For the purposes of this article we are going to cap adolescents at 18 years of age, we are also going to say that the adolescents we are talking about have not reached an elite or sub elite level of competition, and lastly there **training age is 12 months or less.
**Training age refers to how long they have been a part of a Strength & Conditioning program.
Strength & Conditioning in elite and sub elite sport FITS INTO a holistic and structured physical preparation program.
At the moment in youth sports it is an ADD ON to a schedule that is both chaotic and heavy on sport specific preparation – put simply it’s an after thought.
I don’t believe this will change any time soon, nor do I blame anyone for that.
Instead Strength & Conditioning coaches must find a way to fit in with the current climate that youth sports has created.
Before going into what should be in a Youth Strength & Conditioning program we must first identify the constraints we are going to have to deal with.
There are a few, but the main two I want to touch on are:
- Time: Parents of youth athletes, especially multi sport athletes with siblings (which is common), have little to no time on their hands.
- Perceived importance: To both athlete and parent you are probably the first thing to go if need be.
So, on most occasions you will see a youth athlete one (rarely two) times per week – there may be weeks where you don’t see them at all (remember you are last on the totem pole, if something needs to be squeezed its going to be you).
With these constraints in mind the following is what I consider to be fundamental to a Strength & Conditioning program for beginner adolescents.
- Prepare them to evolve, don’t try and evolve them
It is important that you do not get hyper fixated on perfect technique or a certain level of strength or speed that they need to reach. You must understand that by doing something, especially when the athlete is starting from nothing, there will be adaptation. They will become a little more co – ordinated, a little stronger, and a little faster. I am a firm believer that at this stage in their journey your role is to simply prepare them for when / if Strength & Conditioning becomes a bigger part of their sporting experience (this would be at a sub elite or elite level). What does this mean…
- Get them good at a lot of things, not elite at a few things
Remember you only have one, maybe two hours with the athlete per week. If too much time is spent on one thing then the athlete misses out on being exposed to a variety of fitness components and movements. With regards to technique you may find that you have to be content with the movement being safe and athlete feeling comfortable, as opposed to “perfect”. And like I mentioned before, with such a young training age, something (even as little as one hour per week) will keep the desired fitness components progressing, maybe a little slower than you’d like, but that’s where you have to be smart…
- Use warm ups & homework to compliment what you do in person
For me three undervalued fitness components with youth athletes are:
- Co – Ordination (people will have more glamorous sounding words now like ‘movement mechanics’ – its the same thing)
- Mobility
- Balance
Having these things allows an athlete to move confidently through a variety of different ranges and movements. The good news is, all three require minimal equipment, time, and exertion to be practiced. They can easily be slotted into a warm up an athlete does pre sport training session or even at home whilst they are having some leisure time (watching tv, video gaming etc.).
- Move well, add load, add speed
In that order!
Priority number one should be repetition. Whilst prescribing 3 x 8 or 3 x 10 for a Squat may seem generic, for me with a youth athlete there is a purpose – get more practice at the movement. It also teaches discipline. It is so easy for adolescents to get enamored by being able to lift more. However, when they chase a extra load a couple of things happen:
- Safety of the lift is put in jeopardy
- They usually miss reps, a prescribed set of 8 only ends up being 4 (with a failed last rep)
Prescribing a little higher volume teaches them to not always prioritize load lifted – it puts value on other training components and teaches them how components other than load can be manipulated for progression.
- Create buy in
For most there is skepticism around Strength & Conditioning for youth athletes, so how are you going to squash that and turn it into advocacy?
- Debunk the myths – you are going to have to educate the parents on how you are going to make it safe first and foremost.
- Highlight early growth moments – both parent and adolescent want to know its worthwhile, make even the smallest advancement blatantly obvious to both.
- Keep it fun! Remember they are still young. What they enjoy about sport is competition and play. Find ways to incorporate that into training.
I think this article is important for all parties, coaches, parents, and athletes, to help them all understand the current landscape of Strength & Conditioning in youth sports, its limitations and how best it can be utilized, not necessarily for the now but for the future.
