Youth Athletic Outreach: Finding a Balance

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Youth Athletic OutreachFinding a Balance

• Matt Lydum
• Defiance College
• Coaching Education Clinic
• USATF Annual Meeting
• Jacksonville, Florida
• December 2, 2005

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Overview

• Part I Outreach,
• Part II Critical issues in youth sport,
• Part III Existing outreach efforts,
• Part IV Ideas for the future.

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Part IOUTREACH

• While youth sport seems to proliferate, a 2003
  CDC study1 suggests that there are still many
  children that do not engage in organized sport.
• from a survey of 3,500 families, as few as 39
  of children ages 9-13 were reported to
  participate in organized sport afterschool.
• 1. MMWR, August 22 2003/52(33) 785-788,
  www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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Lack of Participation is a Problem

• childhood overweight obesity epidemic,
• less organic PA,
• less unstructured sport,
• fast food,
• less PE,
• fewer kids walk to school,
• etc., etc.

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The Consequences of the Problem

• diabetes, sleep apnea, heart disease, gallbladder
  disease, and cancer,
• cognition problems,
• social stigmatization,
• etc., etc.

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Economic Impact

• Obese patients add an estimated 75 billion a
  year to the nation's medical bill.
• - Daniel Costello, Los Angeles Times,
  10/31/2005
• By the year 2025 the U.S. will nearly triple its
  spending on costs associated with diabetes to
  351 billion.
• - Derek Yach of the Yale School of Public
  Health

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OUTREACH

• So, growing opportunities has positive
  implications for individuals and communities.
• And, our sport has potential to serve millions of
  children.
• At the 2003 USTCA Hall of Fame luncheon, Bob
  Fraley of Fresno State spoke passionately about
  this issue
• No other sport has the outreach potential of
  track field.

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www.sportsdonerightmaine.org
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Limitations

• facilities,
• coaches,
• meets (officials).

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Facilities

• Community tracks how many community soccer
  fields have been built in your area over the last
  decade?  How many public tracks? 
• Get the message to
• - parks and recreation,
• - YMCA,
• - urban planners,
• - real estate developers. 

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200m outdoor tracks

• Several years ago, former Executive Director of
  USTCA, Jimmy Carnes, asked
• Why not build 220-yard tracks at as many
  elementary and middle schools as possible?
• Other locations public parks and recreation
  facilities, churches, YMCAs.

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Coaching Education

• Needs to be responsive to youth coaches needs
• CE appropriate to backgrounds of new coaches
  (most are not trained as educators).
• LI curriculum has very few developmental
  considerations.
• LII happens during the championship phase of the
  summer track program.
• Attrition recruitment and constant training are
  needed as many youth coaches are parents.

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Meets and Officials

• There are pockets of the country where youth
  track is big, some meets can last all day for two
  days in a row.  Literally thousands of athletes
  compete in some meets.
• Other places meets are few and far between and
  have minimal participation.
• Growing youth track without adding more meets and
  recruiting more officials would not work.

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OUTREACH

• Track Field has an opportunity to reach out
  and expose more children to athletics, develop
  their interest, and increase overall
  participation numbers.  Better health or our
  children, communities and society, and, more
  champions at the highest levels of competition
  will result.

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• Pyramid Power
• The broader the base, the higher the peak.
• Riordan, J. (1977). Sport in Soviet Society
  Development of Sport and Physical
• Education in Russia and The USSR. Cambridge
  Cambridge University
• Press.

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• A greater number of athletes participating in
  the developmental programs should yield more
  elite competitors.
• Developing more champions is a good thing, but,
  let us be prudent and observe some current
  problematic trends in youth sport to ensure our
  outreach efforts do not harm children.

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Part IIcritical issues in youth sport

• Early specialization
• Elitism and access
• Overzealous parents
• Poor coaching
• Overemphasis on winning
• These issues are increasingly
• covered by the media. How can
• we grow our sport at the grassroots
• without contributing to the problems?

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Early Specialization

• Another pyramid
• Broader multilateral development through (early)
  adolescence can produce greater adaptation to
  specific training later in life.

http//www.cityofworcester.gov.uk/sports/sportsdev
elopment.asp
19
Bompa, T. (1999). Periodization Theory
Methodology of Training, 4th Ed. (p. 31).
Champaign, IL Human Kinetics.
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Elitism Access

• Soccer mom
• Transportation issues
• Pay-to-play
• Club fees
• Equipment and uniforms

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Parents

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Coaching

• Sports Done Right calls poor coaching the number
  2 problem in contemporary youth sport
  (out-of-control parents are number 1)
• Coaching education
• Attrition problem

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Winning at all costs

• Cheating
• Doping
• Injuries
• Sacrificing long-term development for short term
  gains

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Part IIIExisting outreach efforts

• Long Island
• Church groups
• Be a Champion
• Tucson Elementary League
• Run, Jump, and Throw
• Camps and clinics
• Playdays
• PE curricula

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Grant Money

• http//www.wtgrantfoundation.org/
• http//www.albertsons.com/abs_inthecommunity/defau
  lt.asp
• http//www.medtronic.com/foundation/programs_fan_g
  uidelines.html
• http//www.healthinschools.org/home.asp
• http//www.actionforhealthykids.org/

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Part IVIdeas for the future

• What's missing is a (systematic and organized)
  bridge to the summer program.

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Bridge

• One part of the bridge is already in place
• The existing association database of clubs on
  the web. (families just need to get pointed to
  that site).

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Possible Solution

• Perhaps association based leaders could create
  materials that explain the summer club programs
  and guide families to existing programs. 
• In other words, connect the existing and
  emerging outreach programs to the existing and
  emerging clubs.
• This will likely have to be done at the
  association (grassroots) level.

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Issues for further investigation and
consideration

• Leadership training and development.
• Tracking development of individuals over time. 
• Developmental patterns could be shifting rapidly
  as our lifestyles are changing.
• Talent identification and appropriate training
  and competition in track and field for potential
  stars.
• Remember, some stars will fade and some will show
  up where we least expect (late bloomers).

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Outreach to Elite

• What can we do to nurture athletes on all parts
  of this continuum?
• It happens at the local level
• parents, clubs coaches, schools.
• For More Information
• http//www.sportsmanship.org
• Baker, J, et al. (2003). Nurturing sport
  expertise Factors influencing the development of
  elite athlete. Journal of Sports Science and
  Medicine, 2, 1-9. http//www.jssm.org/vol2/n1/1/v
  2n1-1pdf.pdf
• Hedstrom, R Gould, D. (2004). Research in youth
  sports Critical issues status. White Paper
  Summary for the Institute for the Study of Youth
  Sports, Michigan State University.
• http//ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/ysi/project/CriticalI
  ssuesYouthSports.pdf