Coaches and parents have long debated when should preteens should begin sports training and how best to train young athletes for different sports for many years. To date, there has not been any resolution to this problem, especially at what age preteens should begin serious training and how it should be approached.
Serious training means that the athlete begins specializing in one or two sports. Rather than getting expert opinions on this it appears that most parents follow the examples of athletes in particular sports who have achieved great success. Most notable is Tiger Woods who is reputed to have begun training at age two. Many other athletes began at ages five or six
Sadly, University professors have not looked at this problem of when should preteens begin serious training, nor do they even examine or guide students in the training of athletes. As a result there are few if any learned individuals who understand this problem in order to help parents and coaches on the development of their children in the early years.
Because of this it is not uncommon to encounter many myths surrounding the training of athletes, especially the very young and beginning athletes. The only reliable sources we have are examples from the former Soviet Union who had a very extensive and scientifically-based system for developing children and preteen athletes.
Do not be misled into thinking that they “took children out of the crib and made them into athletes” according to the propaganda we were given during the Cold War. Except in a few sports such as gymnastics and figure skating did youngsters begin serious training at a very young age. In most cases they were 13-14 years old when they started training.
This does not mean that they did not participate in sports earlier. They had the athlete participate in many different sports in the sports schools. They emphasized technique and learning the basic skills of each sport in order to develop the coordination and general abilities needed in all sports.
Genetics played an important role in only some sports. Since it only accounted for 30% of an athlete’s potential success, major emphasis was placed on training since it accounted for 70% of the athletes success.
At present, there is no valid scientific evidence to indicate that specializing at an early age is of any benefit for future success. There are however, many studies indicating the opposite. There is considerable evidence that youngsters who specialize early hardly ever succeed for any length of time as adults.
Most important in the early years, especially in the pre- and pubertal years, is to develop the technical and physical abilities needed for successful participation in sport. This means that children should be taught how to execute various skills most effectively.
Teaching technique should be the responsibility of physical education teachers. It should not be left to chance or to the youth sports coaches who often know little about technique or how to develop the special physical qualities needed. All too often however, teaching skills does not happen since most physical education teachers know as little about technique as youth coaches. It is not covered in their education or training.
Youngsters should also be introduced to general strength exercises in the 1 x 20 RM program for total body development. This is a very important, but mostly ignored, part of training an athlete. Too often concentration is only on greater volume in regard to more playing of the sport, not on development of the body to enable the athlete to participate more effectively for longer periods.
For more information on this topic read Build a Better Athlete and Secrets of Russian Sports Fitness and Training.