Developing Young Throwers Nigel Bevan

Introduction Nigel Bevan Coach Many school kids and recently semi retired! Coached in USA over a range of events including sprints and hurdles! Coached several juniors recently to World, European and Commonwealth junior games. Matti Mortimore my latest kid 5 UK records this year U15 and serious talent Athlete Welsh Javelin record holder (81.70m) Rep Wales at 3 Commonwealth Games (4th twice) Rep GB at various champs including 1992 Barcelona Olympics Came 4th at 2 world students Games & European juniors as well Should have at least got a certificate!

Object of today’s talk Present some information that you may find useful to developing your coaching philosophy, when dealing with young athletes Look at research and UK statistics Keep open minded but try and look at the long term process or ‘bigger picture’

How many make it as Seniors?

What does this data show Few U15 men make it to UK top 10 All time Older you get, more chance Women have similar problems apart from the jav (new rules?) U15 & U17 rankings do not necessarily indicate a bright future why?

How early should we be coaching our young athletes? 2000, Kath Merry, Donna Fraser 3 rd & 4 th 400m OG – won numerous English schools and AAA junior titles 2007 Christine Ohorougou & Nicola Sanders 1 st & 2 nd World Champs Probably didn’t have one title between them What does this tell us?????? KM & DF have suffered with injuries throughout their careers – is this significant?

World Junior Success

Are our Juniors Successful Steve Backley, Darren Campbell, Fiona May (Italy) Only athletes who have won individual global medals at both junior and senior out of 30 or so athletes = 10% What is the answer? What about individual differences what about genetics What about opportunity

What should we do?

Teach the Skills Teach them the skills before their strength Becomes their greatest weapon! What does the research say? Bayli & Hamilton (Canadians looking at winter Olympians ( ) LTAD Long term athlete development 6 stages – 10,000 hours to be world class

LTAD Model The FUNdamental stage (Males 6-9, females 6-8) build overall motor skills The learning to train stage (males 9-12, females 8- 11) learn all fundamental sport skills The training to train stage (M12-16, F11-15) build the engine (aerobic then strength) and consolidate skills The training to compete stage (M16-18, F15-17) Optimise engine, skill & performance The training to win stage (M18+, F 17+) Maximise engine, skill & performance

What else do they say? ‘Scientific interrogation of the model remains impossible since the LTAD refers to virtually NO science and includes no research data, just a few examples of people who might fit the idea.’ Bayli!

To lift or not to lift PVH – you can increase endurance and strength and pick up motor skills – hooray! Weight lift from a very young age However, is it that hard to learn how to lift weights at a young age? Seen accidents and precautionary tales Told recently at a conference start in the womb! You can lift but why should you?

The Anti LTAD brigade Given the Balyi publications, it is clear that the LTAD has been developed as an elitist model - talent development - made explicit by Balyi's 1990 offering. Chris Earle, Director of Sports Development at Loughborough University suggests that the Balyi model is NOT an elitist model, rather it is an athlete retention model; giving it a new name of Long term athlete participation [LTAP]. i.e. contradicts the findings.

Anti LTAD "The LTAD is presented as a groundbreaking model with seemingly plausible rationales. Balyi has a slick delivery and sport policy in the UK has a convenient gap to fill" Sports' version of the Emperors new clothes! - well at least that's the opinion of some We invite Balyi to produce some proper peer-reviewed evidence and of course we will publish and/or report on it. University of Gloucester article

NYQ’s! A final note: All things considered, it remains our opinion that the LTAD is one of sports' examples of objectification [the act of representing an abstraction as a physical thing]; in as much as if you print something enough times and in enough places; it becomes accepted as fact. Clearly however, that doesn't make it fact!