Coaching Children and Young People

sports coach UKDevelop Your Coaching

Workshop

Workshop outcomes

By the end of the workshop, coaches should be able to:• establish safe and effective coaching environments

to meet the needs of children and young people• describe the LTAD model• identify the critical periods of trainability within the

LTAD model• describe the acquisition of skills as children

develop• modify coaching to meet the needs of children and

young people

Coaching Children and Young PeopleOHT 1

Information required• Social/psychological factors

– motivation, needs, ambitions, attitudes, behaviour

• Physical factors– ability, fitness, stage of physical development

• Skill factors– stage of motor development, information

processing

Coaching Children and Young PeopleOHT 2

Principles of coaching children and young people

Coaching Children and Young People

• Make it fun

• Avoid specialising too early

• Put performer first

OHT 3

Principles of LTAD

Coaching Children and Young People

• Athlete-centred

• Promote long-term participation

• Maximise full potential

OHT 4

LTAD modelStage 1: FUNdamentals

Coaching Children and Young People

Age Key Points

6-8 (girls)/

6-9 (boys)

• Performers need to sample wide range of fun and creative activities

• No sport-specific specialisation• Emphasis on development of basic motor

skills, not competition• Parents involved and supportive• Tasks/groups set by biological rather than

chronological age• Speed, power and endurance developed

using fun games• No periodization

OHT 5

LTAD modelStage 2: Learning to Train

Age Key Points

8-11 (girls)/9-12 (boys)

• Performers begin to apply basic skills and fitness to preferred activities

• Performers begin to reduce number of sports/activities

• Emphasis on learning how to train, not on outcome, but element of competition introduced (eg 25% of training programme)

OHT 6

LTAD modelStage 3: Training to Train

Age Key Points

11-14 (girls)/12-15 (boys)

• Individualised programmes based on PHVs• Teams split into groups of early, average

and late maturers• Girls and boys may begin to train separately• Regular height checks to identify key

periods for maximum training benefit and avoid injuries

• Regular medical monitoring and musculo-skeletal screening

• Excessive, repetitive, weight-bearing aerobic work should be avoided – non-weight-bearing exercises recommended

OHT 7

Summary of LTAD

Coaching Children and Young People

• Acknowledges different development rates

• Development of individual programmes

• Uses critical periods of trainability

OHT 8

Developing skill

Recognising:• ability to process information• reaction time (neural development)• body control• coordination

Coaching Children and Young PeopleOHT 9

Stages of learning

Coaching Children and Young People

Stage 1Cognitive

Stage 2Associative

Stage 3Autonomous

Children just getting to grips with how limbs coordinate to

perform action

Children now have to think less about movement and can

shift attention to adapting

movement to conditions

Children have mastered full

movement – it is consistent,

dynamic and fluent

Coaches should encourage

performers to focus on external cues

relating to outcome rather than process

Coaches should provide good,

effective feedback to help children

alter movements

Coaches should delay feedback to allow children to

identify and correct own errors

OHT 10

Physical literacy

• ABCs:Agility, balance, coordination, speed

• RJT:Run, jump, throw

• KGBs:Kinesthesia, gliding, buoyancy, striking

• CPKs:Catching, passing, kicking, striking

Coaching Children and Young PeopleOHT 11