Young and Aspiring to go pro..?

Reality is if you haven’t made it to elite level by the time you are 18, there is a good chance you will never will. For this reason, only playing the sport you love and nothing else will not get you where you want to be. Unless you’re lucky and fit the 1% gifted with the genetics to do so.

So how does a young aspiring athlete improve their chances of making it to their dream team?

Skill, combined with foundational strength is what really separates athletes able to take it to that next level. Seeing them strive for greater distinction, including professional contracts.

Skill - Exposure Over Specialization

Exposure to multiple sports from an early age offers the athlete a huge opportunity to develop a broad range of neuromuscular patterns and skills. These skills can then be tuned towards a sport they chose to specialise in later years.

To give you an example, a study by tracking football [1] showed that 226 out of 256 (88.2%) players that were picked in the 2018 NFL draft played at least one other sport. Of these, 59% played track and field; 49% played basketball; 13% played baseball; 3% played wrestling; 2% played lacrosse and 5% played soccer, volleyball, rugby, hockey and powerlifting.

Specializing in a single sport can often result in a tremendous amount of stress on the body. Which in turn can increase risk of overuse injury [2] and dropout [3]. Imagine an aspiring baseball pitcher, practising throwing the ball over and over, for 10’s of hours every week. And doing this while the bones, tendons, muscles, nerves and vessels are all growing and adapting - that right there is an injury about to happen!

Finally, the stress and pressure from specialising and focusing on competing and winning is sadly causing young athletes to lose their passion and love for their chosen sport. Often resulting in them dropping out. Playing an additional sport provides the athlete with an opportunity to split their focus and develop new skills transferable to their main sport. Plus helping to reduce injury.

Development – Strength Training

The younger an athlete can begin learning foundational movement patterns and developing both physical and mental strength, the greater their chances are of going pro. You may have read that  “strength training for young people stunts growth” and is therefore dangerous and detrimental to enhancing performance. I am here to tell you that you have been severely misinformed!

Firstly, strength training does not mean lifting heavy weights. Strength training covers a broad spectrum of training starting with educating an athlete on how to move efficiently. Understanding how the body moves helps young athletes develop more efficient motor skills while simultaneously reducing risk of injury due to improved body control [4]. This alone offers a huge performance advantage in their chosen sport. So, when looking for a Strength Coach it is essential to find someone that teaches the fundamentals of safe and efficient movement first and foremost. You will not find this at CrossFit or large group training style gyms.

Secondly, once you have the foundations of movement in place, you can begin to lift greater loads safely. This in turn encourages bone growth [5], muscular strength and mental resilience that will better prepare the young athlete for demands of practice and competition. Improved muscular strength has a direct impact on running speed, power, change of direction speed, plyometric ability, and endurance [6]. As strength training is in a controlled environment (unlike being on a rugby field for example) the chances of injury is significantly reduced. And as we’ve established, one of the main purposes of strength training is to minimize this risk.

An Irish dancer (Yes, I am using one of my athletes as an example!) constantly exposed to specific movements in the studio is without question getting better at their sport. But the dancing alone is doing nothing, for example, to improve their ability to hold their posture - especially under fatigue. There is no question that strength training has helped my Irish Dancing client make the world championships at the age of just 15! At the same time boosting her confidence and mental strength exponentially.

Which brings me to my final point. Strength training plays a huge role in improving the young athletes mindset. It teaches them focus (visualisation), an important skill required in sport and the ability to push beyond what they think they are capable of. You can imagine then, the improved self confidence that comes with it.

If you are a young athlete with the desire to play elite sport, win a scholarship opportunity and / or sign a professional contract then consider exposing yourself to another sport. And definitely get yourself into a gym with Strength and Performance Coach.

References

[1] Trackingfootball, "https://www.trackingfootball.com/blog/tracking-football-finds-88-2018-nfl-draft-picks-multiple-sport-athletes-high-school/," [Online].

[2] N. J. A. M. L. R. D. &. C. L. Jacqueline Pasulka, "Specialization patterns across various youth sports and relationship to injury risk," The Physician and Sportsmedicine, pp. 45:3, 344-352, 2017.

[3] M. W. &. J. Côté, "Developmental activities that lead to dropout and investment in sport.," Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, pp. 12:1, 77-87, 2007.

[4] K. W. B. C. J. I. M. L. N. M. R. T. Faigenbaum AD, "Youth resistance training: updated position statement paper from the national strength and conditioning association.," J Strength Cond Res, pp. 23(5 Suppl):S60-79, 2009.

[5] A. D. Faigenbaum, "Strength training for children and adolescents," Clin Sports Med, pp. 19(4):593-619, 2000.

[6] R. F. A. D. M. G. D. O. J. L. J. I. .. .. .. P. K. Lloyd, "UKSCA Position Statement: Youth Resistance Training," UKSCA, vol. 26, 2012.