Below are some responses to coaching issues I face on a regular basis when working with youth and junior athletes. Some of these responses are related to my studies related to the science of youth coaching, so please contact me if the answers are a bit technical!
1. How is youth and junior coaching different than adult athlete coaching?
Working with younger triathletes (7-12) requires I adapt adult training to reflect the capability and maturation level of this younger age group. The sport of triathlon is extremely challenging and highly aerobic, yet this younger age group has limitations on improving aerobic capacity. A training program that is value added in terms of triathlon performance for this younger age group must be carefully designed with various age specific limitations in mind.
2. How did you get involved in coaching youth and junior triathletes?
My early coaching success was largely due to my own study and trial and error while coaching myself. Other triathletes saw my eventual success and asked if I could help them improve. As my personal interests gradually shifted away from competition toward my younger daughter’s involvement in the sport, I knew I would need to acquire new paradigms, new age appropriate knowledge, as well as new skills to be successful coaching youth in the sport of triathlon. I pursued study through the University of Florida (The Science of Coaching Young Athletes course) and USTA Coaching certification (the governing body of the sport of triathlon).
3) How does young athlete motivation differ from adult triathletes?
My work with younger triathletes and my study (U of F Science of Coaching Young Athletes and USTA) has shown me I need to reconsider my personal experiences with the sport of triathlon, beginning with my very motives, if I am to be an effective coach to young triathletes. While I came to the sport of triathlon as a competitive middle distance runner and swimmer, and my competitive motivation, along with trial and error self-coaching eventually qualified me for US National Championships, few children will share this motive. If statistics hold true, 70 percent of children practicing triathlon will quit the sport before high school graduation. Thirty nine percent of young boys will quit triathlon (38 percent of young girls) because they are not having fun, and 40 percent because they do not like their coach. One of the main reasons children play sports is to have fun.
My role as triathlon coach to younger athletes is to make learning triathlon skills fun, create an environment where friendships are made while practicing fitness, and create an environment where developing a positive coach-athlete relationship is possible.
4) How does the younger athlete’s physical limitations influence your approach to coaching youth and junior triathletes?
Triathlon is a unique sport where optimal performance, like other sports, is a function of physical work capacity and exploitation capabilities (i.e. sport specific skill sets). Triathlon at the Olympic distance for adults and shorter age appropriate distances for children (i.e. typically for ages 7-11 a 100 meter swim, 5 k bike, and 1 k run, and ages 12-15 a 200 meter swim, 10 k bike and 2 k run) requires a unique combination of physical work capacity, i.e. strength, speed, endurance, flexibility and coordination. Similarly, there are very specific exploitation capabilities, i.e. skills, techniques, and tactics, unique to each of the three disciplines in the triathlon. Training for the triathlon is an extremely complex undertaking for anyone, but this is especially the case for children who are at an age where fun and friendships are the primary motivator!
My role as a coach is to make sure the four implicit principles of coaching are practiced: training is enjoyable, training is appropriate to the age and physical maturity of my athletes, my athletes see gradual improvement, and of course, the physical limitations of the children I coach are respected, and do no harm.
5) What are your long term strategies for maximizing your athlete’s potential?
While triathlon requires a very intense training regimen where endurance, speed, strength, coordination and flexibility are developed in proportion to the unique demands of the sport to maximize competitive performance, younger athletes pass through “windows of opportunity” that must be factored into any long term athlete development training model. This is especially true for the young triathlete when it comes to developing endurance and maximizing mean endurance power. The power available to younger triathletes is limited by their lower levels of glycolytic enzyme activity. Their ability to process lactate is significantly less than a full grown adult as a lack of metabolic enzymes may limit their power duration. However, power output on the bike (watts), for example, may be improved by focusing on muscle recruitment, coordination, and cycling technique.
The importance of the long term athlete development model to me as a coach is that it rather simply explains that there is a season for each stage of the younger athlete’s development, and the ultimate goal of triathlon training is not to produce Olympic champions, but athletes committed to life-long fitness, friendships with those that share love of sport, and fun!
1. How is youth and junior coaching different than adult athlete coaching?
Working with younger triathletes (7-12) requires I adapt adult training to reflect the capability and maturation level of this younger age group. The sport of triathlon is extremely challenging and highly aerobic, yet this younger age group has limitations on improving aerobic capacity. A training program that is value added in terms of triathlon performance for this younger age group must be carefully designed with various age specific limitations in mind.
2. How did you get involved in coaching youth and junior triathletes?
My early coaching success was largely due to my own study and trial and error while coaching myself. Other triathletes saw my eventual success and asked if I could help them improve. As my personal interests gradually shifted away from competition toward my younger daughter’s involvement in the sport, I knew I would need to acquire new paradigms, new age appropriate knowledge, as well as new skills to be successful coaching youth in the sport of triathlon. I pursued study through the University of Florida (The Science of Coaching Young Athletes course) and USTA Coaching certification (the governing body of the sport of triathlon).
3) How does young athlete motivation differ from adult triathletes?
My work with younger triathletes and my study (U of F Science of Coaching Young Athletes and USTA) has shown me I need to reconsider my personal experiences with the sport of triathlon, beginning with my very motives, if I am to be an effective coach to young triathletes. While I came to the sport of triathlon as a competitive middle distance runner and swimmer, and my competitive motivation, along with trial and error self-coaching eventually qualified me for US National Championships, few children will share this motive. If statistics hold true, 70 percent of children practicing triathlon will quit the sport before high school graduation. Thirty nine percent of young boys will quit triathlon (38 percent of young girls) because they are not having fun, and 40 percent because they do not like their coach. One of the main reasons children play sports is to have fun.
My role as triathlon coach to younger athletes is to make learning triathlon skills fun, create an environment where friendships are made while practicing fitness, and create an environment where developing a positive coach-athlete relationship is possible.
4) How does the younger athlete’s physical limitations influence your approach to coaching youth and junior triathletes?
Triathlon is a unique sport where optimal performance, like other sports, is a function of physical work capacity and exploitation capabilities (i.e. sport specific skill sets). Triathlon at the Olympic distance for adults and shorter age appropriate distances for children (i.e. typically for ages 7-11 a 100 meter swim, 5 k bike, and 1 k run, and ages 12-15 a 200 meter swim, 10 k bike and 2 k run) requires a unique combination of physical work capacity, i.e. strength, speed, endurance, flexibility and coordination. Similarly, there are very specific exploitation capabilities, i.e. skills, techniques, and tactics, unique to each of the three disciplines in the triathlon. Training for the triathlon is an extremely complex undertaking for anyone, but this is especially the case for children who are at an age where fun and friendships are the primary motivator!
My role as a coach is to make sure the four implicit principles of coaching are practiced: training is enjoyable, training is appropriate to the age and physical maturity of my athletes, my athletes see gradual improvement, and of course, the physical limitations of the children I coach are respected, and do no harm.
5) What are your long term strategies for maximizing your athlete’s potential?
While triathlon requires a very intense training regimen where endurance, speed, strength, coordination and flexibility are developed in proportion to the unique demands of the sport to maximize competitive performance, younger athletes pass through “windows of opportunity” that must be factored into any long term athlete development training model. This is especially true for the young triathlete when it comes to developing endurance and maximizing mean endurance power. The power available to younger triathletes is limited by their lower levels of glycolytic enzyme activity. Their ability to process lactate is significantly less than a full grown adult as a lack of metabolic enzymes may limit their power duration. However, power output on the bike (watts), for example, may be improved by focusing on muscle recruitment, coordination, and cycling technique.
The importance of the long term athlete development model to me as a coach is that it rather simply explains that there is a season for each stage of the younger athlete’s development, and the ultimate goal of triathlon training is not to produce Olympic champions, but athletes committed to life-long fitness, friendships with those that share love of sport, and fun!