No. Train youth athletes like youth athletes.
“The worst thing you can do for a youth athlete is treat them like they are not one.
Yet with each passing year, we trend more and more away from a developmental model in exchange for a ‘train like the pros’ model.
And access to their potential suffers directly because of it.”
-Ray Zingler on X
Information is great.
We live in an era where we can get access to a bunch of information right now.
And you can pick which information you want, too.
You can read articles, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and watch social media.
You can have it all, again, right now.
The “problem” with the access to abundance of information is that it leads a lot of people who are working with kids down the rabbit hole of premature advancement.
“Oh there is this new thing.”
“Have you heard about..”
And the problem with prescribing kids all the nuance is not only do they not need it, they don’t have the background, competence, or training age to support any of it.
It’s counterproductive.
What most people see as new, cutting edge, and trendy, is actually theft from most kids development.
Coaching is an art.
And knowing that a training concept exists and knowing if and when you should use a training concept are two totally different things.
You don’t pay the plumber $100/hr for bending a pipe, you pay the plumber $100/hr for knowing which pipe to bend.
The greatest thing about youth athletes is that they are beginners by design.
They are blank, fresh canvases, and this is exactly what makes coaching them a tremendously responsibility.
You have an opportunity to help them build a rock solid foundation and put them on a progressive path to excellence.
Or you can be a development depriving asshole who focuses more on getting followers on social media at their expense with your “new work out”.
I wish it wasn’t true, but there are far more of the ladder in this game than the former.
A bunch of immature adults who don’t know what they don’t know about what they don’t know, giving kids what they don’t need and don’t benefit from, all for the image and the goal of attaining their own personal gain.
If you want to find a coach who truly wants what is best for your kids, look for the simple guys. The coaches who take pride in prescribing and coaching the fundamentals at a high level.
They are the guys who (actually) want & know what’s best for your kids.
Train like the pros is nonsense.
