Youth Physical Development Guidelines by Riley Rogers

I strongly believe if I had started training for sports earlier in life, I would have been much more successful. Growing up, I dabbled in soccer, gymnastics, track and field, and basketball. By the time I got to high school, I decided to take on volleyball without any prior knowledge of the sport. Half of my high school volleyball career was spent mastering the fundamentals: bumping, setting, spiking, and footwork. I spent my junior year figuring out what position I was best at and, finally, I got to truly play competitively during my senior year. My point is, if I had started learning the fundamentals before high school, I would have had the opportunity to truly compete for four solid years…at least!

The Lab Rats program at Athletic Lab gives kids aged 7-11 a head-start for future success by developing “fundamental skills that can be used in multiple sports and in everyday life”1. The participants spend an hour each class learning motor skills and correct exercise form, developing basic physical competencies, fostering relationships with other like-minded children, and having some good ol’ fun.

In a study done by Joseph Baker, he notes the significance of the 10-year rule. This rule stipulates that a 10-year commitment to high levels of training is the minimum requirement to reach the expert level (2). He also references the “power law of practice”, which states that “the more time an individual devotes to practice, the greater their level of achievement” (2). In simpler terms, more practice equals higher achievement and the earlier you start, the better.

Based on these findings, Ericsson et al. determined in another study that “it was not simply the accumulation of deliberate practice hours over a period of 10 years that led to superior levels of performance. The accumulation of such hours must coincide with crucial periods of biological and cognitive development. Early specialization became an important element in predisposing one to future success.” This study also concluded that the earlier one begins focused training, the better chance they have of reaching the expert level in their “chosen domain, ” or sport (3).

Although the youth participants in Athletic Lab’s Lab Rats program don’t solely focus on one sport, they learn the fundamentals that are common in a variety of sports. Rather than being structured like an elementary school gym class, Lab Rats incorporates aspects of all sports in challenging games and activities. Here are a few examples of those activities and what skills they specifically work on:

In his book titled Positive Youth Development Through Sport, Nicholas Holt cites a study by Jessica Fraser-Thomas and Jean Côté which says, “Youth sport has the potential to accomplish three important objectives in children’s development” (4). The three objectives consist of providing opportunities to children to be physically active, to learn life skills such as cooperation and leadership, and to learn motor skills, which serve as a foundation for future sports.

The examples that I listed above are just a sampling of the wide-array of activities that take place during each Lab Rats session. Although I only listed a few aspects of competitive sports that each activity addresses, you can see that each one also teaches motor skills, practices life skills (psychosocial development), and allows the participants to be active for a full hour (physical health).

Take Away: If you have kids, get them involved in a youth sport program like Lab Rats! Even though I merely touched upon them in this short article, the perks and benefits of preparing youth for sport performance are endless when considering the effectiveness of the 10-year rule, the power law of practice, and early specialization.

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