Kids and Sports - How Young is Too Young?

Kids and Sport - do you know how much is too much?

Newsflash - kids don’t automatically know how to play sports, they will need to be taught the basic motor skills and be given time and opportunity to progress.

As adults we need to make it fun, varied and simple. We need to focus on the skills that are taught, not on performance outcomes.

Here are some general things to consider;

• Growth plates (the end of children's bones) are not fully formed until late teens or early twenties
• Girls growth plates typically form earlier than boys
• Most growth plate injuries occur between ages 13-17
• Jumping, throwing and catching will become refined around 9 or 10 years
• Remember not to train kids too hard or too early, this can contribute to injuries, the child dropping out of the sport or reaching burnout

Here's a link to a short segment from ABC Breakfast News (Australia) about why kids start sport, and why they drop out Australian Sports Commission Video

Ages and Stages

Ages 5-9 – Fundamental stage – Have Fun

• Have fun, use play centred activities to develop on fitness, strength, balance and timing
• Develop on the fundamental movement skills for the sport, for example; jumping, hopping, throwing, catching, kicking, holding a racquet
• The first stage of learning is a cognitive stage, kids are processing the thought of each movement 
• The second stage is the associative stage, when the child no longer needs to think about the actions, they become more consistent and can correct their own actions

Ages 9 -11 – Learning How to Train Stage – Develop sport specific skills

• Start to progress on the basic motor skills from above
• Take the fundamentals learnt in the previous stage and put these skills into a sporting context 

Ages 12 – 16 – Training Stage

• Start focusing on skills that link to their potential;
• Refine their specific skills that match the chosen sport
• Refine aerobic fitness

Ages 16- 18 years – Training to Compete Stage

• Prepare for competition by using training programs developed for the sport, by qualified professionals
• Use programs that are helping to get to optimal fitness
• Have a high set, and standard of, sport specific skills

Please note: This is a guide only, different children will develop at different rates peaking at different ages and for different sports.

We are the role models, as caregivers and parents, it is our responsibility to ensure that learning a sport, and the specific skills for it, is first and foremost - fun and safe. 

By Sharon Bouwer
Registered Personal Trainer
​Owner Operator of Letsgetactive.co.nz