Talking Sport

Kids being burned out by doing too much too soon

Published

on

Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon

A Galway-based New Zealand coach has expressed concern at the huge fall-off in numbers playing team sports in their teens in Ireland and he says it is down to competition being introduced to children too early.

Indeed, former Titans National League Division 1 men’s basketball coach Matt Lint, who tutors children throughout all age groups, believes that, in some cases, children are being trained like adults. Consequently, by the time they reach their late teens, they are burned out.

Lint is an authority on such matters, with the coach active in promoting the LTAD – Long Term Athlete Development – philosophy, an ethos that is gathering momentum right across the globe, from Canada to his native New Zealand.

The premise of the LTAD philosophy is knowing what to teach, when to teach it and how to teach. It is a pathway of sports participation from cradle to grave and focuses on the ability of an athlete to move from one level to the next rather than progressing solely on their chronological age.

For instance, Lint explains: “One of the things we did with rugby a couple of decades ago in New Zealand was we changed it to weight rather than age. That was because we had these Samoan kids – 12 years old weighting 100 kilos – up against these ‘European’ kids, who, when they were tackled, were bounced out into the next field.”

He outlines that while both were of the same age, they had different needs when it came to developing their game. In addition, some players were more advanced than others, although the slow developer could go just as far in the sport. “LTAD is all about windows and if you don’t train somebody in the correct window, you are only going to have to go back or they may never fully develop.”

He stresses the eight to 13 age window is crucial and, to this end, Lint will be running a Summer programme, entitled ‘Don’t Weight Dads’, which begins on Tuesday (July 30) at Westside Community Centre.

The free initiative, under the guidance of HSE West, is a dual approach to educate adults and children on physical literacy and promote healthier weight and lifestyle. It also covers emotional, mental, personal, nutritional and lifestyle development.

This latest venture comes on the back of a successful programme run by HSE West and Titans two years ago. The ‘Bounce – Built to Move’ series was aimed at the equivalent age group and focused on many of the same issues.

“So, what happened, while I had the kids in the gym, the parents would be doing things on nutrition, on how to make meals and stuff like that, and we also did supermarket tours on what not to buy and reading labelling and understanding sugars, which I think is a huge one for kids. Parents should also understand the labelling of things.

“For example, if it is over 10g of sugar per 100g, it is not good. It if is under 10, it is good. You will find that some things labelled ‘low fat’ will have 17 or 18g [of sugar]. Take Special K, a cereal, which has a phenomenal amount of sugar.

“However, Special K is advertised as ‘she looks hot; she is fit’. Well, if she ate 300g of that every day, she will look more like a whale! It’s clever marketing though.”

Oversubscribed at the outset, 20 children started the ‘Bounce’ programme with 16 seeing out the 12-week series. Of those 16, 14 subsequently joined clubs, such as basketball and soccer. “So, we made that pathway for them to achieve that. That was very pleasing, that they had the confidence to do that.”

Since then, Lint, who has been spreading the word among schools and clubs, has been tweaking the programme. Based on research, one area identified has been that fathers have more control over the habits and activities of their children than a coach and, as a result, the ‘Don’t Weight Dads’ programme looks to ensure fathers have the right information to hand when offering guidance to their offspring.

“They have got to know how to train a child in dexterity, speed, agility and balance – and all through fun and games so the kids don’t realise that those are the motors they are exercising. If you do that, particularly in that nine to 12 age window, a child can be equally good left and right handed, as long as you do it during that window. They can be ambidextrous.”

The upshot of the LTAD approach is that children will be more confident in pursuing their sporting goals but, more importantly, will embrace a love of physical activity that will serve them until late in life. “You have to keep kids active for life, rather than just until their 16. The drop off is huge at that age in Ireland,” observes Lint.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

Trending

Exit mobile version