized.  

 LTAD is a vehicle for change. It differs from other athlete development models because it acknowledges that physical education, school sports, competitive sports, and recreational activities are mutually interdependent.  

LTAD also positively affects the quality of training and competition by taking into consideration factors such as developmental age and critical periods of optimal trainability. It builds athletic ability beginning with a foundation of fundamental movement skills and introduces fitness and sport skills at the appropriate developmental age. Figure 2 illustrates the recommended support system interrelationship between physical education, recreation, and podium performance.  

LTAD stands in sharp contrast to the current Canadian sport system. Traditionally, physical education in the schools, recreational sports, and elite sport have been developed separately. This approach is ineffective and expensive. It fails to ensure that all children, including those who may choose to become elite athletes, are given a solid foundation and knowledge base — physical, technical, tactical, and mental — upon which to build their athletic abilities.  

LTAD is an inclusive model that encourages individuals to get involved in lifelong physical activity. It does this by connecting and integrating physical education programs in the school system with elite sport programs and with recreational sport programs in the community. LTAD ensures that all children correctly learn the fundamental movement skills — since all children attend school — and that these skills are introduced during the optimum point in their physical development, which is prior to age 11 for girls and age 12 for boys. Children who are physically educated in the LTAD way will:

 

• feel confident and be encouraged to continue to build on these skills through competitive and recreational sport activity. 

   

   

• enjoy overall health benefits by developing greater physical literacy, which encourages them to be more physically active throughout their lives. Increased activity reverses the current trends in childhood and adult obesity and cardiovascular disease. 

   

   

• discover a pathway to competition and excellence at the international level.

Figure 2. Circle of a Physically Active Life

There is another important reason why Canada needs LTAD. In past decades, we have at times attempted to patch the gaps in our sport system by borrowing concepts and systems from countries that have been achieving international athletic success. As an example, during the 1970’s and 1980’s, Canada tried to adapt elements from the Soviet Union and later from the German Democratic Republic. Prior to and immediately after the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, many suggested that Canada should try to emulate the Australian sport model. However, for Canadian athletes to achieve international sporting success, Canada must develop a made-in-Canada system that is based on our own culture, traditions, and geography and reflects our social, political, and economic realities. The Canadian LTAD approach attempts to do just that.  

LTAD consists of 7 stages.  

The first 3 encourage physical literacy and sport for all:

1. Active Start

2. FUNdamentals 

3. Learning to Train  

The next 3 focus on excellence:

4. Training to Train

5. Training to Compete

6. Training to Win  

The final stage encourages life-long physical activity:

7. Active for Life  

Figure 3 illustrates an individual’s participation in lifelong physical activity, emphasizing the transition from the first 3 LTAD stages to either excellence, life-long participation in the same sport, or remaining active for life in another activity.

Figure 3. Participation in Life-long Physical Activity (Way et al, 2005)