Information for Parents

Information for Parents

Long-Term Athlete Development Information for Parents

“The parents of other kids on Jennifer’s under-8 soccer team want me to enroll her in a really sport-specific training program. She’s a pretty good soccer player, and they say it will help her make the national team in 15 years” “What you going to do?” “I don’t know. What do you think; you’re a Certified coach? Conversations like this probably take place around soccer pitches, in the stands at hockey arenas, and at many other sport venues across the country; and as a parent you want what is best for your child. So what IS best for your child? What’s best is simple: Kids learning skills and taking part in activities that match their stage of development. This is called Long-term Athlete Development, or LTAD.

But what is a “stage of development?” And what does this mean for you as a parent?

Doing what is best for your child is what Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is all about, and Canadian sport is working hard to develop LTAD plans for all sports – and what those plans tell us is that early specialization, and early intense training in most sports just doesn’t help the child develop to be the best they could possibly be.
The evidence is that too much early specialization actually prevents children from developing to their full potential.