SDI Sport Development International SDI

The Sport Training Optimization Experts

Youth Multilateral Sport Development: The Child & Junior Athlete Path to Success
Periodization Programs for High Performance Sport Achievement

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     Sport Development International has a multilateral approach philosophy to maximize the potential of every single young athletes we counsel through their parents or coaches. A multilateral sport approach is by definition the opposite of an unilateral sport approach where a child's development would only be focused on one or two sports usually according to the preferences of the child, or worse: according to the dream of a parent who failed in his/her childhood and adolescence sporting endeavors. All young athletes should be encouraged to practice as much sport activities as possible. Some could be in an organized way at kinder garden, elementary schools, Junior High / High Schools, or with sport clubs. Other could be arranged around family time, making physical activities a fun part of the educational process through a variety of games and exercises.

     Sport Development International credo is to generate good general athletes through a systematic and fun approach before the young athletes start their training in a specific sport and the specificities of that sport become more dominant. The most striking thing for us, when it comes to sport training, is the common lack of understanding about the basics in education. Would it sound pedagogically correct to jam students at an early age in physics only classes prior developing basic mathematics understanding and denying them a broader knowledge development in other topics? Doesn't this sound a bit narrow minded? Why should it be different in sport? What would be the outcome for such pupils?

     Sport Development international Programs encourage children to develop a variety of fundamental skills in a fun, stress-free and game oriented way. Developing through the years a better coordination, flexibility, agility, speed, endurance, muscular endurance, strength, power and balance will certainly open the doors to major improvements in many sports, train more confident, fun loving athletes with their bodies ready to sustain a healthy life, keep on the path of sport high performance and acquire the right attitude towards challenging situations both in sports and life.

     Basically, a long-term approach program for sport development should be designed as follows:

• 6 to 14 years of age: Multilateral Development where the focus is placed on the acquisition of general motor skills and initiation to maybe one or two sports the child like most (this can also change with time). This phase can be divided into two sub-phases: Initiation and Athletic Development

• 15 to 19 years of age: is the time of specialization where the multilateral approach must continue but doesn't constitute the major part of the training any longer (up to 40% maybe)

• 20 to 30+ is the time for high performance development in a chosen sport

     It is factual today that children specialize too early in a sport they think they like, regardless of the poor conditioning, narrow motor skills and abilities they acquire in specializing too early. The following table will compare the results of both the training philosophies of early specialization and multilateral development:

 

Training Philosophy
Early Specialization	Multilateral Development
Quick performance improvement Best performances achieved at 15-16 years because of quick physiological and neuro-muscular adaptation Inconsistency in performance in competition High % of burn out by age 17-18, athletes may completely quit sport Prone to injury because of muscular unbalance and forced adaptation	Slower performance improvement Athletes usually get best performance at 18 years and older towards the age of physiological and psychological maturation Consistency of performances in competitions Much longer athletic life Far fewer injuries as a result of a stronger anatomical adaptation and strength development giving the athletes stronger muscle fibers, tendons and ligaments

     Sport Development International took all these parameters into consideration to design general motor skills programs to increase the functionality of young athletes now and later in life. Moreover, we are taking into consideration the personal background of the young athletes to help personalize and optimize his/her development in complete coordination symbiosis with the young athlete's objectives established with the parents and/or coach.

Please contact us for an assessment for your child  / athlete

For any inquiries, please contact us at: info@sportdevelopmentinternational.com

Sport Development International, 2007, 2008