Armond Willis

In describing the “age” of young athletes, typically the first thing to come to mind is that child’s chronological age, or the date and year that they were born.

Numerically, this is the only indication of letting us know how long that person has been on this earth, which of course, we need to know when “grouping” athletes on teams and sports.

However, a youth athlete’s chronological age can overlook to other aspects of age that are crucial in their physical development, and the selection process utilized by most coaches today:

Relative Age and Developmental Age

Breaking It Down.

Relative age is used to determine a kids age in relation to his or her peers that they play sport or are in school with.

For instance, Zach and Jon are both 10 years old and play on the same Lacrosse team, however, Zach is 9 months older than Jon, and they still are on the same team.

This is a significant factor as relative age can, and does usually, play a large role in coaching decisions:

Essentially, this means that a child born on January 1st can be on the same team as someone born on December 31st of that same year, despite it almost being a years difference.

It has been well documented that “relative age” has a significant impact on the athletic selection.

Research has proven that athletes who were born early in a selection year are more likely to be chosen by coaches and organizations verses those born closer to the cut off date.

Why?

With more time to have developed physiologically, these athletes are fundamentally more advanced because of the physical traits that they developed before the “late bloomers”.

This in turn gives the early selected athletes a bigger advantage in terms of competition, while the others who are closer to the established cut off dates are at a disadvantage.

The somewhat unfortunate side (in the case of the underdeveloped athlete) is that athletes chosen early tend to be larger, stronger, and more skilled than younger players, causing uninformed coaches to believe that they are overall better players, when in truth, the younger ones just haven’t hit their spurt yet.

Older kids in the same cut off year have a developmental advantage.

The biggest misfortune are what the kids with developmental disadvantages have to endure, not being able to participate or make team cuts only because of their lack of physiological age.

Sociologist Robert Merton initiated the term the Matthew effect, which describes a situation in which kids given early developmental advantages through sports are more easily set up for success.

Because athletes who mature later than some of their counterparts  lack the developmental advantage, they can be seen as less “skilled” in their respective sport because of lack of a “physical” presence.

The resulting circumstance is a lack of quality coaching and programming which can hurt their chances of fully developing their skills.

However, if late maturing athletes can withstand these deterrences, then they would actually have an advantage over the more mature athletes once they finally hit their spurt.

Proper training, coaching, and programming throughout the late growing phase will teach younger athletes the fundamentals of hard work while also preparing them mentally for the demands and challenges of their unique sport and competition.

Athletes who mature early and did have a competitive advantage over their peers are sometimes at a disadvantage because they don’t need to practice as hard since they are more developed strength and skill wise than than the others.

When a late bloomer does come of age however, the constant practice and skill development will be an additional asset to their physiological maturation.

Proper Training

While it is very important for ANY athlete of any age to partake in a proper training program, it is especially important for the underdeveloped youth athlete to be apart of one for a few reasons:

Firstly, beyond the actual physical development of training is the psychological aspect.

Kids get left behind, discouraged, and lose self esteem if they are not on the winning end of the selection process. As mentioned before, coaches can sometimes put too much focus on those athletes who are more developed at the expense of investing the attention needed for those kids who are not.

This can ultimately lead to kids quitting sports altogether and feeling inadequate.

Coaches and organizations, especially at the middle school and high school level should know how to properly identify the developmental and relative ages of athletes so that they can take the right measures in developing the athlete, and creating effective long term training programs that will get him ready for the next phases in competition.

Identification and proper training measures are key in not only preparing younger athletes to be competitive within their sport and age group, but also in creating a sound and confident all around athlete.

The long term effects of which will be beneficial well beyond competition.

Sports are getting more and more competitive by the year. The demand put on athletes starts at even earlier ages now.

These very demands can be taxing both physiologically and psychologically on a young athlete. And it is unfortunate that sometimes the demands far exceed the supply of good coaching available for sport coaching and or performance.

And then there is this dilemma: finding the right coach to help your kid get better.

Yes it is a given that the stronger and faster a kid is, the better off they will be for their sport. They should be prepared accordingly.

But there are certain, proven ways that an athlete should be trained, and certain questions that you should ask whatever trainer that you find.

…the most important being what is your assessment process.

There are more trainers/coaches to handle out there who proclaim to be “speed” coaches but fail to recognize a few things about the athlete before starting any program.

If you take your athlete to a trainer, and they immediately start putting them through intense drills before doing any type of assessment, then I would question whether I made the right choice.

A few reasons why:

1.) The kid may not be physiologically mature enough to handle those loads, which in turn can lead to imbalances and injury

2.) Overspeed training is one of the most demanding activities for the muscles and joints, and not being able to recognize any asymmetries or imbalances beforehand puts the athlete at more risk. Technically, an athlete may NEVER be able to reach their speed potential until these are addressed, otherwise you could just be reinforcing poor movement patterns.

This is especially true in adolescents who are still growing and for the most part have not been educated on how to properly stretch, train, or recover on their own.

Almost always there are underlying issues to be addressed.

3.) Strength and speed are directly related. 

While speed is a trainable effect and can be positively manipulated through mechanical and technical drills, it is maximized through strength.

The more force muscles can generate into the ground, the faster you will move.

An athlete that has no real background in strength training but immediately begins a “speed” program without a strength assessment may not ever reach their potential in terms of speed. So strength should be assessed.

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The main takeaway is that the assessment process is absolutely necessary in determining the level of physiological competence for an athlete beginning a program.

Logically speaking, if a “trainer” fails to do this, then they are completely disregarding any deficiencies, strength imbalances, limited range of motion, or bio mechanical disadvantages of the athlete that needs to be worked on that will have a limiting factor on performance or even lead to injury.And given that nutrition is a very significant part of increased performance, this should be inquired as well.

However, if their program is systematic and progresses the athlete, and they utilize feedback from the athlete accordingly throughout the program, then this is a safe approach as well.

But, tossing an athlete into the fire and completely disregarding their physiological status, overlooking base strength development, and putting them through a one size fits all program is an issue.

And if you ask the trainer what his or her assessment process is, and they can’t answer or say they do not have one, unless they are tremendously educated, then I would move on to the next.

I have personally witnessed trainers either improperly or not assess at all, and those athletes unfortunately suffer serious injury because of it. Sometimes ACL!!

Final questions should be:

Do they assess?

 What is the assessment?

 How often are they assessed?

 How is progress checked?

 How is your program put together?

 Keep in mind that the objective of a program should be to really build performance of an athlete, not just make them sweat and burn. Trainers should have the measurables to prove the program is working.

This starts with having an assessment in place.

Whenever most athletes think of conditioning or getting in shape for the season, one of the first things that come to mind is running a bunch of miles and or increasing “cardio” so they can “be in shape”.

No matter what sport. Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, Lacrosse…it doesn’t matter.

However, as a top level athlete, or coach for that matter, it is important to be able to distinguish between the different energy systems and know how to train them.

Questions that should be addressed are what are the predominant energy systems used in the sport being trained for, how far away is the season, and how do the energy systems vary per position within the sport.

Does the sport require the athlete to be aerobically in shape?

Do they need to be explosive?

Does she need to be explosive for long periods of time?

Each of these components require specific types of conditioning to peak the athlete for their season..

And training at the wrong intensities during the off season will hurt the athletes ability to “be in shape” for their sport.

The 3 Energy Systems- Anaerobic Alactic, Anaerobic Lactic, and Aerobic

Each of these energy systems denotes how the bodily utilizes different sources to produce energy or muscular force for certain periods of time.

Anaerobic Alactic:

Explosion.

This is the predominant system during activity with an approximate duration of one to ten seconds.

An explosive or powerful movement that happens in a short period of time.

The primary substances to fuel the body are ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and Creatine Phosphate.

Once ATP is depleted from the muscles, the stored Creatine Phosphate breaks down into creatine and phosphate, which is then used to create more ATP

Physiologically, an athlete is only able to sustain this type of explosiveness 8-10 seconds. Hence, short burst movements such as sprints, throwing, or punching rely heavily of the anaerobic alactic system.

In order for the athlete to become efficient at using this system, they should train in short bursts and allow adequate recovery as it can take between 2-10 minutes to fully recover ATP and creatine stores to be able to perform another rep at the same intensity.

Anaerobic Lactic:

While the majority of sports involve short explosive burst that last less than 8-10 seconds, there are a plethora of sports that require athletes to be explosive for more than 10 seconds at a time.

Any exercise that utilizes explosion between 1 and 60 seconds will utilize the anaerobic alactic for the first 8-10 seconds, and the anaerobic lactic for remaining 50 seconds.

The anaerobic lactic system provides energy by breaking down a substance called glycogen, stored sugar in the body, that is stored in muscle cells and the liver, which releases energy to resynthesize  ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

Energy in both the anaerobic alactic and lactic create energy in the absence of oxygen. This absence of oxygen during the breakdown of glycogen produces a byproduct called lactic acid.

When high intensity training is prolonged, large quantities of lactic acid accumulate in the muscle, which cause fatigue and gradually prevent the body from maintaining a high level of power output.

The best way to prepare an athlete for a sport where the anaerobic lactic system is the dominant source of energy is through implementing training activity that is within the range (anaerobic lactic 10-60 seconds) of energy production.

Conditioning of the anaerobic lactic system builds threshold and muscle capacity of fast twitch fibers to continue to fire in the presence of lactic acid, thus being able to resist fatigue for a longer amount of time. The nervous system will be able to adapt from being able to maintain “frequency of discharge” for the duration of the lactic effort.

In sports such as Lacrosse where the short bursts, change of speed, and explosion happen throughout the game, having a well-developed anaerobic capacity will keep the athlete more efficient not only through the game, but the entire season. And when combined with a well-planned strength program, the training effect is further increased.

The Aerobic System:

The aerobic system requires 60 to 80 seconds to start producing energy to resynthesize ATP. But unlike the anaerobic systems, the aerobic system replenishes ATP in the presence of oxygen, using glycogen, fat, and protein.

Heart rate must be increased and rate of breathing in order for oxygen to be transported to muscle cells. And even though both the anaerobic lactic and aerobic use glycogen as a source of energy for ATP resynthesis, the aerobic system produces little to no lactic acid, allowing the body to continue exercise.

As a result, activity that lasts from 1 minute to 3 hours will predominantly use this system. And as a person’s aerobic capacity improves, their ability to use fat for fuel also improves.

Training For Each:

Most sports involve intermittent use of all three of these energy systems, so maximizing the efficiency of just ONE when the sport involves multiple has proven not effective.

This is where offseason training structure comes in to play.

As mentioned earlier, when most coaches “condition” athletes, the common practice is to just have the athletes run miles. And while this does increase the aerobic capacity, this does not address the other energy systems.

Explosive exercises such as short distant sprints, middle distance sprints with variable recovery are tantamount to peak for the season.

Each energy system must be trained and conditioned so that the athlete is able to maintain power output throughout games and the season, while being better able to resist fatigue at the same time.

Making It Specific:

One thing to keep in mind is that Energy System Development can be broad and specific in terms of drill/exercise selection for each system.

For instance, in developing the Aerobic (cardio) system, a coach can have an athlete run 3 miles, or perform technical drills for run mechanics such as B-Skips for 20-30 yards with a jogging recovery back to the starting line and repeat for 8 minutes.

Implementing specific drills instead of just running allows the athlete not only to improve technique relevant to the sport or mechanics of the sport, but also improve energy system efficiency.

Drills can include sled runs, sled pulls, change of direction drills, or any multidirectional movement drills as long as the work to rest ratio is in sync with overall intention and the selected energy system needing improvement. (See charts below)

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Energy System Development is a crucial component in preparing an athlete for their season. The sport must be analyzed, movements should be broken down, and the energy expended during competition should be assessed in order to properly program off season and in season training. This could even vary by position.

It’s more than just about running an athlete in to shape. It is about exacting a training regimen that can manipulate the development of each energy system, and condition it for the season.

This is how any athlete of any sport will be able to start, remain, and finish the season strong.

As a result, activity that lasts from 1 minute to 3 hours. And as a person’s aerobic capacity improves, their ability to use fat for fuel also improves.