Kids Zone Information

How Early Can We Start?

There are many questions surrounding youth sports training programs. Such as whether or not your child is old enough to start performance training. Most sports performance coaches will recommend training youth athletes from age seven and up. When providing guidance in athletic training, you need to understand and appreciate that they are still children. But, when put in the right situation with the right approach, significant goals are achievable. Whatever the reason your children are involved in athletics, they should have a positive experience in their younger years no matter their athletic ability. Fortunately, you’re extremely capable of creating a beneficial and positive sports performance training environment as a family!

What Should We Focus On?

All sports require a certain level of movement efficiency. The best athletes are those with great body awareness and control. Being able to run fluidly, change direction and make explosive movements while absorbing force safely. These are all skills that can be learned and improved upon safely. We need to understand how these abilities can be realized and maximized to build astrong, fast, and efficient athlete.

Speed & Strength

Speed

If you perfect your technique at a young age, you will have a solid foundation to continue improving upon as your body matures and develops. Hip Flexion – This is the action of bringing the knees up when sprinting. It contributes to the amount of force you can put into ground and the distance you can cover with each
stride.
(Drill: High Knee March)
Arm Drive – The swinging motion of the arms can actually increase speed by generating upper-body power, increasing stride frequency and maintaining fluidity and cadence.
(Drill: Seated Arm Swing)

Forward Lean – A forward lean puts your center of gravity out in front of your center of mass, allowing the power produced while running to flow in a horizontal, rather than a vertical, direction and increase your speed.
(Drill: Wall Runs)
Ground Force Production – This is the amount of force you put into the ground when your foot makes contact. The more force you produce, the faster you will run.
(Drill: Power Skips)

Strength

Strength training is now an accepted form of training in youth athletes. Despite previous concerns regarding the safety and effectiveness of youth resistance training, scientific and clinical evidence supports participation in youth resistance training programs that are well designed and properly instructed. In addition, resistance training has been found to be an effective method to promote muscular strength and jump performance in youth athletes.
Push-Up – Trains the chest, shoulders, triceps and core
Chin-Ups – Trains back, forearms and biceps
Vertical Jumps – Trains quads and hamstrings.
Deadlift – Essential to developing short- or long-term strength progressions Health Benefits of Youth Sports

Performance Training

There are many health benefits associated with regular physical activity in children and adolescents. Resistance and strength training can offer unique benefits for children and adolescents when appropriately prescribed and supervised. For example:
– Body composition – Cardiovascular risk profile – Reduce body fat
– Facilitate weight control – Improve insulin sensitivity – Strengthen bone
– Enhancing psychosocial well being

Considerations

Youth athletes are not simply mini adults. They are still growing and often lack coordination. The correct sports performance approach will not only improve
performance and reduce injuries, but will also enhance self-confidence, self-esteem, and body image. At the same time, all athletes are looking to build athletics pillars like explosiveness, speed and agility. At a young age, the approach to achieving those goals may not mean getting into the squat rack. Sure, there will be a time and place that this will become important, but at the appropriate time. Resistance band training is a great way to help build the explosiveness of your child in a safe environment.