I’ve had many football-related conversations over the past few weeks, but the one recurring theme has been the consequences of overtraining.
Patrick Zwaanswijk recently dropped into the college and it was interesting having a chat about this topic with him and Joey, who have both just returned from their FFA A licence course.
Children and teenagers are prone to growth plate injuries because they have immature bones and the growth plates, made up of cartilage cells at the ends of the long bones, are softer and more vulnerable to injury than those in mature bones. It is therefore important for parents, and all those involved with children’s development, to understand that the still developing muscular skeletal system of a child or teenager can’t train in the same way as that of an adult.
Kids participating in sporting activities generally have the cardiovascular energy to push themselves. It seems there’s no stopping their energy and output and sometimes all they can think about is getting to the ‘next level’. However, their growing bones simply can’t endure the stress that adult bones can.
Training loads these days are greatly increased for kids who have college, club and rep commitments. Of course, coaches attempt to train their team to full potential and it often goes unnoticed that players are doing too much. Young players can also feel pressure to keep training for fear of being dropped.
It is important for those of us responsible, to distribute the workload evenly. If each coach is putting a player through a full training workload the athlete can potentially be doing two or three times the ideal training amount.
The key to manageable training workloads is communication and I’m excited to see Joey, Patrick and our other highly qualified coaches, discussing the training requirements of the players that ultimately, we are all involved with. This kind of collaboration can only enhance the player pathway.
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