Athletic Skill Development MUST Precede Sport-Specific Skill Development
I was speaking with my mentor the other day, and he brought up an interesting fact. Of the hundreds of thousands of players who have played in the Little League World Series, only 58 have made it to the MLB. That’s a fascinating stat. These players are the best in the world at their age, yet so few ever make it to the biggest stage. When you dig a little deeper, you can see the answer becomes pretty obviously pretty quickly.
Elite players require expertise in 3 areas:
· Athleticism
· Sport-Specific Technical Skills
· Sport-Specific Tactical Skills/IQ
So often, players bypass the first skill to focus on the second, neglecting critical windows of opportunity for essential athletic development that they can’t get back later down the road. This is what happens with those who play in the Little League World Series. They are ELITE technical players who have sacrificed their athletic development in favor of skill development, leading to an inability to keep up athletically with their peers as they grow.
Unfortunately, this has become the norm in our country. Kids are specializing earlier and earlier in one sport, and missing these critical windows of opportunity for profound athletic development to focus on developing technical mastery in one sport. To make matters worse, many are being encouraged to do so by sport coaches who just don’t see or understand the damage they are doing to the long-term health of the kid.
So my message is this:
If you want your kid to develop into a happy, healthy, competitive, and successful athlete, focus on developing their underlying athletic skills that they need to have success in sports and life during their formative years, and THEN focus on mastering sport-specific technical skills.
If you do this, your kids will not only have more success in their sports, they will also be happier, healthier, and set up to live an amazing life.
If you want help developing these skills, consider our Little Athlete Academy as your one-stop solution. We help kids develop these foundational athletic skills, and do so in a way they absolutely adore. Learn more or inquire by clicking here!
