Over recent years talent identification in sport has started to acknowledge and account for the crucial character element in talent development. In particular, the importance of ‘grit’ is increasingly championed. Coaches and parents are accordingly becoming more aware of this concept in relation to youth sports. So what is grit, how does it relate to long-term success in sport and what can we do to create the conditions to help foster grittiness in young performers?
The Glaring Gap in Skill Development for Youth Sports
Traditionally, practices and skill development in general within youth sports has focussed on technical and tactical aspects. Dedicated development of athletic skills have been largely overlooked, which was previously not a major issue as sports coaches were able to rely on the natural athleticism that young performers brought to the party. Consequently, whilst youth sports coaches with a physical education teaching background might bring expertise in these areas, for the most part athletic skills have not typically been part of the coach education process, particularly in ‘skill sports’ (i.e. team sports, racquet sports, etc.). However, we are now having to reckon with these omissions, as is becoming increasingly evident at all levels of junior competition in many sports.
Learning to Take Responsibility
A recent instalment of the Prepared Blog spoke about the transition into the teenage years as a key window where young performers start to become equipped and amenable to taking greater ownership. In the realms of coaching it is often advocated that we should place the performer at the centre of things. Like many others I have written about autonomy being an important objective in the coaching process. Clearly this does however place some onus on the performer. So what exactly do we require from the performer themselves in order to make it all viable?
Whilst this is primarily written in the context of young performers, these themes are equally applicable to performers of any age. To some degree we are all on this journey!
What You See Is Not All There Is...
To explain the title, one of the most common cognitive biases in how we see the world is encapsulated as ‘what you see is all there is’. In other words, we have a tendency to overlook what is not immediately visible or obvious. We tend to assume that the elements we see in front of us are the only aspects at play. We are slow to consider that there might be additional unseen factors at work that might lead us to an alternative explanation for what we are seeing.
The Opportunity of Early Adolescence with Young Performers
Without doubt a unique opportunity to have a profound impact and see dramatic changes presents itself as young performers enter the adolescent years. The theme for this latest offering is this overlooked but crucial phase in the development of young athletes.
As most who read this will already be well aware, there are fertile windows of development in the childhood years. It is widely recognised that young kids are a sponge for learning and acquiring cognitive and motor skills, including language. What is less known is that there is similarly a distinct window of development that coincides with the transition from childhood to adolescence.
Preparing for Re-Entry
Greetings to everybody (and welcome to new readers). With the COVID-19 restrictions gradually being eased many of us are contemplating making a return to ‘normal’ training, including practices and perhaps even competition. As we are seeing in the professional leagues that have restarted after the enforced break, the return to action has been accompanied by a number of soft tissue injuries. Based on discussions I have had with coaches and practitioners involved in various sports around the world from professional to college and high school level, everybody is grappling with how to best manage this transition. So with this latest offering I decided to offer some thoughts for performers on what they need to consider and how they might best prepare for re-entry…
The parallels between coaching and parenting are striking and both of these elements naturally come together with youth sports. The concept of free-range kids popularised by author (and parent) Lenore Skenazy thus readily applies to how we coach young athletes (as well as sport parenting). In each case, free play and participating in unsupervised games are essential parts of how children and young athletes develop. Engaging in play is central to how we learn to navigate the world and engage with others. Voluntarily participating in games with others (without intervention from the grown ups) teaches kids how to conduct themselves and develops the capability to interact with peers in a competitive context and a cooperative manner. A less structured environment where the kids themselves decide the playing area and the rules of the game affords the opportunity to apply what they have learned, explore different tactics and engage in trial and error. As such, free play and unsupervised games are particularly rich in opportunities to acquire and adapt sport skills and develop game sense. Given the myriad benefits and the essential role that these opportunities play in developing adept athletes and capable humans, it seems baffling that they are systematically being eliminated with today’s youth. So here we will make the case for applying the free-range perspective to rethink youth sports participation and talent development in a way that fosters engagement and creates self-reliant athletes.