Istvan Balyi

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LTAD 101 Long-Term Athlete/Player Development
Istvan Balyi National Sport Centre Vancouver
Victoria Sport Canada and sportscoahUK LTAD
Advisor
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Objectives

• Review the concept of LTAD
• Why LTAD?
• 10 Key factors influencing LTAD
• Describe the various stages of LTAD
• Review the windows of trainability during
  childhood and adolescence

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• If you want to teach latin to Johnny, you have to
  know latin and you have to know Johnny
• If you want to teach Volleyball to Johnny, you
  have to know Volleyball and you have to know
  Johnny
• We know Volleyball very well BUT we do not know
  Johnny or Jane from age 9 to 16 PERIOD!!!

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LTAD is

• Optimal training, competition and recovery
  programming with relation to biological
  development and maturation
• Equal opportunity for recreation and competition,
  it is not an elitist model
• Athlete centred, coach driven and administration,
  sport science and sponsor supported

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The Big Picture

• The health and well-being of the nation and
  medals won at major games is a simple by-product
  of an effective sport system

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What is LTAD ?

• LTAD is not just another plan (for the files)
• LTAD is a philosophy
• LTAD is a too for change, culture change in
  sport
• Identifies the current gaps in the sport system
  and provides guidelines for problem solving

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LTAD

• Is a guide for planning for optimal performance
  for all stages of athlete development
• Is a framework for full sport system alignment
  and integration
• It is designed on empirical / practical coaching
  experiences and on scientific principles

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SevenStagesof Long-TermAthlete Development

• Active Start

FUNdamental
Learning to Train
Training to Train
Training to Compete
Training to Win
Active for Life
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Active Start StageChronological/ Development
AgeMales and Females 0-6

• Fundamental
• Movements
• Gymnastics
• Swimming
• Running
• (Wheeling)

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FUNdamental StageChronological/ Development
AgeMales 6-9 and Females 6-8

• Fundamental
• Movements
• Skills

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Learning to Train StageChronological/
Development AgeMales 9-12 Females 8-11
Fundamental Sport Skills
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Physical LiteracyFirst 3 stages of LTAD Before
the onset of PHV

• Fundamental Movement skill
• Fundamental Sport Skills
• Physical Literacy
• Base for Excellence Participation

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Training to TrainDevelopmental Age onset of
PHV Males 12-16 Females 11-15
Building engine and sport specific skills
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Training to CompeteChronologicalMales 16-23
/- Females 15-21 /-

• Optimizing engine
• and
• sport / event / position skills

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Training to WinChronological Age Males 19 /-
Females 18 /-

• Maximizing engine
• and
• event / position skills
• PODIUMS

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Active for LifeEnter at any age

• Healthy Life-long Physical
• Activity

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Universal Sport System Gaps (
Mind the gap ! )
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Selected Universal Sport System Gaps

• Young developmental athletes undertrain and
  overcompete
• Adult competition schedule is superimposed on
  young athletes (the system of competition)
• Adult training programmes are superimposed on
  young athletes
• Male programmes are superimposed on females

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Selected Universal Sport System Gaps

• Chronological age versus biological age (or
  maturation level) dominates training and
  competition designs from ages 11 to 16
• The "critical" or "sensitive periods of
  accelerated adaptation to training are not
  utilized by coaches at the Learning to Train or
  Training to Train stage

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Universal sport system gaps

• The most knowledgeable coaches are coaching at
  elite level, notwithstanding the most
  knowledgeable coaches should work at the
  developmental level (FUNdamental, Learning to
  Train and Training to Train Stages)
• Coaching education marginally covers the basic
  issues of growth and development, maturation

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Universal sport system gaps

• Parent's education is neglected with regards to
  long-term athlete development (nutrition,
  regeneration, maturation and psycho-social
  development, etc...)
• Administrators education is neglected with
  regards to some of the essentials of technical
  programmes (The Big Picture)
• Recover, regeneration programmes are not
  integrated and sequenced with sport-specific
  technical / tactical programmes within annual
  plans
• Lack of the integration of sport science, sport
  medicine and sport-specific technical-tactical
  activities

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Universal sport system gaps
Consequences

• Overcompetition and undertraining
• Damage done between age 6-10 and 10-16 cannot be
  fully corrected (players / athletes will never
  reach genetical potential)
• General motor skills are not learned before age
  11 for females and 12 for males

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Universal sport system gaps
Consequences

• Training is geared for "outcome" and not for
  "process" for the developmental athlete
• National Training Centres receiving mediocre
  athletes - regardless of money and expertise,
  cannot recover from the "damages" of earlier
  training

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10 Key Factors Influencing LTAD (Balyi, Ross
Way - 2005)

• 1. Ten year rule
• 2. FUNdamentals / Physical Literacy
• 3. Specialization
• 4. Developmental Age
• 5. Windows of Trainability

6. Mental / Cognitive / Emotional Development 7.
Periodization Principles 8. System Alignment and
Integration 9. The System of Competition 10.
Continuous improvement
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Factor 1.10 year rule !

• It takes 10 years of extensive practice to excel
  in anything !
• H. Simon Nobel Laureate

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10 - 10 - 10

• 10 year or 10 000 hour rule (Ericsson and
  Charness, 1994 and Salmela et al., 1999)
  
• For the athlete and coach this translates as
  slightly more than three hours of deliberate
  practice daily for 10 years
• 10
• 90 ???

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Factor 2. FUNdamentals
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• FUNdamental movement skills (FMS)
• FUNdamental sports skills (FSS)
• FMS FSS Physical literacy
• Before age 11 for females and 12 for males

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What Fundamentals?
Fundamental Movement Skills C. Hanford 2005
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CANT CATCH?
C. Hanford, 2005
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Cant Catch? Wont play!
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Factor 3Specialisation

• 3.2.Late Specialisation Sports
• All other sports are late specialisation sports
• Specialising early in a late specialisation sport
  contributes to one sided preparation, injuries,
  early burnout and early retirement

• 3.1. Early Specialisation Sports
• Gymnastics
• Rhythmic Gymnastics
• Figure Skating
• Diving
• Swimming (age 8)
• Others?

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The Big PictureLate Specialisation Sports
Generic Model
Talent ID

• Active Start - FUNdamental
  Movements (0-6)
• FUNdamental Stage - FUNdamental motor
  skills
  (6-8 females / 6-9 males)
• Learning to Train - FUNdamental sports
  skills
  (8- 11 females / 9-12 males)
• Training to Train - Building the
  "engine" and
  sport specific skills
  (11-15 females /
  12-16 males)
• Training to Compete - Optimising "engine"
  and
  sport / event / position specific skills
  (15-21/-
  females / 16-23/- males)
• Training to Win - Maximising
  "engine" and
  sport / event / position specific
  skills (18 females / 19 males)
  
• Retaining

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Screening
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Selection
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Specialisation
1
Further specialisation
High performance
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LTAD - Reversed procedure

• First we make a player and after we want to make
  an athlete out of the player ?
• We have to make an athlete first and make a
  player out of the athlete !

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Factor 4. Growth Development, Maturation
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Chronological age biological age /
developmental age

• Training and competition is based on
  chronological age
• Athletes can be 4 - 5 years apart by maturation
  levels

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How old is a 13 year old ?
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How old is a 14 year old ?
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Irish boxers 14 years old 60kg., 40 kg., and
50 kg.
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• Peak Height Velocity
• Adolescent growth spurt

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• Peak Height Velocity
• Adolescent growth spurt

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Training and Children(C. Williams, 2005)
Consequences of the Growth Spurt

• Poor evidence of large physiological benefits
  studies in children
• Growth and maturation effects often unaccounted
• Improvements have been found but generally
  prepubertal lt adolescents lt adults

Growth spurt

• Loss of co-ordination
• Biomechanical breakdown
• Skill break down

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Choosing early,average or late maturers?
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Measuring and interpreting PHV( How to PHV ? )
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Factor 5
Trainability
F T2T T2C T2W
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The Five Ss of Training and Performance(Dick,
1985)

• Stamina (Endurance)
• Strength
• Speed
• Skill
• Suppleness

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The Trainability of the Five SsStamina

• Always trainable
• Critical window of accelerated adaptation to
  aerobic training begins with the onset of PHV
• Age 10 11 for females
• Age 12 - 13 for males
• Monitoring maturation to identify onset
• Females
• Males

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The Trainability of the Five SsStrength

• Always trainable
• Critical window of accelerated adaptation to
  strength training
• Window 1 for females immediately after PHV
• Window 2 for females with the onset of menarche
• 12 18 month after PHV for males

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• Strength training before maturation is Central
  Nervous System training and motor coordination
  improvements
• Medicine balls
• Swiss balls
• Own body weight

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The Trainability of the Five SsSpeed

• Always trainable but declines with age
• Critical window of accelerated adaptation to
  speed training
• Males
• Window 1 7 - 9 years of age
• Window 2 13 16 years of age
• Females
• Window 1 6 8 years of age
• Window 2 11 13 years of age
• (Chronological age)

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• Window 1 is agility, quickness window.
• Change of direction, linear, lateral and multi
  directional speed
• Segmental speed
• Duration of intervals less then 5 seconds
• Window 2 is anaerobic alactic power and capacity
  window
• Linear, lateral, multi directional and chaotic
  speed
• Duration of intervals 5 20 seconds

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The Trainability of the Five SsSkill

• Always trainable but significantly declines with
  age
• Window of accelerated adaptation to motor
  coordination
• Age 8 11 females
• Age 9 12 males
• Early and late specialisation sports
• The importance of transitional skills

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Review Article Rushall, B. The Growth of
Physical Characteristics in Male and Female
Children. In Sports Coach, Australia. Vol.20.
No 64, Summer, 1998. pp. 25 27.

• "Most authors agree that the sensitive skill
  learning
• period is between 9 and 12 years."

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The Trainability of the Five SsSuppleness

• Always trainable but significantly declines with
  age
• Optimal trainability 6 10 (Dr. K. Russel)
• Special attention during PHV

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Program design for the developmental athlete
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Factor 6Physical, mental/cognitive and
emotional development

• Physical Development Characteristics and It's
  Implications
• Basic Characteristics
• General Consequences Performance Capabilities
  and Limitations
• Implications to the Coach

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Physical, Mental/Cognitive and Emotional Tables
FUNdamental Learning to Train Training to Train Training to Compete Training to Win
Late Childhood Late Childhood Late Puberty Late Puberty
Early Puberty Early Puberty Early Adulthood Early Adulthood
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Children are not miniature adults!

• Children need greater protein intake to support
  growth
• They need high calcium intake to support bone
  accretion
• Children have a higher metabolic cost of movement
  per body mass unit
• During sub maximal exercise children utilize more
  fat and less carbohydrate
• Electrolyte losses in sweat differ among
  children, adolescents and adults
• Dehydration seems to be more detrimental to
  children than to adults (Bar-Or)

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Factor 7. Periodisation Integration and
Sequencing of Sport Science, Sport Medicine and
Sport-Specific Technical-Tactical Activities
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LTAD to your Next Training Session
Annual Plan Single Double Triple Multiple Periodiz
ation
Athlete Chronological Age Biological Age Training
Age
Periods Preparation Competition Transition
Meso Cycles Developmental Stabilizing Pre-competit
ion Competitive Restorative
Phases General Specific Pre-competitive Competitiv
e Transition
Micro Cycles Introductory Development Shock Mainte
nance Taper Peak Restoration Transition
New Plan
Sessions 61 4 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15 52 31
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Evaluation
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GEARING UP FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE
hwenger04
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Factor 8Competition calendar planning

• Competition is a good servant but poor master !
  

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• The system of competition or the non-existence of
  the system of competition
• Team sports
• Individual sports
• Dictated schedule
• Selective schedule

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• Examples
• British Swimming
• The LTA

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Factor 9. System building, alignment and
integration
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Making or breaking a player / athlete
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Athlete Development and Support Programmes
ATP Advanced Training Performance
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FACTOR 10

• KAIZEN
• Continuous improvement
• Modernization of the sport system
• Education, health and sport / physical activity
  alignment
• All aspects of LTAD need research
• Implementation

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Implementation - NSOs

• New content curriculum
• Technical Tactical, Physical and Mental
  progression
• New system of competition
• New coaching education curriculum
• Budget

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Final Words

• Health and well-being
• Windows of Trainability
• Long-term athlete development
• The system of competition
• System alignment and integration
• Win win situation

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Questions ?
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Definitions

• Growth refers to observable step-by-step changes
  in quantity, measurable changes in body size,
  for example, height, weight, fatness. (Malina,
  1986)
• Maturation refers to qualitative system changes,
  both structural and functional in nature, in the
  organisms progress toward maturity, for example,
  the change of cartilage to bone in the skeleton.
  (Tihanyi, 1990)

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• Development refers to the interrelationship
  between growth and maturation in relation to the
  passage of time.
• The concept of development also includes the
  social, emotional, intellectual and motor realms
  of the child. (Tihanyi, 1990)

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• Chronological age refers to the number of years
  and days elapsed since birth (Haywood, 1993)
• Skeletal age refers to the maturity of the
  skeleton determined by the degree of
  ossification of the bone structure. (Haywood,
  1993)

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• Critical periods of development A critical
  period refers to a point in the development of a
  specific behaviour when experience or training
  has an optimal effect on development. The same
  experience, introduced at an earlier or later
  time, has no effect on, or retards later skill
  acquisition. (Zaichkowsky, Zaichowsky and
  Martinek, 1980)

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Trainability

• Malina and Bouchard (1991) defined trainability
  as the responsiveness of developing individuals
  at different stages of growth and maturation to
  the training stimulus..

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• Malina and Bouchard (1991) also referred to
  readiness and critical periods of trainability
  during growth and development of young athletes,
  thus the stimulus have to be timedto achieve
  optimum adaptation with regard to motor skills,
  muscular and/or aerobic power .

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• Adaptation refers to a stimuli or a series of
  stimuli which induces functional and/or
  morphological changes in the organism. Naturally,
  the level or degree of adaptation is dependent on
  the genetical endowment of an individual.
  However, the general trends or patterns of
  adaptation are identified by physiological
  research and the facts and guidelines of the
  different adaptation processes, such as
  adaptation to muscular endurance or maximum
  strength, are clearly delineated.
• Diagnostics before and after maturation
• Moving scales during PHV