But here is how you combat, support, & fund the abundance of specific demands:
“Global athletic development requires kids to be exposed to a variety of movement patterns & stimulus’s.
If kids aren’t going to play multiple sports, that’s fine, but this makes a well rounded S&C program, not a good idea..
But a requirement if you care about performance.”
-Ray Zingler on X
The idea of playing multiple sports isn’t to have your kid become an elite generalist.
Nor is to spend all your time and money trying to be great at every sport they try.
The idea of playing multiple sports is to leverage value from the movement patterns and critical thinking skills that other sports, aside from their main sport(s) provide.
In places outside the US they will often call these “donor sports”.
Though baseball is his “main sport”, getting your kid involved in basketball, despite maybe not having a future as an NBA player is still a great idea because of the movement patterns basketball provides.
Think of all the running, cutting, jumping, landing, COD, competition, & etc.
It almost sounds like that highly coveted “agility” training that most parents are after for their kids..
What if I told you that it is! And not only is it agility training, it’s far better than any of the cut rate agility training (that doesn’t transfer to sport) you’ll buy from the turf box down the road from your house, too.
But what if they don’t play another sport?
What if they don’t want to?
That’s okay.
This is most kids in modern day because of the way greedy adults have leveraged youth sports against them for their own financial gain. (#ForTheKids, though.)
If this is the case, for whatever the reason is, it’s critical that we get kids exposed to a variety of movement patterns and exercises so that their bodies can gain access to the variety of movement patterns their athletic development is craving.
This is why I (patiently & internally) go ballistic when a parent asks, “do you do <insert sport> specific training”?
I obviously understand the question, but we must think about it rationally.
More specificity on top of what they’re already doing too much of?
All while they aren’t being exposed to movement patterns outside of their only sport?
It’s important to note that general FUNDS specific.
For me not to put general (well-rounded) training on them would be theft.
I couldn’t sleep at night.
Yet, gluttonous charlatans are crowding kids already full plates with more specificity and have you convinced it in the kid’s best interests.
It’s not.
They NEED general.
