Reflections from the LTAD Network Scotland Conference
This blog article was written by Carlote Dalton-Howells, who I was lucky enough to sponsor to attend on behalf of Collaborate Sports. Here Charlotte shares her reflections with everyone!
Recently, I was fortunate to be able to attend the LTAD Network Scotland Workshop through Breakaway Data’s sponsorship to the practitioner development fund set up by Dan. The weekend workshop delivered by Rob Anderson and Jared Deacon created a relaxed atmosphere while curating a brilliantly open forum of sharing and learning between all in attendance.
The workshop covered a full complement of topics ranging from classroom-based theory sessions exploring LTAD models and growth & maturation to breaking out into practical strength, power, speed and agility development sessions. I wanted to use this article to share my biggest learnings from the weekend.
1) Monitoring and tracking growth and maturation is key to an athlete’s journey
Over time, there has been a trend of reduced physical literacy in adolescents as PE/school sport has moved away from movement-based activity towards skill and tactical development. In recent times, studies have shown that children are more de-conditioned than ever, posing a further injury risk to the already exponentially increasing risk of injury as athletes reach peak height velocity (PHV).
Knowing an athlete’s maturation status by regularly collecting weight & height is essential for:
- understanding causes and mitigating workload-related injuries
- appropriate exercise selection; knowing when to progress, regress, or revisit movements
- contextualising performance outcomes/results in age group competitions in relation to talent identification: athletes who mature early will dominate in their age group while those who mature late can be perceived as under-performers or less skilled by coaches. This is a crucial consideration for coaches when it comes to selecting/deselecting athletes- don’t just look at the now in a silo, consider the current maturation stage and future potential.
2) Developing and refining a system of categorising exercises into a matrix of increasing levels of complexity
It’s likely that many of us will have a decent grasp of periodisation and programming, but Rob’s multi-level exercise matrix is an excellent example of focusing one’s philosophy, knowledge and experience into a clear, competency-based progressive framework. My biggest takeaway relating to this is that investing time in developing a framework to use in my own environment will allow me to refine my philosophy and enhance my coaching planning and delivery. Sharing this framework with youth athletes will assist their understanding of what is required “earn the right” to progress an exercise in terms of complexity or load. Applying this framework principle to all aspects of athletic development means that coaches will be delivering a balanced movement syllabus that has competency and confidence at its core.
This aligns with Jared’s mantra of “make the next coach’s job easy”, which champions possessing the fundamentals before progressing to more advanced movements.
3) Gamifying training
The concept of gamification was threaded throughout all the practical sessions. As obvious as it sounds, we need to remember that we’re working with children- make training fun!
“How would S&C look if it came from gymnastics rather than a bodybuilding background?”
Gymnastics and parkour are great options for developing strength, balance, and control in a fun and challenging manner. Jared and Rob had us crawling, rolling, and tumbling around the gym to complete a series of tasks, games, and competitions. Despite the seeming simplicity, the movements were challenging, engaging, and fun, which is ideal when working with youth athletes. The other main benefits of using gymnastics and parkour are that all movement requirements are met and the versatility to adjust movement selection depending on the space and equipment (or lack of) available to coaches.
Like the strength session, Jared and Rob showcased some of their strategies for gamifying power development. A group favourite was the “river stepping stones” game which challenged bounding ability by using rubber dots to constrain where the feet must land (or else we’d be eaten by crocodiles!). Another games-based strategy we experienced was combining the crawling and tumbling we practiced earlier with jumps and plyos to increase the challenge from both complexity and an imagination perspective. Gamifying and combining plyometrics with other movements provides repetition without repetition, which is a key constraints-led approach concept for learning. All the movements can be progressed and regressed easily within a group and can slot into a games-based RAMP warm up for the time-constrained among us. Furthermore, coaches can promote athlete engagement by giving them the opportunity to choose movements, constraints, or games- the only limit is our imagination!
When it comes to training speed and agility, the games-based approach can be used to hit key movement outcomes with the target sport in mind. The challenge for practitioners is to be clear on the desired outcomes while being imaginative and challenging in our game design. Striking a balance between fun games and reinforcing good movements/techniques is essential to keep standards high to develop movement competency. Intent is often missing from speed & agility training. By introducing races and competition (points, attackers v defenders, hunter v hunted) we are tapping into an athlete’s competitive nature and therefore able to create intention.
In summary, the weekend was a fantastic opportunity to learn and develop from two excellent practitioners in Jared and Rob, while being able to connect with a great group of likeminded coaches. I have already started to apply some of my key learnings and will continue to do so as part of my ongoing professional development. Thanks to all involved over the weekend including LTAD Network, VALD, Rob, Jared and a special thanks to Dan and Breakaway Data for the opportunity to attend. I can’t wait for the next LTAD event.
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