A New Approach?

Canada’s progress in Long-term Athlete Development is starting to change the way some organizations think about developing physical literacy. Groups of sports are collaborating to introduce young children to all aspects so that they can later enter any of these sports for healthy recreation or to develop sport excellence.

Some local recreation organizations and sport facilities are offering young children the opportunity to sign-up for year-round programs that combine exposure to a number of different sports. This improves the range of physical literacy skills that children develop, heightens their all-round athletic development, and promotes experimentation with different sports.

With creative thinking, local recreation providers and groups of national sport organizations could put together programs such as:

• Introduction to ball games – teaching throwing, hitting, catching, passing and kicking skills.
• Introduction to hitting games – teaching children to hit stationary and moving objects with a variety of bats and racquets.
• Introduction to being “on-the-water” – making children safe and comfortable around boats and introducing them to the idea of propulsion.

Physical literacy – The key to an active healthy life and to sporting excellence

Recent research suggests it is healthier to be overweight and active than to be of normal weight and inactive. It is critical that children develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help them stay active throughout their lives.

A child’s movement confidence develops gradually. They constantly compare their own level of ability against the children with whom they play. Physically literate children who move with skilful purpose KNOW they move well. This confidence encourages them to try new activities without fear.
To develop the highest levels of sporting excellence in late specialization sports requires about 10 years of deliberate practice. Only once a range of athletic abilities has been refined can specialization occur.

Early overspecialization in a single sport can lead to a failure to become physically literate, to poorer overall performance than would otherwise be the case, and to injury, burnout and early retirement from sport.

Early vs. late developers

Not all children enter adolescence at the same age, and children take different lengths of time to complete the process. Children who enter adolescence early generally pass through it quicker.

The process starts at about age 10-11 for girls and about two years later for boys. It usually takes three to four years to complete. Some 12-year-old girls will have almost completed the physical changes of puberty as others begin. For boys the greatest range of development is in 14-year-olds.

Late developers experience a prolonged period of time between learning fundamental movement skills and the onset of adolescence (see Figure 10). The longer a child is in this Learn to Train stage, the better developed their skills can become.

The challenge in sport for late and early developers

Males: Male late developers are often at a disadvantage, especially in sports with age group competitions. As their peers go through puberty, late developing males find themselves much smaller and physically weaker. This often leads to dropout.

Early in adolescence, early developers are bigger, stronger and faster than their peers. However, as late developers go through their longer, more sustained growth spurt, they eventually catch up with and surpass the early developers. As their initial advantages diminish, early developers are more likely to drop out.

Females: For females, the situation appears to be reversed. The rapid growth of breasts and hips, along with social pressures to discontinue sport involvement, can cause early developers to drop out early in their teen years. Late developing females, who have had success with their prepubescent bodies, face similar difficulties when older.

It also matters when in the year your child is born

Depending on when in the year your child is born, they could always be the oldest or youngest in their age group.

Children who are always the oldest tend to be bigger, stronger and more skilled. Coaches seem to give older players more playing time and coaching – which gives those players better opportunity to advance.

In 2007 more than 13% of hockey players who were drafted in major junior hockey were born in January, and only 4% in December. This is called the relative age effect. Parents need to work with minor sports to find ways to reduce the relative age effect. For example, age on date of competition rather than age at the start of the competitive season.