The need for all-round training
If you have watched a sufficient number of baseball, football, or other sports games, you probably heard the announcer comment on some outstanding play made by an athlete. This usually occurs when the athlete displays a talent not usually seen in the sport.
For example, when a baseball player makes leaping catches that if not caught, would have been home runs the announcers make a big issue of this. The comment is usually to the effect that he gained this ability by also being an outstanding basketball or volleyball player in college.
In other words, this ability to leap high was a talent that was learned or developed in basketball, not in baseball. In football, backfield players are often credited with having outstanding footwork that was learned from playing soccer, not football. Even in basketball players are often credited with foot skills learned from playing soccer, not basketball.
Even though the announcers are not cognizant of this, they are in effect, advocating the need for universality or all-round training. By this I mean that the athlete develops all of the basic skills such as running, jumping, throwing, kicking, hitting and cutting. He does not specialize in only one sport.
Sadly however, specialization in one sport appears to be the trend rather than the exception. Because of this we are seeing more athletes who are limited in their all-around abilities, rather than athletes who can display multitude abilities.
This does not mean that young athletes should not specialize. They should, but only after developing a strong universal base. This means that they first develop all the basic physical and technical abilities that will enable them to carry out any task that is placed before them. They should not be limited to only those skills specific to a single sport.
To do this however, is necessary to make a strong commitment to buck the present trend of specialization in the earliest years. It will take a great deal of education especially to parents and coaches. It will also take a strong commitment to change (improve) our present system of training athletes.
I am not sure that it can be done unless parents and coaches are convinced of its necessity. And coaches will have to learn to teach skills and abilities rather than only playing the players to win. We will have to accept the fact that winning games in the early years is not important.
It will be necessary to accept the fact that most important in the early years is learning the skills of the game and developing the abilities to be able to play the game on a high level in the late teenage years and beyond. Winning games will then become more important but not to the neglect of further development of the technical and physical abilities.
At present the universities do not instill this need in future physical education teachers and coaches. Nor do elementary physical education – where it can be found – teachers teach organized basic skills. The same is true of high school physical education teachers who appear to be conducting more physical fitness activities rather than teaching physical and technical sports skills.
It should be noted here that this is in direct contrast to what was in effect in the former Soviet Union and which still exists to a great extent in present-day Russia. Youngsters in the elementary grades had prescribed curriculums on what was taught at the different ages in regard to the basic physical and especially technical skills.
There was a definite progression of learning skills and abilities from the very earliest years through the high school years. This is what enabled many players to do exceptionally well in more than one sport and which enabled them to reach the highest levels in any one sport. For more information on this see Secrets of Russian Sports Fitness and Training.
And so, even though there is a great need for universality it is still a dream for many athletes. For more information on this topic, read Build a Better Athlete and Sports: Is It All B.S.?