6 steps to a better athlete: Part 1 - how do they learn?

There are multiple parts to agility: rhythm, coordination, balance, flexibility, body awareness, reaction time. All of these can be trained to improve ANY athletes performance. But how?

For the next 2-weeks I am going to take you through the importance of each of these components so that you can take these concepts and use them in your practices.

But to start we need to learn how an athlete learns a skill. 


First off, there are different types of learning styles. Some people are visual learners that learn by watching, others learn by listening or reading. And still others learn by doing. However, most people and especially kids, are a good combination of the 3. 


My experience has shown me that as kids get older they tolerate, appreciate, and pay more attention to audible teaching. However, younger kids (under12) tend to be more visual and kinesthetic learners (do-ers). 


For younger athletes they are at such a prime age that their brain is ripe for basically writing codes for how to perform a movement. So expecting perfection within the first few attempts is not realistic. They know what it should look like (visual learning) and they then try to mimic that movement. 


However, since there is no prior motor program for this movement skill, it's bound to look a little sloppy. But give them time. This is the one thing I see so many coaches focus on: immediate success. With the pressure to be perfect you can almost assuredly push a youth athlete away from a sport. Let them learn from movement. 


When they appear to be struggling, help them move through the motion. Put their body in the correct position. As I stated in the previous post, you have to groove a quality movement before you can expect perfection. With that being said, learning is not immediate. Heck , it may take 2-4 weeks or longer before a movement is learned. 


But stay away from simply rehearsing the one skill. Research shows that kids learn better in short bursts of information rather than one massive "info-bomb." Spend 5-10 minutes on a skill, then move to another. Then come back to it. You'll keep attention much better and as a result improve retention of the skill.

Why am I doing this?

I've said it many times before. And I am going to keep saying it no matter how much parents don't want to hear it:

Developing movement skills, and thus athletic ability, is like developing any other skill - It takes time and there is a process. Just like there is a process to learning the rules of language.

So here at Peak Performance, we emphasize teaching skills through drills. Far too many sport coaches, whether they be volunteer or "professionals" are busy simply running kids through drills without teaching them the one thing that matters, WHY AM I DOING THIS DRILL?

You really have to make a conscious effort to teach kids how to move. So if you simply ask them to do a ladder drill. Yeah they will probably be able to do it, but if you can't teach them how it carries over to their sport, then you're simply making a "ladder" athlete (a kid who's great at ladder drills). And last time I checked, there wasn't a trophy or scholarships given out for being good at ladder drills.

At Peak Performance, we emphasize the big WHY. We want our athletes to know why they are doing a drill and what skill it is they are developing.

We want you as parents to know as well. So if there is ever a point that your young athlete comes to you and says, "we did such and such drill today...but I don't know why," PLEASE send me an email. I want you and your athletes to know what it is your kids are doing and why it is your kids are doing it.

Our Movement First Program will be starting on August 30th. This is for athletes ages 8-12 and the time is from 6-6:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sign them up today!! The cost is $48. And trust me, this will be one of the best things you could do to develop their movement skills and thus, athletic ability!