Did You Know?
By Brian Grasso

In lieu of an article or interview, I thought that I would hit you guys with some great information and solid insight into the training & development of young athletes -

• From a study published in the Swimming Science Bulletin. Authored by Brent S. Rushall & John Marsden.

  "The question of whether (young athletes) should specialize in particular sports at an early age has been asked for many years. The evidence now seems to support programming activities that develop overall capacities rather than specialized functions while the young athlete is growing".

  This is a fact that I have been preaching for many years. Contrary to popular belief, the BEST and MOST EFFICIENT means of developing a future champion is through slow progression and multilateral means.

• From a study published in the Swimming Science Bulletin. Authored by Brent S. Rushall & John Marsden.

  "If resistance training is to be done with children and young adolescents, exercises should involve sub-maximal loads, such as one's own bodyweight, light dumbbells, weighted bags and/or medicine balls. Sophisticated and restrictive weight exercises, particularly on machines, are not ideal for children".

  Did anyone read my article a few newsletters back on "Keeping Kids Off Weight Training Machines"? Did you get a chance to check out my interview with Ryan Lee at www.sportspecific.com on this very topic? Trainers or coaches who advocate machine-based training for young athletes are simply not thinking straight.

• From a study published in the Swimming Science Bulletin. Authored by Brent S. Rushall & John Marsden.

  "All sports require high degree of skill for superior performance. The major emphasis of a (youth athletic) training program should be skill excellence. For skills to be developed, learning should occur in non-fatigued states… It is advisable to schedule auxiliary training sessions either after a (sport) session or at some time that allows complete recovery from its execution so that no residual fatigue is carried over".

  I've never mentioned this in literature, but have advocated it several times through lectures and seminars. Learning how to create appropriate training sessions is crucial to working with young athletes. If you are forced to have the technical practice AND the training session within the same day (as is typical), make sure that the training session comes AFTER practice. This keeps the body and CNS rested and for skill acquisition and demonstration during practice.

• Neurological stats on learning and neuropsychological explanation as to why multilateral development is crucial.
  Look at it from the most easy possible angle… Do you know anyone from another country? What happens to family's who move to a foreign land, but can't speak the language? Let's use an Italian family moving to Canada. Eventually, everyone learns to speak English, but, the young kids will learn to speak it accent-free while the parents, no matter what they try, will ALWAYS have a slight or even pronounced accent. Why?

  The answer can be summed up in one word… Plasticity. Plasticity in this context is defined as the ability to be flexible or adapt. The human brain is a structure LOADED with plasticity during its developmental stages, but loses the ability to adapt as we age. Every skill imaginable (athletic, cognitive, language acquisition), is governed by plasticity… There is literally a cap or critical time frame in which skills must be learnt in order to ever be performed optimally. Due to the laws of plasticity, a 45 year old Italian immigrant will never pick up English the way his or her 5 year old son will.

  Application to sport and athletics? If you don't expose kids to it early, they will NEVER be able to develop it optimally.

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