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"Behind every successful man there's a lot of unsuccessful years." -Bob Brown " |
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PHILOSOPHY
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LONG TERM ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PLAN AGE SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT
At Parmar Sports Training Inc., all of our programs are developed around the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Framework. Extensive research has been applied to this model by Dr. Istvan Balyi who is the resident sport scientist of the National Coaching Institute and the leading expert in the world on the ‘Periodization of Training'. The phases of training include the FUNdamentals, Training to Train , Training to Compete , and Training to Win . According to Dr. Hubert Simon who is a Professor of Computer Science and Psychology, “It takes 10 years of extensive practice to excel in anything.” In soccer terms this works out to 8 – 12 years or approximately 10, 000 hours of training time to develop an international caliber athlete (Bloom, 1985; Ericsson et al., 1993; Ericsson and Charness, 1994). This translates to slightly more than three hours of practice daily for ten years.
In Eastern Europe , the philosophy for developing children between the ages of 6 – 10 includes the introduction of gymnastics and track and field skills because they provide for proficiency in basic skills such as running, speed, agility, quickness, jumping, tumbling, throwing, rhythm, balance and coordination. In addition the young player can use their own body weight to build basic strength. These fundamental skills are referred to as the ABC 's of athletics. The introduction of the ABC 's of athleticism (agility, balance and coordination) will lay the foundations for athletic performance in later years. During this stage sports participation can be 5 to 6 times per week. This phase of training is called the FUNdamentals . However, in Canada , coaches and parents have a tendency to overlook the need for basic skills therefore, focusing on competition and winning. Neglecting the development and mastery of basic skills in young athletes will have a long lasting negative effect because players will lack the ability and confidence to make an impact in any athletic field whether its a recreational activity or a competitive sport activity. According to Balyi, “Players who miss proper training during this stage will never reach their potential. The reason why so many players plateau during the later stage of their development is because of an over emphasis on competition instead of on training during this important period of their development”.
The Training To Train phase is for young male athletes between the ages of 10 – 14 and for females aged 10 - 13. This stage builds on the previous one by emphasizing shoulder, elbow, core, spine and ankle stability. During the Training to Train stage children are taught how to train and are introduced to the basic skills of a specific sport which progressively become more complicated towards the end of the stage. In this stage athletes are introduced to the basic technical and tactical skills along with warm up, cool down, stretching, hydration and nutrition, recovery and regeneration, mental preparation, taper and peak, integrated pre-competition routines and post-competition recovery. Athletes should be encouraged to participate in other sports that are complimentary (similar energy systems and movement patterns required) to soccer, for example basketball and ultimate Frisbee. At this stage of development coaches and parents should not emphasize competition, but rather training in order to develop for the future. Players should be encouraged to be creative and try new things so that they can learn from their mistakes. If the coach and parents associate success only with winning this will suppress the growth of the player because they will be punished for their mistakes which will not allow for creative play. Balyi says, “During this period players do their best and play to win, but the emphasis is on learning basics as opposed to competing.” The ratio at which players should be training to playing games at this stage is 3 to 1. In other words, for every game there should be three training sessions. It is important to understand the whole concept of long term development because too often we hear parents and coaches get frustrated that their players aren't developing into a Mia Hamm or a David Beckham over a winter training season. Patience is the key to success. |
