The only thing I sort of focus on with him is that he maintains his general fitness levels and so encourage/force him to play as many sports as possible and generally keep active. I read about people doing weight training and pylometrics (??) but feel that he is too young yet to get into such regimes.
Also, his growth patterns may change over the next few years and he could lose his speed in comparison to other kids in his age group. So for the time being we are just enjoying his success without trying to put too much pressure on him.
Wow… I haven’t read this thread in a while, but I am very impressed. Your son has a great talent! His times would be competitive with kids 2-3 years older than him! I am curious as to how you have come about w/ his training and what you have done to make sure he stays interested while having fun, keeping it simple, etc. Care to elaborate? I know you posted earlier about 2 days/week or technical stuff, and some general conditioning.
Q: I have a 9 year old son who plays football, soccer, and basketball. Should I have him doing any type of strength training or plyometrics program?
-Ron
A: At his age Ron I would primary concern myself with provinding the widest range of movement experiences possible to ensure he can move efficiently in a variety of manners and develop the sport skills themselves. The more activities he can participate in the better. At this point I wouldn’t worry too much about organized strength training or organized plyometrics. Just playing should cover that territory well enough. Certainly exercises like pushups, pull-ups and other bodyweight exercises can be beneficial additions, just make sure he enjoys doing them and aren’t something he resents. Organized training that’s not perceived as play for young ones can be boring to them.
Many are under the misguided assumption that children shouldn’t lift weights because they will injure their growth plates. However, if your child jumps from a piece of furniture, he is doing a depth jump (plyometrics) and putting much more force on is structure then he could weight training. This type of activity is normal and natural and nothing to be concerned about. It’s just play, but also creates an important training effect for later in sporting life. The reason weight training is sometimes contraindicated is because it won’t be all that effective until your child hits puberty (due to hormones like testosterone), and it takes up time that could be better spent learning movement skills at this stage in his development.
Thanks for the information, my son 11yr is very smaller about 1.5 meters and 41 kg,
I recently buy a medicine ball and let him to some exercises with it. I also want to introduce him to a little bit of pylometrics.
Our nationals was held a month ago and from yesterday i started a gpp with him for the next 13 weeks.
I am going only to do 10-30 m starts on a sligth grass uphill twice a week over this period included a little bit of technical runs focused on posture and leg action.
He is actually a hurdler but i will introduce hurdle technique after the gpp phase .
He is very willing to learn and run and also doing twice time a week Karate, doing rugby and love skateboarding
This is the main challenge - to keep him interested. The success that he is achieving does help. And my wife is extemely good She makes sure that I do not push him too much or force him to do things when he does not want to. I think if I had my way he would be training 24/7 The main issue is that we need to travel a lot and that athletics is naturally a lonely activity and he does not have any team to travel with. So at major events while others have friends around them, all he has is his parents. However, he does seem to have great focus, and he has now gained the respect of his peers and has made some good friends with them.
I do not know if there was something in the water in 1993 , but there seem to be a number of kids born in that year who are extremely sporty. there is another kid who is a jumper and does close to 6 metres in the LJ. Another kid who is also a sprinter and he and my son have quite a rivalry going. Last year my son lost to him over the 200 but beat him this year. He has challenged my son in the next meet. They have a really healthy rivalry going and have become good mates. So all these things have kept him interested so far. We just hope and pray that the interest and ability keep growing.
I think one of the great things about athletics is that it gives one a great sense of achievement and forces one to meet others, unlike a team sport where one tends to stay within the team environment and does not mix with rivals/competitors to the same extent.
Well we are back from the Interprovincials. My son performed okay but not outstandingly. Athletes were awarded points based on performance rather than position (decathlon style). he had the fastest 100m time, and second fastest (I think) 200 m and LJ. However, his 400 m was quite slow (7th fastest). The 100, 200 and LJ he had a strong head wind to contend with which dropped his performances and so did not mange to earn significant points. his main competitors earned points in the HJ, Shot Put and 400. One kid jumped 6.06 in the LJ. He is a phenomenal jumper for a 12/13 year old, but also had the advantage of jumping when the wind had died. Also, I think, my son performs best when under pressure from the other competitors, but here he was grouped randomly and had no one to really push him e.g. he won his 100 m race by about 20 m.
Anyway, that’s the end of the season. He now starts with soccer.
I will continue to follow the progress of the others on this site, but will have nothing to add till December if he keeps running.
Yes it wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately his knee has started giving trouble quite severely. Apparently, the starting block slipped as he took off for the 100 final and jarred his knee, aggravating the ACL injury. He could barely walk after the race. He did a couple of relays on Saturday and tried the 200 on Sunday but by then he was in pretty bad pain.
On reflection I think I should not have let him go for the nationals. I thought it was an U16 grade and only when we got there realised it was 16 & under so he would still have another 3 years to run.
He has two comps coming up - East Coast/Hawkes Bay Secondary Schools and NI Secondary Schools and now I’m not sure if he will be okay for them. We have decided to stop all training and let him just concentrate on getting the knee right and to compete in the abive meets without any preparation as such. Let’s see how he goes.
Yes there were only two runners for the senior relay and so they asked two of the 16/U runners to join them. He ran only the striaght legs in both the relays and didn’t/couldn’t go all out.
I don’t think he will be going to Chch. He did not enjoy the IPs last year and Hawkes Bay barely has a team. Last year they sent just 6 competitors (and 3 officials ).
He has not run in anger as yet this season. So not really sure how he will go. He has been training since Oct but as he has no competition here he has not really raced so far. We hardly have a time for him so far. Today we timed him at our regular weekly sports evening and he broke the club record but that wasn’t anything to go by. The variation in times was quite massive. About 2 weeks back he did the long jump and jumper 6.64 metres. So hoping he’ll go okay.
He does seem all keyed up for the competition. I think he has got to the point where he is sick of the training and is itching to get into competition.
Was Todd Johnston there last year? There is another boy, Alex Jordan, who I think is pretty quick. Never know who else comes up. At this age because of growth spurts performances appear to change quite drastically.
It’s ok. Does not give him any more trouble. He’ll have 8 races (4 100s and 4 200s) if he makes the final in both events in two days. That will be the big test for the knee.
He’s been jumping quite freely and all the tests have shown no damage.
S16 are you competing at the NZSSA also, or did I interpret this incorrectly. If so all the best and maybe we’ll catch up in Wanganui. We’ll be leaving for Wanganui in a couple of hours and use Friday as a recovery day. It is a 6 - 7 hour drive for us.
The main issue is that we need to travel a lot and that athletics is naturally a lonely activity and he does not have any team to travel with. So at major events while others have friends around them, all he has is his parents. However, he does seem to have great focus, and he has now gained the respect of his peers and has made some good friends with them.
go all out.