The Long-Term Athlete Development Model - Essay Example

Critically appraise the Long-Term Athlete Development Model (LTAD) Department: Introduction/overview of the LTAD Long-Term Athlete Development is a training model anchored on achieving the long-term success in athletic development. It stems its approach from the scientific notion that it takes 10,000 hours of sustained practice to excel at athletics. This translates to slightly over 3 hours of training daily for 10 years. This approach gives an athlete time to mature his skills and hone them for the elite competition (Bar-Or, 1996). Scientists have insisted that this kind of training is good not only because it gives the athlete ample time to prepare but also because it ensures a consistent performance of an athlete throughout their competition years. Scientists are of the view that this kind of training is good for the athletic sports as opposed to sports like table tennis, gymnastics, and figure skating which are considered early specialization sports. These early specialization sports take short number of years to fully develop competitor to join the elite competition. They therefore do not require as much number of years to prepare as for the athletic training (Bar-or, 2006). The long-term specialization requires a six-phased model to complete and to compete to win. The six stages are as listed below: Late Specialization Model 1. FUNdamental stage 2. Learning to Train 3. Training to Train 4. Training to Compete 5. Training to Win 6. Retirement / retainment The FUNdamental Stage This stage as the name suggests is the fun stage. The athlete, or would be athlete, is meant to have fun as they learn the basic moves required in the sports. This stage is best suited for the ages of 6-9 for males and 6-8 for females. It is important to note the basic skills practiced here are not the sport specific yet but are just general body movement skills. This is to ensure the athlete is all round developed and grows with sporting without difficulty (Bloom, 2004). The emphasis is therefore to build basic motor skills. These will help produce an athlete with skills that are trainable in regards to the specific sport. There are three stages involve in the fundamental stage of skill development. These three stages can be categorized as: initial stage which takes (2-3 years), elementary stage which takes (4–5 years) and mature stage which takes (6–7 years). At the end of the FUNdamental stage, the athlete should have the basic sport skills such as speed, good balance, and agility. Strength training at this stage should include using the child’s weight another important aspect also is the introduction of the child to the ethics of sports. It is important that the child learn sports basics from the tender age (Ericsson & Charnesss, 1994). Learning to Train At this stage, the athlete is to learn all fundamental sports skills. The main objective of this stage is to further the skills learnt at the first stage. The motor skills are advanced and the child develops their skills in order to prepare for the next stage of athletic development. For males, this stage should be at the age of around 9-12 years while for the females it should be at the ages of about 8-11 years. This is supposed to prepare the child to easily acquire the basic sports skills (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch, 1993). Missing this stage may affect the athlete’s ability to achieve their full potential in the future. Strength training can be developed using Swiss ball, medicine ball besides body weight. This will enable the child develop from the first stage. Training to Train This stage occurs averagely between the ages of 12-16 for males and 11-15 years for females. The major objective of this stage is to further the sport specific skills. The child is allowed to further their skills in regards to the specific sports they would wish to compete in. they also develop aerobic skills and build more strength. Here more emphasis is on the aerobic skills of the child, the strengths, skills and the speed are either maintained or advanced depending on the competing athlete’s abilities. A 40 percent competition and a 60 percent training ratio is recommended by experts at this stage. These percentages may however vary depending on every athlete. Developers of this model indicate that the “learn to train” and the “train to train” stages are perhaps the most important stages in an athlete’s development. At these stages, we may make or break an athlete (Greece & Bernhadt, 1998). Training to Compete This stage occurs at the ages of around 16-18 for the males and for the females, it happens at the ages of 15-17. The main objective of this stage is to hone skills and prepare the athlete for completion. At this stage, the ratio of competition to training is about 1:1. This is to ensure the athlete has enough time to compare themselves with others of the same sport. During the training phase, emphasis is placed majorly on fitness improvements and tactical skills and training for the competitions. This stage assumes the athletes have had the previous skills and as such, these skills are to be performed in a competitive environment. Psychological preparation for competition, recovery programs, fitness programs, and technical development are honed to a greater degree. The athlete’s strengths and weaknesses are specifically addressed to improve the athlete’s competitiveness (Bar-Or, 1996). Training to Win This stage is practiced majorly at the ages of 17 and older years for the females and 18 years and older for the females. The main objectives of this stage is to maximize sport and fitness preparation. It is considered the final stage of active athletic life. The training of the athlete now fully focuses on performance maximization to enable full achievement of the athlete in the competitions. The athlete’s training to competition ratio is now at 1:4. The athlete is expected to compete more as he or she is expected to be at his or her peak for competition. The athlete is though expected to take breaks between competitions to burnouts and injuries (Viru, 2005). Retirement / Retainment This stage is practiced after the athlete has retired from active competitions. He or she is retained to be an official or administrator and help in the governance of the sports federations. It simply refers to the activities the athletes engage in after retirement. An athlete may also take to officiate competitions (Salmela, Young, & Kallio, 2008). STRENGTHS OF IMPLEMENTING LTAD a) LTAD help ensure a clear athlete development pathway is created. The athlete begins to develop their career from a tender age which enable them have a strong background and therefore develop a competitive edge and attain world class athleticism. b) It enables identify gaps in the current short term development models which do not allow athletes enough time to hone their skills and also avoid injuries of the athletes during competitive training as the athletes reach that stage when they are already fit. c) After the identification of the problems caused by the early specialization models, to fix these problems d) It provides for a streamlined and efficient system. With LTAD standards and guides of training are provided. e) The long-term athletic development helps to achieve an in-depth planning tool for the coaches and administrators of the sports. It gives them a scientific based approach on how to handle athletes. f) This approach also allows parents and club be aware of action planning in regards to the athletes development. g) The approach helps athletes develop a long-term enjoyment approach to sporting. The athletes using this approach are likely to grow up enjoy what they do and this definitely improves their performance in the competitions. h) This approach as well helps athletes win their competitions due to its profound training models. i) This approach also serves to ensure improved communication in the various stages of development among the athletes themselves and with their training officials. j) Perhaps the most important strength of this kind of approach is its ability to integrate persons with disabilities into their program who in most cases are often left out by most training approaches (Innocent, 2001). WEAKNESSES OF IMPLEMENTING LTAD a) Because of the early inclusion of children into training, this is likely to lead to injuries as children do not have strong bones to withstand some form of training. b) The athletes may follow this kind of development without reaching the optimal performance level for international competitions. c) The approach may instill poor mental attitude towards an athlete since the athlete is being trained to win. This over emphasis on winning may not be good for a child psychological development especially on the social front. d) The children may not have fun in such adult meant programs. Children are better left to discover themselves for themselves and putting them on a program may inhibit their natural development and hamper their growth process. e) The children may undergo undertraining due to lack of refined skills. This may eventually lead to lack of optimal performance on the part of the children. f) Because of the early indulgence into sports and training almost your entire life, the athletes may leave sport and want nothing to do with it. g) Every child and athletes as well have their own unique generic potential and optimal performance levels. Putting them in some kind of program may not help in developing these potentials to the maximum. h) The same athlete may be put on different stages by their school, provisional teams and clubs. This may end up confusing the development structure of the athlete (Greece & Bernhadt, 1998) References Bar-Or, O. (1996). The Child and Adolescent Athlete. London: Blackwell Scientific Publications. Bar-or, O. (2006). The Child and Adolescent Athlete. London: Blackwell Scientic Publications. Bloom, B. (2004). Developing Talent in young people. New York: Ballantines. Ericsson, K., & Charnesss, N. (1994). Expert perfomance its structure and acquisition. American Psychologist, 725-747. Ericsson, k., Krampe, R., & Tesch, R. (1993). The role of deliberate Practice in the acquisition of expert perfomance. Psychological Review, 353-406. Greece, A., & Bernhadt, b. (1998). Coaching Children. Growth and Maturation Considerations, 14-16. Innocent, B. (2001). Sports System Building nd Long-term Athlete Development in Canada. The official Publication of the Canadian Proffesional Coaches Association, 25-28. Salmela, J., Young, B., & Kallio, J. (2008). Within-career transition of the athlete-coach triad. Morgantown: VA: Fit Publications. Viru, A. (2005). Adaptations in Sports Training. London: CRC Press. Read More