Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

If 13-14 year old girl takes a year off of competing but is still training ( with the club) will her sprinting abilites be compromised. I am a new coach, and there is this talented kid on the team who would like to take a break. Sense I started coaching the club, I realized how much pressure is on the child to perform from her parents, familiy members, the public etc. She is carrying a lot weight. At the JO’s she expressed how she loved the sport but wanted to take a break from competing.

If she takes some time off from competing will her speed and abilites be compromised?

Do you have any suggestions on how to address her concerns and needs to her parents & family?

How do you suggest the coaches maintain perspective on wanting our age group program’s to be elite vs. talented kids going out there to competing and enjoying themselves.

godspeed - 04 August 2008 02:22 PM

If 13-14 year old girl takes a year off of competing but is still training ( with the club) will her sprinting abilites be compromised. I am a new coach, and there is this talented kid on the team who would like to take a break. Sense I started coaching the club, I realized how much pressure is on the child to perform from her parents, familiy members, the public etc. She is carrying a lot weight. At the JO’s she expressed how she loved the sport but wanted to take a break from competing.

If she takes some time off from competing will her speed and abilites be compromised?

NO!!!  She is 14.  Taking a year off will have no long term implications.

godspeed - 04 August 2008 02:22 PM

Do you have any suggestions on how to address her concerns and needs to her parents & family?

Difficult spot.  You have to find some way to get her family to back off on the pressure.  Do you know how many athletes who are eventually ruined in this age range due to the types pressures that you mentioned?

godspeed - 04 August 2008 02:22 PM

How do you suggest the coaches maintain perspective on wanting our age group program’s to be elite vs. talented kids going out there to competing and enjoying themselves.

I would try to prepare the age groupers for success later down the road.  It’s sometimes difficult, but try not to “floor it” with them too early in their career.  More gradual, conservative development will often end up allowing higher performances at the peak of their careers.

Try listening to the youth development speech here
http://athleticscoaching.ca/?pid=1&spid=105

I really want to scale down on the pressure thats put on all the girls, and I want to protect them as well.  The YOUTH GIRLS in my club are quality athletes but their all a nervous wreck. They feel like there names are supposed set off alarms on the track and field circut. The overall tone that I am sensing from the girls is that, there expected to become faster and better at each trackmeet. At 13 & 14 there thinking that this is my ticket to college. Aspiring to go to college is a great thing and one can get there.

Something is wrong and I can’t put my finger on it just yet.

How to you suggest I address that? Once again I am a new Coach. This is my first coaching job EVER!!!

First, Mortac is right—taking a year off, training or not, will make no difference in the long run.

I have coached for about 25 years, and most of my athletes have been adolescent girls.  I know exactly what you are observing and what you are experiencing.  So many parents pressure their kids (not always consciously) to perform at the highest levels.  In some cases it is simple middle-class work ethic.  In other cases, parents are competing with other parents through their children.  These are the truly difficult ones.  In other cases, the parents are making such sacrifices of time, energy and money to give their kids the acivities that they expect a very high return on their investment.  It’s all rather poisonous for many kids.  I have learned that you cannot change the parents.  And I never tell a kid that her parents are wrong, but I do try to impart the message that the activity is worthwhile in itself, apart from competitive results.  Good luck. Learn to laugh, so that you don’t have to cry.  Praise effort as much as results.  Make practice fun.

I agree with both Mortac and ex400 for the most part, especially this part, one year off won’t hurt her if she’s active.  Training without competing can be hard to adjust to though, so incorporate more games type activities and time trials into her training.  She’ll need this type of internal feedback to keep motivation high to make her sure she feels she’s improving without doing the competitions.

I have no problems telling a child or their parents that the parents are wrong and are sending the wrong message.  If the parent disagrees with it they can remove the child from my program at their leisure.  I try to educate parents on expectations and feedback.  As a HS school coach, this is much harder to do and can cost your job if you are careful and provides some headaches, but it provides less headaches overall using this approach.