General Training

Important information for parents and athletes:

•  Little Athletics is about fun, participation and competing against your own personal best. 
•  Training is about learning technique and developing skills to improve yourself because you, the athlete, want to. 
•  Children are not mini adults therefore when it comes to training; you cannot simply modify an adult training program to suit without risking long term injury to the athlete or burn out. All training programs must be aimed to meet the individual needs of the developing junior athlete.
•    The individual athletes’ physical ability and maturity need to be considered.
•    Improved performance takes work and dedication. You can’t expect to improve with a couple of weeks training before a competition. To gain real benefits from training you must dedicate at least 6 to 8 weeks of training if you are serious about achieving your goals. 
•    Athletes competing in Track and Field do not start to reach their full potential (peak) until around 18 years old. This is due to their growth, development and maturity levels.  With the physical and emotional pressures and changes of growth, over training a young athlete will reduce their ability to grow and develop as well as risk injury. 
•    Young athletes are encouraged to ‘Have a go’ at all events. Children should not specialise in any particular event.  A ‘favourite’ event may change as they physically change through their developmental years. Injury and burn out are also a risk

Coaching Young Athletes

There are different stages of development to consider when coaching young ahletes.
The following is an example of a five stage progression for Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD).
​At Little Athletics we will only focus on the first 3 development stages. 

1. Fundamentals         
•  Where the emphasis is on fun, developing basic fitness and general movement skills 
•  Training age ideally 6 to 13 years.
•  1 or 2 sessions a week
2. Learning to Train
•  Where the emphasis is to learn how to train and develop their general skills 
•  Training age ideally 10 to 15 years.
•  1 or 2 sessions a week
3. Training to Train 
•  Where the emphasis is event(s) specific training 
•  Training age ideally 13 to 17 years.
•  2 to 3 sessions a week.

The final 2 stages are developing more mature athletes.
4. Training to Compete 
•  Where the emphasis is to correct weaknesses and develop athletic abilities 
•  Training age ideally 15 to 19.
5. Training to Win
•  Where the emphasis is on enhancing performance 
•  Training age ideally 18+