Good Saturday Morning
Youth sports has become something it probably shouldn't have, but I don't know how easy it is to turn it back now. They are competing in more and more games, travel teams, and winning records. When there is a free moment we might squeeze in some fundamental skill work.
I am not going to say this is everywhere, because I do talk with and see youth coaches working hard to develop the fundamental skill level of the players. But, more and more of the youth sports experience is about more games, more wins, and less about learning for the future development.
I am all for playing games versus other teams. I don't like tons of games but I do think it makes if fun and exciting for the kids to play other schools. Plus, just the experience of traveling on a bus, having officials, playing in front of a small crowd, and all the things that go along with a game are fun for kids to be apart of.
What needs to be the focus during practices is fundamentals; not plays, not schemes. These things are fine for short time spans. It is important in some sports for kids to learn how to run an offense (especial in a sport like football where you have to have plays) and a defense, but if you are building an offense and defense on poor fundamental skills , then it won't work anyway.
You should spend most of your time working on the skills of the game so they become second hand. Ideally we want young athletes to be able to perform the skills without having to be robotic and think about every move. The skills should be performed with little if any thought process-automated.
When skill development and fundamentals becomes the primary focus of your practices kids will improve quickly and be able to build game play on a strong foundation.
Yours in Speed,
Lee
PS: If you coach speed with your athletes, then you want to have the foundation of athletic speed down. Sports Speed Etc, Inc. has a wide variety of products that are geared toward improving multi-directional speed skills and fundamentals of movement. Check them out at http://www.sportsspeedetc.com/
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2 comments:
Coach, I am going to agree with you on this and put in my 2 cents. I have seen too many kids get pushed into one sport at early ages (around 10). This was when coaches were trying to get my son to play either soccer or baseball year round. He loves both sports and couldn't decide. So we had him continue to play both at local levels until he was lucky to find a soccer coach whose son was the same and put together a fall soccer team and then a spring/summer baseball team. My son continued with both sports through high school and I think has made him a better all around athlete. Others became sport specific around the beginning of HS. Several of these kids are now competing in Div I sports programs in either baseball or soccer. I believe that these athletes learned more fundamentals since that was the only way they could compete with the year round programs is what has made these kids better athletes.
Great Point Steve. Thanks for the comments. Glad to hear your son is doing well.
Lee
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