The State of Youth Fitness

The Youth Speed movement is in trouble because of the level of fitness of youth athletes. Youth athletes are more concerned with texting, watching television, and surfing the internet these days. This has caused a level of obesity that was unheard of in the past. Youth Speed Athletes in the past played outside more and participated in activities that involved jumping, twisting, running, and squatting more often. Society has decided to ignore this problem by decreasing P.E. classes and physical activity. Consequently, we have athletes that enter middle school or high school weak, slow, and unprepared physically. The lag in physical preparedness to develop speed is why we created the “Youth Guide to Fitness.” We want every athlete, parent, or coach that reads this manual to be empowered with the tools to create a better youth speed athlete on and off the field.

The first issue that needs to be addressed to improve youth speed is the mindset of the youth athlete. We are firm believers in you become what you believe. Many youth athletes believe in the notion that everything should be easy for them to obtain and should be done quickly. Unfortunately, the technological age has contributed to this mindset by making information available at lightning speed. We address the mindset in the “Youth Guide to Fitness” manual by finding out why athletes think the way that they do. If you do not find out the root of the problem you will be cutting limbs, but still have the problem.

Youth Athletes must understand why they are sacrificing their time and effort to participate in athletics. The worst thing that parents can do is to try to force a youth athlete to become an athlete. Maximal effort will never be obtained when an athlete is not passionate about the sport they are playing. The bible says, “ Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Are you listening to what your athletes are saying? My coaches did not have to tell me to workout in the offseason because I knew it was necessary to achieve the goals I had set.

Goals are also of great importance because they constantly remind the youth athlete where they are headed. You cannot take a train to Kentucky and expect to arrive in Miami. The road or process is never easy for a youth speed athlete, but if you can see the reward you can determine to stay on path. We are firm believers in writing down goals for the year. The next step is to make sure the youth athlete assesses their progress with a coach or parent periodically to make sure they are in the right direction. Although, I do not like to ask for directions it is sometimes necessary to make sure I am in route to my destination.

We hope you enjoyed this small piece of information on the Youth Speed Athlete mindset and we will follow up with a series of information showing you what it takes to take youth speed to the next level. We would like to know what questions you would like to ask about youth speed, so please comment and we will answer the questions as quickly as possible.