My Young Athletes Sessions…

Training children has always been a passion of mine. During the years I worked in football, I was in charge of implementing the strength & conditioning (S&C) programme for over 120 players aged 7-18 years, and I absolutely loved it!

Working with children allows a S&C coach to be creative and think out of the box in terms of how they coach. This is both the case for what exercises they use and how they adapt their coaching cues to motivate their young athlete.

A favourite example of this for me are the animal impression movements I first heard about from Dr Rhodri Lloyd at his paediatric S&C workshop on “Training Tomorrow’s Champions” in Leeds (6th April, 2013). These exercises are great for developing athletic motor skill competencies (AMSC) (see below).

Athletic Motor Skill Competencies (AMSC)

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This workshop, organised by Brendan Chaplin, explained the importance of correct training for long term athlete development (LTAD) during a child’s formative years in order to take advantage of the phenomenon known as neural plasticity.

In summary, neural plasticity is the ability of the brain to develop. As we all know, it is easier to learn new skills, (such as reading, writing, speaking, moving etc…), when you are younger. (Think about how much a baby learns in it’s early years in comparison to an adult). This is because the brain is in it’s developmental stage and it’s neural plasticity (it’s ability to be a “sponge” and absorb and learn) is at it’s greatest.

This can prove extremely beneficial to the future of a young athlete as they will have greater strength, movement vocabulary and physical literacy when they are older if they are exposed to more training stimuluses at a younger age. An example of this, do you remember the best footballer at school used to be the best at basketball and hockey and track & field etc…? This was usually due to them being a better all-round athlete in terms of strength, fitness and how they move.

My young athlete sessions incorporate movement preparatory training and injury prevention exercises, based on individual screening results. Additionally, they perform basic resistance training (bodyweight, mini bands, PVC pipes, suspension training, monster bands etc…) in order to improve movement function and strength levels.

This type of programming is imperative for developing performance as it makes the athlete more coachable when they perform their respective sports. If you have an athlete who has no movement dysfunction, such as reduced range of motion, or strength asymmetries, they will be easier to coach and less likely to get injured. This also helps contribute to greater career longevity.

In summary, this how my sessions differ from your generic “junior gym” sessions some gyms offer, which only allow the youngsters to beast themselves on cardiovascular equipment. My sessions build the base for athlete development through incorporating fun activities and exercises that are individually programmed.

For more information on these sessions please get in contact.

Joe Bullen MSc ASCC CSCS

Strength & Conditioning Coach

+44 (0) 7761 538 374

joe@joebullen.com