Junior athletes cont… (12-14 year olds)

Junior athletes (12 - 14 year olds)

This is arguably the best age to get athletes into a strength and conditioning program. There is a lot of learning involved in lifting weights, moving fast, changing direction etc so at this age their bodies and brains are still absolutely primed for learning.

They should still be taking part in as many different sports as possible but try and find time to get them involved in some form of weights program. That means by the time they get to 14 they are ready to prioritise their chosen sport and then start lifting properly in a structured program designed to improve their performance and longevity within that sport.

I see a lot of junior athletes at this age playing the same sport but in different avenues…

School team

Community team

Age above

Additional private practice

Etc…

This isn’t necessarily the best option for promoting success. It has been shown that late specialisation (around the 14 year old mark) helps junior athletes improve skill development, reduce risk of injury, lower risk burnout, better decision making and increased long term success.

Individual sports such as gymnastics or swimming are the exception here where the skills are incredibly specialist with little to no transfer into other sports.

The chances of a junior athlete getting physical ‘burnout’ is incredibly slim. They are much more likely to get mental or emotional burnout by being expected to excel in a single sport at a young age without the change in stimulus of other sports.

I have left what I think is the most important element to multi sport/activity engagement out…

Better psycho-social development.

I have worked with athletes of all ages for the last 25 years, first teaching dance in schools and now in strength and conditioning. The thing I have seen the biggest change over that time is a young person's ability to feel confident and hold/engage in a conversation in any scenario.

Working with a variety of coaches and athletes in a variety of disciplines helps them build a broader understanding of people and how to interact with them in different settings.

If you want to stand out as a junior athlete then learn how to ask questions, have conversations, listen when people talk and be helpful whenever the opportunity arrives. How good an athlete is at anything when they are 12 - 14 years old means very little. Coaches of elite teams are looking for people that talk and listen well and that they would consider to be outstanding team mates! Those are skills that are hard to coach, everything else is easily improved.