| You really could open an interesting debate with | | | | "Too many trainers focus on how much they can get |
| respect to teaching sporting skills to kids. I did last | | | | a young athlete to lift - all I care about is that they lift it |
| week during a presentation I gave to area basketball | | | | well. The amount of force they can produce will be |
| coaches. Some trainers and coaches have decided | | | | both proportional and synergistic with how well they |
| that the skills required to achieve a certain task should | | | | perform the movement". |
| be taught from the beginning. | | | | The coaches were starting to get it. |
| Others believe in the concept of motor patterning - | | | | "Shooting a basketball is not a form-based event, |
| allowing the young athlete to find their own style of | | | | though. It's an outcome-based event". |
| achieving a task. The debate gets even trickier when | | | | "You just lost me," responded the coach. |
| you factor in the varying nuances and therefore | | | | "O.K, look at it this way. Does anyone grade or |
| objectives of different sports. For example, in | | | | evaluate the way a young athlete shoots a |
| basketball, if the ball goes in the hoop, it doesn't really | | | | basketball?" |
| matter how it got there. But in diving, you know going in | | | | "No" |
| that once you jump off the platform, gravity will pull | | | | "Then all that really matters is that the ball goes in the |
| you into the water - the style in which you get there is | | | | hoop. You get two points for a successful outcome, |
| all that really matters. | | | | and there is no scoring system in place that either |
| Where do you sit on this debate? | | | | adds points or takes them away based on the |
| I asked the coaches in my audience the same | | | | execution of that shot, is there?" |
| question. | | | | "No" |
| Should you teach or even over-teach a certain style | | | | "Then shooting a basketball successfully is nothing |
| of execution to young athletes from day one, or should | | | | more than an outcome-based event". |
| you allow the young athlete to learn the relative motor | | | | "Are you saying that we should not be teaching how |
| patterning via exploration and natural refinement? | | | | to shoot a basketball? Just let the kids have at it |
| The actual answer falls in line with a concept that I | | | | anyway they want?" asked a different coach. |
| discuss constantly in this newsletter. You have to have | | | | "No. Learning the proper execution of skill as it relates |
| a system. | | | | to motor tasks such as shooting a basketball, throwing |
| Effectively and safely developing a young athlete is | | | | a baseball or hitting a tennis ball with a racket are |
| not something you can do one practice or training | | | | important to eventual success, but the style in which |
| session at a time. You must have a direction-based | | | | you do those things aren't directly related to the solving |
| path that extends over several months or years. This | | | | of those motor tasks" I countered. |
| path must, of course, be dynamic in nature, but a | | | | And herein, my friend is where I made the coaches |
| 'system of development' is what is lacking in the youth | | | | finally understand everything... |
| sports world at large the world over. | | | | "If you tell a young athlete that the goal is to make a |
| Let me explain this by using the example of 'form | | | | basket, throw a baseball right over the plate or return |
| versus outcome' as discussed above. | | | | a volley over the net, but at the same time tell them |
| The central nervous system of the young person is | | | | how they should do it, all you end up doing is confusing |
| very plastic - meaning it is explorative by nature and | | | | the young athlete in terms of what the actual goal of |
| extremely sensitive to new stimulus. Unlike adults, | | | | the event is". |
| younger children have the capacity to learn and | | | | 'Goal confusion' is a term coined by researchers |
| become adaptable to new motor or athletic stimulus. | | | | (Gentile, 1972), which explains the 'form versus |
| The old adage, 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' | | | | outcome' debate. And it also forms the basis of the |
| really does have merit when it comes to learning the | | | | groundwork for the 'system of development' I |
| skills of a sporting task. The older you are when you | | | | referenced above. |
| experience a new motor skill, the less likely you will be | | | | Athletes as young as 6 and 7 are being taught and |
| able to cultivate and accrue that skill in an optimal way. | | | | over-taught the specific skills and nuances of how to |
| But as a child, your ability to learn new skills and solve | | | | perform various sporting skills in youth leagues, camps |
| involved motor tasks is quite high. | | | | and clinics the world-over. And this is tragically |
| The essence of this reality however, is founded on the | | | | counter-productive. |
| notion of free exploration. Kids seem to learn best | | | | When training or coaching young athletes, you must |
| when they are given nothing more than loose | | | | understand and then categorize how you will introduce |
| instructions of how to accomplish a task, and then | | | | them to certain sporting skills. More often than not, your |
| allowed to work at solving the objective on there own | | | | task will be to tell them the outcome of what you are |
| recourse. | | | | looking for and stave off your desire to teach them |
| This is especially true when the form or execution of | | | | the form of how to accomplish it. By creating only |
| the skill in question is not as critical as the outcome. | | | | outcome-based events and exercises for young |
| And this is the crux of the debate. | | | | athletes and allowing them the freedom to solve the |
| As you know, I am a huge proponent of teaching | | | | task on their own recourse, you will be fostering and |
| young athletes proper execution-based foundations | | | | enhancing their globalized athletic ability and taking |
| ...And here's where the audience of coaches started | | | | advantage of the extreme adaptability of their central |
| challenging me. "This doesn't make sense" or "You are | | | | nervous system. |
| known as the guy who always preaches about | | | | Over time, it will be necessary to change the goals or |
| teaching first". | | | | objectives of your practices or training sessions into |
| "Agreed", I said. "But what do I always equate that to?" | | | | more form-based events in which you begin to refine |
| "Training young athletes", the coach responded. | | | | and improve the execution of the motor task. And in a |
| "Exactly! TRAINING young athletes. That is | | | | nutshell, that is the 'system of development'. |
| substantially different than COACHING young athletes | | | | Understand the importance of free discovery and its |
| to perform the skills of certain sports". | | | | impact on the central nervous system. |
| I went on to explain the difference. | | | | Create less confusion in your young athletes life by |
| "When I teach a squat, the outcome doesn't matter to | | | | remaining either form or outcome-based with your |
| me. In fact, I think it matters far TOO MUCH to most | | | | practices and training sessions. |
| trainers". | | | | "O.K. Now that makes sense", the coaches agreed. |