On Not Pushing Your Kids

[gh]

Reprinted with permission, a note from Jim Spivey to me in which he talked about one of his kids (and I'm so glad to note the take-it-easy-young approach):

<<My son, Seb, at age 12, already passed my PR in the mile as a sophomore in gym class, 5:45. He ran 5:35 for a mile last spring. He said he does not like the mile, it hurt too much. I pointed out that his splits were 37-76 - 90-93- 77, and that if I ran a mile with those splits, it would hurt too. I also pointed out that his first and last 400 added up to 2:33, missing his PR in the 800 by 1 second.

He is skipping CC this fall, which at age 13, I am glad. Too much running for a kid that grew 4" last spring.

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

Readers of this worthy topic can find related information in a NewsWeek magazine article, "When Safety Is the Name of the Game" (pages 64-66 of the issue dated 22 September 2003).

[6 5.5hjsteve]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

anyone heard of something called ( cannot spell it ) "Osgood Schlotter's disease" ?

My son had this problem at age 14, missed his freshman CC season... this was 20 years ago, but I remember the doc saying something about rapidly-growing bones at the outset of puberty being the problem.... caused pain in the joints. That's all I can remember.

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

A similar story - my younger son ran the 100 and 400 locally as an 8 year old. Having some abilility and training 2x weekly for one month he easily advanced winning the city, county and Southern State 400m championships as an 8 year old. The next year (at 9) he again won the city championship at 400/200 and county championship at 400 and got 4th in the 200. However he felt so much pressure at the southern state meet (self imposed)that he was in tears before the meet. I told him he owed it to himself to run that one final race that he trained for (which he won) and he wouldn't race again until at least 9th grade.

What started as a fun thing, because of some success, quickly turned into a practice in feeling pressure to win.

He now plays soccer competitively 9 months a year and for an 11- year old gets plenty of running in the 2 weekly practices and games. However, he still wants to just have fun - keeping competition on the back burner. Since he is a very competitive individual (he hates to lose in individual competitions) the team sport of soccer provides a buffer for competitive pressure.

Yesterday he told me what he wants out of sports at this stage "sports are for fun, making friends and getting exercise, they aren't for trying to go pro". As with Jim's son he has some ability to run - he is built to run, but it must be entirely his decision or else he won't be able to put in the effort required to be successful.

Training and racing distances at young ages can create many troubles. Injury and future burnout are very common among youth athletes as they move into the more competitive years. Late starters often ultimately fair much better than those who began their track career before puberty.

[MJD]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

>He now plays soccer
>competitively 9 months a year and for an 11-
>year old gets plenty of running in the 2 weekly
>practices and games. However, he still wants to
>just have fun - keeping competition on the back
>burner. Since he is a very competitive individual
>(he hates to lose in individual competitions) the
>team sport of soccer provides a buffer for
>competitive pressure.

Along the same lines, here is a message about a nephew of mine and note his training regimen. Pretty sure the distance is a tad off...

"In a time of 7 minutes for the 2km course CH won the atom boys District School Board of Niagara Cross-Country meet run today at Burgoyne Woods in St. Catharines. He beat 119 other runners from
across the Niagara Peninsula. Each of the runners earned the right to participate today by placing in the top 10 of their individual regional
meets.

CH's parents were both excited and proud. It is clear from today's result that a training program consisting of soccer, lacrosse and hockey,
with a great deal of trampoline work in between, will usher in a whole new approach for training for distance running.

Congratulations CH."

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

Steve6.5HJ

I know all about the condition your son appears to have. It took me out of my favorite event at the time (LJ) during my junior high days. Didn't long jump from age 11 till the summer of my 14th b-day. Painful, but taking the necessary time off to allow for his growth spurt should do the trick. It did for me. My LJ PR also improved quite substantially after my spurt

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

As a high school coach, I don't know how many times I have had to call off overzealous parents from their pubescent children. Puberty and early adolescence is a wonderful time to learn the skills of a sport, a really bad time to try to acquire the muscle mass or extraordinary stamina needed to excel. Many very intelligent people think they have to 'strike while the iron is hot' i.e., while their kids are growing, so the kid will grow into a massively athletic body. Yes, HGH and testosterone (boys) are coursing through their veins like the best drug on the market, but the risks are too great. Remember Todd Marinovich, USC QB? That's a cautionary tale every parent should know about.

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

or as his Trojan class mates used to call him, Marijuanovich

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

And, Todd was actually a success - at least physically the experiment worked. He made it - USC/Raiders! Unfortunately, emotionally he wasn't there. He was obviously very confused. He was a football robot designed from conception by his father. He ultimately didn't know anything but football but he didn't understand why he was playing either - it was never his decision. The decision was made before he was born.

For every Marinavich there are hundreds of kids who never make it to that level but have the same emotional scars from parents who see fame and fortune for their little sports superstars who aren't allowed to just play and be kids.

[MJD]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

I don't know what it's like in other North American towns/cities but when I went to high school-high school sports like basketball were huge spectator sports FOR THE KIDS. Now, the only people in the stands are the parents and they never used to go to the games.

[Olegi2]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

Osgood-Schlatter's disease describes the condition in which the tibial attachment of the patellar tendon becomes the seat of inflammation and disintegration of the bone. The causes are unclear, but the condition is probably due to traction periostitis casued by overuse. Ref;Sports Injuries;their prevention and treatment.Dr. Lars Peterson and Dr.Per Renstrom

[jhc68]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

I dunno, having experience as a parent and a coach, I tend to react to Jim Spivey's note a not really so much of "take it easy young approach". I know that Mr. Spivey is world class knowledgeable and I am not second-guessing, he certainly knows running and his kids better than I do... it is just that even timing kids for pr's at 12 years old seems like it pushes the envelope to me. Spivey notes that his pr at the 10th grade level was only 5:45, indicating a late start in competitive running which did not seem to hamper his progress toward extraordinary achievement. For runners and jumpers I am very dubious about the value of early competition. Early experiences in sports where hand-eye technique, timing and footwork are critical (tennis, volleyball, basketball, etc) seem to establish habits that lend tremendous advantages for kids who start early. But in track and field I am not convinced that advantages outweigh the physical risks of age group competition. Have any studies been done following kids through their careers to see how many stick with the sport and how much relationship there is between starting young and ultimate achievement? My hunch would be that the strongest relationship exists in throwing events where, perhaps, important techniques can be learned with less joint and connective tissue stress than jumps or running events.

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

Yes, the fact the Jim's 10th grade pr was so slow offers support for the late-starting approach. 5:45 for a 10th grader is pathetic - even 4:45 isn't that good - but 3:49 for an adult is, of course, awesome. I'd trade my very good 10th grade time, which I trained very hard for at 14 years old, for his 3:49.

I remember reading that Doug Padilla was also a very late bloomer, I think only running low 10s as a senior, Bill Rogers was another late starter. We also know Steve Scott didn't get serious about track until 11th grade and was primarily an 800 guy in hs.

The running-boomers are now at the age where they have kids now hitting puberty. Many are probably anxious to get the kids going, and many hs kids are running very well. The current trend is to start early and "be like pre"- train very hard. While this may produce some immediate results it may be detrimental for long-term development. Patience - from athletes and parents is probably a wiser approach.

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

Alright, Texans,

Y'all got to tell me about child/parental pressure, when it comes to football and track. Or is it myth?

I heard/read about Permian.

[Guest]

Re: On Not Pushing Your Kids

None of this has really applied to me personally. I've always relished the competition at any age and any sport. Some people are just like that. Some people are too weak-minded to overcome parental or other outside influence to be hardcore athletes, and that's unfortunate. I never needed any external motivation, I push myself harder than anyone else can, and it's always been that way.