Athletic Fitness for
Kids by Scott Lancaster and Radu Teodorescu
Lancaster, Scott, and
Teodorescu, Radu. Athletic Fitness for
Kids. 2008
I grabbed this book
online thinking it would help me be a better PE teacher. I found it through the National Council on
Strength and Fitness's (NCSF) website, they certify personal trainers among
other things. I'd been pleased before
with their book selection and found this one on their site (but bought it elsewhere
for far less).
A few minutes into reading,
I realized the book was really intended for student athletes, not so much
fitness instruction or activities for children.
The concern of the book is to help children reach their athletic
potential by working on athleticism's component parts: flexibility, balance,
stamina, coordination, strength, speed, and agility. Each of which have their own chapter consisting
of practical knowledge and drills. While
development of such components or athleticism itself may not seem necessary to implement
in a standard PE class, I believe such development is indeed relevant as
athletic development can be a rewarding and healthy experience for students
bodies' and minds' regardless of their age and intent to participate in
organized sports.
As was the case in
previous works regarding the classroom,
consistency, organization, and preparedness by the teacher for the days and
weeks ahead will significantly benefit student athletes. Lancaster and Teodorescu also place emphasis
on stressing the necessity to encourage and instill values of self-correction
and self-guided learning and for coaches and volunteers to create a positive, judgment
free zone to maximize opportunity to improve.
Such tenets are applicable to any instructor of any material. As previously mentioned, for each component
athletic ability, the authors' provide an array of drills and activities ranging
from introductory to highly complex. The
book also addresses issues regarding differences in the abilities of age groups
and how to circumnavigate the matter.
Similarities to other readings - Gradual release of responsibility,
the role of the coach/teacher is to be objective yet encouraging, you never
want to incite aggression, contempt, awkwardness, embarrassment, etc with
learners (teacher Akido). Consistency
and heavy planning on the teacher's part.
Chapter Breakdown
Chapter 1: The Athletic Fitness Model - The authors' concept of the athletic fitness
model is a program for athletes focusing on training the entire body in athleticism's
seven component areas to help them reach their potential. Such components include flexibility, coordination,
balance, stamina, strength, speed, and agility.
When typical training
regimens focusing on strategy and specific in-game situations are employed rather
than achieving athletic potential, you end up with a kind of in shape armchair
athlete. Also because young adults are
afforded less time for training and sports, training activities must consolidate many skills into fewer
activities.
The quintessential
training program is fun by itself and motivating, gets the individual to
compete against themselves, promotes self-guided learning and motivation, is
diverse (to avoid overuse injuries and boredom), makes sports desirable and enjoyable (by making the
individual capable of playing at a level above novice which is never fun for
very long), builds self-esteem, and in the case of training athletes puts them
on the path towards achieving their potential.
Chapter 2: Set Up the Program - There are two types of
programs to help student athletes, parent-child training and community based
league training. In either, the focus is
to develop component abilities through the use of cleverly designed, fun training
sessions consisting of various drills at specific 'stations' for specific
component abilities.
Training sessions must
occur regularly, each must be planned out before the start of even the first,
be highly structured, and of course be well thought out. A 1:6 ratio of volunteer to athlete is
recommended.
The coach's role is to
create a positive, judgment free and motivating environment that consequently
breeds success. The coach must also keep
track of and allow time for athletes to self-measure their progress for
drills.
Aside from being shown
how to perform a drill, there are many ways to correct mistakes but only one
correction should be made at a time.
Drills should allow time for athletes to work on their own and correct
their own mistakes. This gradual release
of responsibility is similar to the methodology of past works.
Chapter 3: Improve Flexibility - Flexibility reduces chance
of injury and provides an athlete in motion with more 'options' when reacting. Such training involves a warm up, the
increase in range of motion (ROM), and the cool down.
Warming up should do
just that, warm up the individual and energize them by incorporating a range of
activities targeting a muscle group, and sport specific activities such as
moving laterally, tossing, or chasing after a fly ball.
Aside from limiting a
body's 'options', a limited ROM, for example, can cap power generation
potential as well as lead to biomechanical abnormalities that can result in
injury. Shoulder and hip flexibility are
the two most relevant areas to an athlete.
Cooling down should incorporate static stretches while dynamic stretches
should be left to ROM exercises.
The chapter concludes
with a section of drills and other methods for warming up, increasing ROM, and
cooling down.
Chapter 4: Gain Coordination - Coordination is the ability
to simultaneously move different parts of the body where you want them to go at
the same time. Without coordination even
the most fit athlete would be unable to accomplish the simplest of tasks. To 'teach' coordination, drills must be
designed to develop muscle memory for specific and broad based movements. Observation by athletes of drill performance
or of professionals executing plays through digital media facilitates the
learning process. Focus on one aspect of
a drill per instruction period and allot athletes ample time to work on skills
themselves. Encourage self-learning.
The chapter concludes
with a section of drills and other methods for enhancing the coordination of
'big' movements (upper and lower body coordination) and precise movements (just
lower or upper body). Sport specific
drills are also included.
Chapter 5: Balance in Motion - Outrageously obvious, this
chapter is about the importance of balance.
Consuming all of the three pages before unloading 13 pages of drills, the chapter makes clear
that without balance, the athletic components of agility, coordination, speed,
and strength all fizzle. Balance also
reduces risk of related injuries.
Guess what the chapter
ends with? Drills. Great guess.
General physical
conditioning is recommended for children ages 8-14 and sport specific from 10
onward. Children below age 10 tend become bored with
drills older children can handle like running laps and sprints so their training
should be game focused. Another good way
to build stamina is to incorporate games into one another. The variety maximizes use of time, diminishes
the risk of overuse injury, and allows for multiple athletic components to be
developed. You could, for example, play a game of soccer during halftime of a
basketball game.
The drills at the end
of the chapter are diverse.
Chapter 7: Increase Strength - Until children reach puberty
their strength develops much more slowly relative to the other components of
athletic ability. For 8-12 year olds
focus on building strength through functional activities. For 12+, incorporate functional weight
training and guide student athletes away from focusing on the numbers and their
own reflection and towards awareness of the progression of their skills as
athletes.
Drills for all parts of
the body for both age brackets are included.
Chapter 8: Increase Speed - All things being equal, the
faster team wins. The use of speed
varies by sport and by the position an athlete plays. The two types of speed include speed of moment
(distance/time) and reaction to stimuli.
Again, each type varies by sport and position.
Young athletes tend to
run like their bodies' are marionettes so drills developing muscle memory and
subsequent proper form are fundamental to moving efficiently. Backpedaling and changes of direction must
also be muscle 'memorized' and a part of all age groups' activities. Bear in mind there are many overlaps in
training; just try training for agility without enhancing speed.
Drills range from what
look like teaching the crippled to walk again to dribbling a soccer or
basketball through an obstacle course of cones.
Such an obstacle course develops speed, coordination, balance, and
agility.
Chapter 9: Enhance Agility - Coordination is the ability to
simultaneously move different parts of the body where you want them to go. Agility is the same but doing so with speed
and grace. To develop agility, pick a
coordination task and slowly develop its complexity, focusing on speed and the
ease at which the action is performed.
Example drills range
from very basic to highly complex.
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