I’m looking for more assistance for my daughter (flat feet and knock knees). Her orthotics have already made a difference in less than a week with her legs appearing more straight. Her strength program has her doing bodyweight box squats, split squats, reverse hypers, sit ups, and ankling for her lower body. In watching her labor on the soccer field last night it became apparent that when she runs her heel lands well before the rest of her foot. I thought of having her run some inclines to learn a better landing position. Is this a good idea and does anyone else have other coaching suggestions for this problem?
Give her time to grow up. Let her have fun. Keep the volume of soccer games low until she has hits puberty (if she hasn’t yet then she will be using growth hormone to recover instead of using it to grow). When she is strong enough most of the problems will go away if they aren’t ingrained into her because of over work.
She’s playing rec softball and soccer and is begging to play on a “travel” soccer team. I’m having to keep her off the travel team against her will. Right now she’s playing an average of 2 soccer games and 2 softball games per week. If you could see her run it looks painful and I just want to make her more comfortable.
Ok. If you can keep the volume low with the body weight box squats, and split squats that would be good. If she is doing reverse hypers then be sure to include a few exercises for her abs. I am not sure exactly what ankling is (sounds like a drill from “Speed Dynamics”). At 11 years old there will be a tonn of weaknesses. With safe training and time they should go away. The orthotics sound like they are helping which is good.
Knock knees is often a problem with girls at any age. If you watch The Jane Project DVD, you will hear Charlie adress this problem with Jane. With Jane, it was a matter of strength. In the case of an 11 year old, if the issue is strength (which I am pretty sure it would be, but since I am not there I can’t say that it 100% is), then that strength needs to be developed over a longer period of time. She needs time because her body not only has to recover from her sports training, but from growing and late night parties as well. I have found that with girls aged 12-17 (guys 15-18), that progress can be up one year, down for 2 and then back up because of all the changes in their bodies.
The important thing is to keep them interested in the sport which means keeping them free from injury, and allowing them to have fun. Soccer is a good sport for the social aspect.
Just a note from experience with some of my athletes…heavily monitor her usage of internet chatting (like ICQ, MSN Messenger etc). Oh the troubles that could have been prevented if not for MSN messenger. Anyways, I am sure there will be others who will reply to this thread as well. Keep us posted.
Here is a link to a similar thread: http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=6367&highlight=developing
Here is the link to The Jane Project: http://www.charliefrancis.com/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=24
She does the ankling everyday which is just my term for flexing her feet in each direction. Her sports medicine doctor prescribed a band for this movement but she’s just been doing isometrics and isotonics because her ankles weren’t ready for the band. On the days that she does not have a game she does 3 sets each of box squats, push ups, pull ups (negatives - she was very excited when she did 2 sets of 1 pullup 2 days ago after never having done one with her arms straight), split squats, reverse hypers, and sit ups - about 15-20 minutes.
She’s a hair under 5’ and right at 100lbs and probably dropping. Her legs seem to be growing everyday and that probably has a lot to do with her problems. Her fine motor skills appear to be improving with her gross motor skills deteriorating.
I hear you about the internet but that is somewhat controlled by her 16 yo sister’s use of the same and the internet is one of the first things to go when she is being disciplined.
Kelly,
I commend you for your interest in seeking out the ways of optimal physical development for your child.
frit17,
Thank you.
generally people of this age who run heel first then roll tend to lack simple guidance.simply explain to your daughter the proper position.at this age strenght should not be an issue.somewhere along the line she has either been shown how to run like this or has not ever run fast enough to raise herself onto the balls.
kenny its a simple error and can be fixed easily with sound methods.simple drills as high knees can teach her BUT you must teach her the difference of landing flat footed to landing on the balls of the feet.she is 11 and this is a great age to teach proper mechanics and make her sprinting reap rewards later in her career.
hope this helps
GET JANED…The DVD is vital.
It might be worth monitoring her standing and seated height; they may have a growth spurt for a few weeks, then nothing and then up again. When the latter occurs, reduce training/volume, etc.
Hope it helps!
Thanks for all of the suggestions everybody. I’ll give them a try.