Young Minds versus Slalom
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John Sturgess
- Posts: 280
- Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Gedling, Nottingham/Long Preston, North Yorkshire
OK, I'll try to avoid irony - and cynicism
The problem here, I think, is that we are trying to alter the system in order to do something that no system can do
The question is about how we ensure that paddlers, especially young paddlers, manage to keep a balance in their lives, so that they compete as much as they want to, without prejudice to their academic work, family demands, need for a social life, etc
And it links to other questions that come up on this web-site: like how we ensure that young paddlers do the the 'right' events, so that they are not over-faced, but equally do not keep paddling flat-water races which can slow down their development. And on that also we try to do it by fine-tuning the system in that case the ranking system
In sport as a whole there is an answer to this - their coach advises them, and sensible parents take the coach's advice. This operates in most of both the Team and the individual sports that I work with in my job
However in Canoe Slalom - as in Canoeing as a whole - we do not have a 'coaching culture'. Most paddlers do not have someone that they or their parents would recognise as their 'lead coach', who knows the paddler and the family well enough to offer that sort of advice
This can be for various reasons - some paddlers are not members of clubs; some clubs do not offer coaching; in some clubs that do offer coaching it is a question of one or more oaches being there while a pile of youngsters descend, without there being clear relationships between individual paddlers and individual coaches
Could this change? Yes, if a club wants it to. One cricket club I work with decided to change 5 years ago. They now not only have a junior section three times the size - because of increased retention not increased recruitment - their results are far better - and that get proportinally far more players into District and County squads.
Cricket is a relevant example because like in canoeing, but unlike contact sports like football and rugby, children do not just play in their age-groups: most clubs' 2nd and 3rd XI's are heavily to predominantly made up of juniors: so there is not a 'natural' age-group coaching structure.
To take Peter's and boatmum's points: in my experience (30 years in teaching, including 10 years as a boarding school housemaster, i.e. father and mother to c. 55 13-18 year olds)
those who 'gave up sport' usually at parental insistence to do their exams uniformly did worse. Why? Firstly they need a balanced life, including suitable physical activity. But probably more importantly, because their days were full, and they had to organise themselves efficiently to get everything done.
The happiest and most successful of my contemporaries at school and university were undoubtedly those who had gone to choir-schools: normal academic programmes, normal sporting programmes, two choir practices a day and mid-week and weekend services to sing at, and usually learning three instruments. Not much free time to do nothing in!
The problem here, I think, is that we are trying to alter the system in order to do something that no system can do
The question is about how we ensure that paddlers, especially young paddlers, manage to keep a balance in their lives, so that they compete as much as they want to, without prejudice to their academic work, family demands, need for a social life, etc
And it links to other questions that come up on this web-site: like how we ensure that young paddlers do the the 'right' events, so that they are not over-faced, but equally do not keep paddling flat-water races which can slow down their development. And on that also we try to do it by fine-tuning the system in that case the ranking system
In sport as a whole there is an answer to this - their coach advises them, and sensible parents take the coach's advice. This operates in most of both the Team and the individual sports that I work with in my job
However in Canoe Slalom - as in Canoeing as a whole - we do not have a 'coaching culture'. Most paddlers do not have someone that they or their parents would recognise as their 'lead coach', who knows the paddler and the family well enough to offer that sort of advice
This can be for various reasons - some paddlers are not members of clubs; some clubs do not offer coaching; in some clubs that do offer coaching it is a question of one or more oaches being there while a pile of youngsters descend, without there being clear relationships between individual paddlers and individual coaches
Could this change? Yes, if a club wants it to. One cricket club I work with decided to change 5 years ago. They now not only have a junior section three times the size - because of increased retention not increased recruitment - their results are far better - and that get proportinally far more players into District and County squads.
Cricket is a relevant example because like in canoeing, but unlike contact sports like football and rugby, children do not just play in their age-groups: most clubs' 2nd and 3rd XI's are heavily to predominantly made up of juniors: so there is not a 'natural' age-group coaching structure.
To take Peter's and boatmum's points: in my experience (30 years in teaching, including 10 years as a boarding school housemaster, i.e. father and mother to c. 55 13-18 year olds)
those who 'gave up sport' usually at parental insistence to do their exams uniformly did worse. Why? Firstly they need a balanced life, including suitable physical activity. But probably more importantly, because their days were full, and they had to organise themselves efficiently to get everything done.
The happiest and most successful of my contemporaries at school and university were undoubtedly those who had gone to choir-schools: normal academic programmes, normal sporting programmes, two choir practices a day and mid-week and weekend services to sing at, and usually learning three instruments. Not much free time to do nothing in!
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roodthomas
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:33 pm
- Location: Barnsley
I am inclined to agree with Mr Sturgess, in the balancing life area!
It is more important that the individual gets the quality coaching relating to the participants training and racing to ensure that the individual doesn't overtrain and under compete or under train and over compete or overtrain and over compete! In many cases there needs to be good communication between coach, participant and parents to ensure that the individual doesn't burn out.
We have to take into acount the participants background as well because a young person has to balance a whole host of things. Studies have shown that playing an instrument also benefits academic results. I suppose its more about keeping the mind active and healthy through as many activities as possible. You should consider those dissaffected youths that use sport as a means of integrating themselves back into mainstream society.
Anyway, i'm waffling now . . . so, to simplify . . . its dependant on the individual!
It is more important that the individual gets the quality coaching relating to the participants training and racing to ensure that the individual doesn't overtrain and under compete or under train and over compete or overtrain and over compete! In many cases there needs to be good communication between coach, participant and parents to ensure that the individual doesn't burn out.
We have to take into acount the participants background as well because a young person has to balance a whole host of things. Studies have shown that playing an instrument also benefits academic results. I suppose its more about keeping the mind active and healthy through as many activities as possible. You should consider those dissaffected youths that use sport as a means of integrating themselves back into mainstream society.
Anyway, i'm waffling now . . . so, to simplify . . . its dependant on the individual!