Junior athletes… what happened?
In this blog post I'm going to discuss Junior athletes, what I have seen during my career and what we can do about it as parents, carers and coaches.
But first let me introduce myself…
My name is Jamie Bell, I am Head of Athletic Development at Wakefield Trinity and owner of Chaos Coaching gym in Castleford. I started my coaching Career at Castleford Tigers where I was initially overseeing the scholarship/academy programs alongside working with the first team and then later head of strength and conditioning for the club. In my time at Castleford Tigers I was part of an academy grand final, a super league grand final, two challenge cup finals and a League Leaders Shield win.
I have also been part of the coaching staff at York Knights and Featherstone Rovers where they won League one and championship titles respectively.
So I have a fair amount of experience with athletes of all ages and what is expected (needed) for junior athletes to succeed in professional Rugby League.
Rugby League clubs tend to run player development days and in this recently we have started testing junior athletes to identify athleticism early as part of our selection process, it is worth noting this isn’t the only thing we look at, it just helps us build a better picture of each individual.
The main test we use is a counter movement jump on the Hawkins Dynamics force plates but we will also be collecting other test information to go with this.
The counter movement jump is a snapshot of athleticism but it also allows you to see how well an athlete can jump and land as well as their coordination and ability to understand and apply instruction.
At the minute what I am seeing at ages 13 and below is worrying.
Most junior athletes now have very poor coordination and athleticism, they can understand the instructions well enough (it is a fairly simple test) but their ability to jump and land is poor. This would suggest that their ability to run fast, change direction and be ‘evasive’ in sport is also poor (there are exceptions).
Old man talk incoming… When I was that age I ran everywhere because it meant I got more time to play sports with my friends, I climbed trees and jumped out of them and walked/balanced along walls. Me and my friends were non stop from the minute school finished until it was time to go home. We had PE three times a week and then after school sport and community sport. I don’t remember ever feeling sore and I never got any soft tissue injuries.
I don’t know what schools look like now, as I don’t work in them. But I imagine prison rules football and rugby on the concrete playground are off the table?
As ridiculous as it sounds the thought of hitting the concrete pretty hard at speed made you move fast haha! I feel our children have less chance to take risks now than ever before which means they are just playing it safe. Couple this with how much emphasis is put on how they look/act thanks to social media and other external pressures and all of a sudden they aren’t willing to risk making fools of themselves as much.
After school is computer or organised activity, we played 15 a side football across two pitches for about three hours at a time. I rarely see groups of kids playing out now.
Now, with that being said they are of course still children. They are growing and adapting all the time. So a poor athlete at 12/13 won’t necessarily become a poor athlete as a young adult, there is still time.
Get them active!
At the time of writing this I have a 4 year old, he is non stop!! Not by design, he’s just a busy boy. But we exposed him early to as many movement skills as possible. Running, jumping, landing, climbing, throwing, catching, changing direction etc. I’ve even had him in the gym with me and he tries to lift stuff all the time and that's fine.
Make sure it’s a positive experience.
If they consistently aren’t enjoying something then don’t make them go. Building a positive relationship with activity is a must for any junior, simply allow them to explore with very little involvement from you. Doesn’t matter if they are doing it wrong! By highlighting their mistakes you are turning that into a negative experience. Just let them play and learn! If they want/need you they’ll ask.
Stop parenting all the time!
You don’t know best. Get over it. We have a ‘no parenting’ rule on the gym floor. Trust me, we see their mistakes (good coaches see more than you think) we choose not to correct them. Most people will correct themselves over time, that is literally how any new skill is formed. Leave them to it, as long as they are safe and not at risk of hurting themselves or others it doesn’t matter.
Not all children (athletes or not) enjoy sport, that’s fine. What is not fine is allowing them to dismiss activity altogether. We train juniors here, we run two programs called ‘movers’ and ‘improvers’.
The movers program is where everyone starts and they will learn how to do the main gym movements:: squat, hinge, lunge, push and pull. Alongside that there is a little bit of fitness work to raise heart rate and give them the ‘I worked out’ feeling. It doesn’t offer much more than that but it does cement a positive association with training.
The improvers program continues to build on these movements except now they are also working on their ability to run, jump, land and change direction as well as starting to shift their focus towards actually improving strength and power output.
Given the current activity climate a structured strength and conditioning plan is essential for young athletes to progress, being athletic used to be the norm for children and now it makes them stand out. It is the thing most often overlooked but it is the only training modality that can replace the demands that are missing in modern society.
Here is a free download to get you started, we have a bank of these drills on our website for you to check out if you enjoy this.
If you would like to know more about the programs we run or even just have a question about any of the above then definitely reach out!
