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Building Athletes – The First Step was the introduction to this three-part series about creating a world-class athlete. Beyond the previously spoken “God-given gifts”, all athletes can be molded and developed into higher-level athletes. The IYCA stated in a recent post that only 20% of the “Advanced Athletes” younger than 10 will maintain that status when they reach the teenage years. Beyond the obvious fact that everyone develops at his/her own pace, there are many options we have as Strength and Conditioning practitioners to allow these athletes to continue to develop, grow and succeed athletically.
The previous article discussed that the foundation of the athlete starts early and continues throughout the developmental years. The child must be allowed to move, play and explore his/her capabilities outside of a competitive environment. They should go outside, climb trees, roller skate, ride bikes, play tag and use their imagination. This list is not all-inclusive, but plays an important role in the physical and mental development necessary for success in sports and life. It is critical to remember that children must be allowed to discover and explore a multitude of sports. The more sports they can play, the greater athletic development the child will undergo. Different sports require different movement patterns, encourage balanced muscular development and prevent “burnout” or boredom.
In this article, we will speak about “Maximizing Physical Potential.” Books have been written and the internet has been flooded with information on this topic. Now some will say “Speed kills” or “A stronger athlete is a better athlete” and there is no fundamental disagreement to either of these statements. However, the secret to success is a simple as one keyword: Assessment. Components of health and skill include: Muscle Strength and Endurance, Cardiovascular Endurance, Power, Coordination, Balance, Flexibility, Reaction Timing, Speed and Agility. Now some may add and subtract some components from this list, but either way, there are numerous areas that must be addressed and to assume proper knowledge without assessment is ill-informed.
This is where Assessment plays a key role in developing athletic potential. The athlete is only as strong as the athlete’s weakest link. In today’s sporting world, coaching, fans and parents alike view an athlete in one of two ways: What they can’t do or what they can do. The Strength and Conditioning world and the athletes are no different. Though these questions are asked, the focus of training usually revolves around what the athlete does well to ensure increased self-esteem. You don’t want to destroy an athletes self-esteem (which we will discuss in the upcoming post Developing Mental Toughness), but only focusing on what they do well will further create a dysfunctional or imbalanced athlete. The power with continuous assessment is two-fold: Identification of the Athlete’s Profile and analysis of the Sports Conditioning program.
The identification of the Athlete’s Profile is the essential reason for each and every Assessment. There are numerous tools out there to determine readiness for exercise and movement, but none of these are all-encompassing. As discussed in the earlier post, developing an athlete is a long-term endeavor. Frequent assessment will allow for the development of the profile over time. Two key questions are “Does the athlete have enough ________?” and “What is holding the athlete back?” These two questions will allow for specific areas to be addressed to ensure that excessive time is not spent on developing upper body strength for an athlete benching 500 pounds. For this athlete, time is set aside to work on his/her balance issues because they cannot stand on one foot. It appears simple and it is, but identifying the limiting factors and convincing the athlete to devote time to the deficient area is much more difficult.
Now with a Certified Strength and Conditioning practitioner, the athlete will undergo daily assessment even when they are training. Decreased balance, endurance, coordination, etc. will be exposed during the training sessions as the athlete is asked to complete new and progressively difficult tasks. It is the job of the coach to ensure that these flaws do not go unnoticed or unaddressed to ensure improved performance in and out of the athletic realm. However, structured assessment is a must both before and after the implementation of a Sports Conditioning program (at 4-8 week intervals). The question that will need to be answered is “Is the program doing what it set out to do?” At this point, even if the answer is no, the program can be modified before extensive time, energy or money is wasted. An answer of “no” is not a failure if caught early; it is an opportunity of learning for both the coach and the athlete. Every athlete has different needs and adaptations to training will be different from one athlete to another. The key is to adapt and evolve to each situation as it comes.
I hope this information has made you think more about how you can improve the development of our young athletes. Look for Part Three of this series when we will discuss Developing Mental Toughness. For further information on training, recovery, health or performance, contact the Integrated Sports Performance team with questions or concerns.