At the European Youth Athletics Championships back in 2013, Louise Shanahan, who was just sixteen years old, when she ran an impressive time of two minutes and eight seconds for 800 metres.
Having run 2:12.52 the year before, and 2:15.78 in 2011, a continued average progression of approximately three and a half seconds would have seen Louise run sub two minutes and break the national senior record within three years. However, any fan of athletics knows that progressions like that are few and far between!
Photo by: Morgan Treacy @morgantreacy
From the age of 16-22, Louise was unable to better her teenage running time, though came close in 2017 with a run of 2:08.04. It wasn’t until 2019 when the Leevale athlete finally clocked her fastest time in seven years (2:04.77) which she describes as “a mixture of ecstasy and relief”. Now an Olympian and former national senior record holder (2022) with a personal best time of 1:59.42, Louise reflects on her long-term development as an athlete.
“I think it’s important to realise progress isn’t linear. I was as committed to training between the ages of 16 and 22 as I was between 22 and 25 when I took nearly nine seconds off my PB. However, I would never have had those breakthrough years if I hadn’t stuck with the sport in the tough years”
Long term athlete development (LTAD) – what is it?
Instead of striving for short-term gains and early success, LTAD is a structured approach that prioritises the growth and development of athletes over time, across their entire lifespan (i.e. from infancy to adulthood). It is a concept that accepts that development is nonlinear, and aims to progress athletes gradually to (a) improve their health fitness and performance, (b) develop their confidence, and (c) reduce their risk of injury (1,2).
Johan Fallby – Danish Sports Psychologist
What are the stages of LTAD?
The growth and long-term athletic development of children/youths is not a straightforward process. It requires consideration not only for the physical needs, but the mental, emotional and social needs of athletes at different stages of their development.
How quickly an athlete develops in all of these areas is highly individualised and can be influenced by factors such as the age of the child (chronological age), their level of biological maturity (biological age) and their training experience (training age) (3,4).
Note: the stages of LTAD below are based on the framework adopted by Canadian sport (read more here)(5). Stages are distinguished by chronological age as reported by Canadian athletics (6), but these ages are general guidelines; it is also important to note that not all athletes will progress through these stages linearly or at the same pace. As highlighted above by Danish sports psychologist Johan Fallby, “development is a journey [that] requires patience and its never a straight line”.
1. Active start (0-6 years)
The main objective here is to make play and physical activity fun, and to create a healthy relationship with exercise so that is becomes habitual and part of the daily routine. There is no introduction to coaching at this stage, and growth and development is promoted through playful exploration in safe environments.
2. FUNdementals (males 6-9 years; females 6-8 years)
This stage focuses on developing basic movement skills through activities like running, jumping, throwing, catching, and kicking. The emphasis is on enjoyment, exploration and skill development, rather than specialisation in a specific sport.
3. Learning to Train (males 9-12 years; females 8-11 years)
In this stage, children build on their fundamental movement skills and begin to take part in structured training programs. Although they now learn sports-specific skills and techniques, emphasis still remains on developing overall athleticism, co-ordination and fitness through varied and enjoyable activities.
4. Training to Train (males 12-16 years; females 11-15 years)
During this phase, as children progress through adolescence, training becomes more structured and sport-specific. Technical skills are refined and physical conditioning that builds strength, speed, power and endurance is enhanced. Emphasis is placed on skill mastery and preparing for competition.
5. Training to Compete (male 16-21+ years, female 15-20+ years)
As the competitive nature of sport increases during this stage, so too the volume and intensity of training. The focus here is to optimise performance and prepare athletes for higher levels of competition. This includes event-specific testing and monitoring (3). Athletes may choose to specialise in their sport at this stage.
6. Training to Win (20-23+ years)
At this stage, athletes have reached peak physical condition and are competing at the highest level of their sport. Training is highly specialised, individualised and focuses on maximising performance in competition.
7. Active for Life (Any age)
This stage focuses on retaining ex-athletes in physical activity after they retire from competitive sport. There are many ways to stay involved in sport and physical activity for example, through things like coaching, officiating/refereeing, mentoring.
Advice from a Professional
Dr. Philip Kearney is a lecturer in skill acquisition, coaching and performance in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences (University of Limerick). Primarily, his research looks at human motor behavior, and how movement skills are learned, controlled and developed over time. With his current research focusing on youth sport and the development of track and field athletes (read more here), we were delighted to reach out to Philip for some professional advice on how to develop youth athletes long-term.
Philip Kearney’s Top Tips for Coaches
Develop athleticism, not athletics: with the youngest children, be creative in finding ways to maximise enjoyable involvement. Athleticism can be developed in a fun way through exciting running, jumping, and throwing games. For example, are your local tennis club throwing out the balls that are too soft to use? Will they donate them for your little throwers? If you had a hundred tennis balls, what games can you devise that involve running and throwing?
Keep youngsters involved: with adolescents, it can be tricky for them to balance lots of different interests, including competing, sports and school. When there is a strong social group at training, that’s really helpful in retaining more teenagers. Get ideas here.
Focus on the 4C’s: coaches, if you can build not just an athlete’s competence, but also their confidence, their connection (to other athletes, to the sport, to the club, to the coach, etc.), and their character (resilience, openness, focus, relaxation) a little bit in every session, that’s where long-term athlete development comes from. Small, session by session progress in those 4 Cs is what leads, over years, to the three interacting outcomes we are after: Participation, Personal Development and Performance.
Above all, be patient: strong (or weak) performances at 11-14 years of age do not provide a good indication of what a child can achieve at age 19 and above. Look at Louise Shanahan for example. Don't get carried away by particularly good or poor performances initially. Instead, try to focus on personal performance gains.
Reference List
Till, K., Lloyd, R. S., McCormack, S., Williams, G., Baker, J., & Eisenmann, J. C. (2022). Optimising long-term athletic development: An investigation of practitioners' knowledge, adherence, practices and challenges. PloS one, 17(1), e0262995. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262995
Lloyd, Rhodri S.; Cronin, John B.; Faigenbaum, Avery D.; Haff, G. Gregory; Howard, Rick; Kraemer, William J.; Micheli, Lyle J.; Myer, Gregory D.; Oliver, Jon L.(2016) National Strength and Conditioning Association Position Statement on Long-Term Athletic Development. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 30(6):p 1491-1509, | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001387
Lloyd, Rhodri S.1; Oliver, Jon L.1; Faigenbaum, Avery D.2; Myer, Gregory D.3,4,5; De Ste Croix, Mark B. A.7. Chronological Age vs. Biological Maturation: Implications for Exercise Programming in Youth. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 28(5):p 1454-1464, May 2014. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000391
Ke, D., Lu, D., Cai, G., Wang, X., Zhang, J. and Suzuki, K.(2021) Chronological and Skeletal Age in Relation to Physical Fitness Performance in Preschool Children. Front. Pediatr. 9:641353. Doi:10.3389/fped.2021.641353.
Sport for Life Society. Sport for Life—Long-Term Athlete Development Resource Paper 2.1. Sport for Life Society; 2016. Accessed October 12, 2021. http://sportforlife.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/LTAD-2.1-EN_web.pdf?x96000