This week’s guest post comes from my friends Julie Hatfield and Dave Gleason from the International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA). Dave has recently teamed up with Toby Brooks and Wil Fleming to create a program helping you implement long term athletic development with your youth athletes. It’s a great program with concepts that we have integrated into our programming at Champion PT and Performance. The IYCA is good to my readers and has offered us an exclusive 50% off the program this week only. More info after the article!
4 Keys to Implement Long Term Athletic Development
You have likely heard the term, Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD). Contradictory to common belief that sport specialization will achieve great success, LTAD is a progressive and injury preventative approach to youth fitness and sport performance that we cannot afford to lose site of. Simply put, sport specialization should come later in life, and our youngest of athletes (6-16 year olds) are in dire need of coaches to give them a strong and sturdy foundation.
The figure, and concept of Long Term Athlete Development, indicates that movement skills are at the foundation of the ideal athlete. Once movement skills are mastered, then it is appropriate to move on to power, speed & agility skills. Lastly, we implement sport skills and specialization, but not till the athlete has achieved success in the foundational movement skills.
Many performance coaches struggle implementing LTAD. It is a delicate balance between giving kids (and parents) what they want, and what they actually need.
Youth fitness expert, Dave Gleason has put together 4 Keys to Implementing LTAD quickly, so you can have the confidence to add the concepts of LTAD into your sessions, TODAY!
1. Find Your Why
It comes down to what you really want to do. If you are working with kids, it really needs to be your purpose in life. They deserve that. It is a crucial step in all of this. If you aren’t passionate about working with kids, and doing what is right for them- then this is not the job for you. If you are…thank YOU. Next step…
2. Educate yourself
It’s about getting the right tools to work with kids 6-18 years old. The International Youth Conditioning Association is an organization that specializes in providing education for youth fitness professionals. They specialize in pediatric/youth fitness and provide coaches & trainers with a valuable balance of practical application and science. For more education on Long Term Athlete Development, Youth Fitness Training and much more, check them out.
Bottom line, get educated to specifically work with kids!
3. Schedule
Scheduling your LTAD program can be tough. Look at your school systems in your area and obtain their schedule. Know when they are getting out of school and schedule your sessions accordingly.
Create a schedule that is right for most people and keep it constant. Consistency in your schedule will allow parents to plan for your LTAD program!
4. Get Started
Once you have the education and are equipped to train young athletes and incorporate Long Term Athlete Development …it is time to get started. So many do all the steps, then worry that they aren’t qualified. When you wait, the kids in your community are losing out. If you have the passion, education and you have a schedule that will work for you, then it’s time to GET STARTED!
The Kids NEED you.
Save 50% on the IYCA’s New Long Term Athletic Development Roadmap
As I mentioned above, the IYCA has been very generous to my readers and have offered us all 50% off their new program from Toby Brooks, Dave Gleason, and Wil Fleming on implementing Long Term Athletic Development in your programming and system.
The offer ends this week on 1/31/16, so don’t delay. This is a great product that has helped shape what we do at Champion!
