Giving Kids The Competitive Edge
by Jim Ronai
Organized youth sports provide children with opportunities to learn on a multitude of levels. The impact that
youth sports can have on a child’s physical, social and physiological development is significant and long
lasting. For many children, youth baseball is their first exposure to organized sports. In addition to
providing children with the fundamentals of our nation’s pastime, organizers of youth baseball have the
opportunity to develop a sports program that promotes general athleticism and a foundation for lifelong
healthy social and physical habits.
FOUNDATIONS OF A SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM:
children will participate in a variety of sports as they mission and core values. Most provide participants with
low-pressure opportunities to experience success. provide participants with low-pressure opportunities to
experience success.
Athleticism before sports specific skill development:
Developing athleticism before sport specific skills provides children with the basic foundations of all sports.
Flexibility, speed, agility and strength are a few examples of skills that are required for participation in all
sports. Integrating general athletic skills into practices and pre-game activities ensures that participants
leave the facility having improved as athletes.
Healthy kids make healthy adults:
Every athlete can’t be an all star, but there are more important aspects associated with youth athletics than
winning or making an all star team. The life lessons associated with participation in athletics are significant.
Life long healthy social and physical habits need to be established early. Development of life skills such as
the ability to work with others, cope with negative outcomes and accept instruction from an individual in an
authoritative role like a coach are benefits of youth sports that last a lifetime. Teaching individuals to be
comfortable with exercise, exercise environments and in competitive situations as kids makes these
environments less intimidating to them as adults. People tend to gravitate towards activities that are more
comfortable to them. Adults need to be more involved in wellness based exercise activities as methods
promoting health and improved long term quality of life. Establishing these behaviors early improves the
chances of them becoming a long standing way of life.
Perfect practice makes perfect:
Like most people, children learn through repetition. Developing routines for developing athletic skills like
flexibility, running speed development and agility are just as important to kids as taking infield or batting
practice. In order to successfully field, hit and throw, players should be able to run, jump and rapidly
change directions without sustaining an injury. Educating young athletes about the essentials of athletic
skills and correctly reinforcing those skills at regular intervals provides participants with simple, consistent
opportunities to learn and improve as athletes both mentally and physically.
Knowledge is power
Understanding the basic concepts of what it takes to be an athlete empowers a young athlete with a
powerful tool for growth and improvement. Once athletes understand the rationale behind the use of
athletic enhancement drills like form running, flexibility exercises and agility drills as well as how and when to
use them, their potential to improve as athletes first and subsequently ball players is limitless. Teaching
young people how to think, move and train like an athlete are fundamental steps towards them improving
and reaching their potential as baseball players.
Whatever you do, make it fun!
For many young people, sports programs like youth baseball are their first experiences in an organized or
team format. In most cases, these programs are also a young person’s first experience in a coach/athlete
situation. Therefore, it is imperative that early experiences are enjoyable. Activities that deemphasize
winning and losing or statistical success provide participants with a low pressure, low stress opportunity to
play and develop. Creating situations that present an equal challenge for all, make more participants feel
as though they belong and have an equal opportunity to succeed. For example, teaching and drilling a 9
and 10 year baseball team in a 10 station circuit of age appropriate agility, running and medicine ball drills
gives all children a chance to experience success on many levels. Activities like these enable all
participants to improve as baseball players by improving in a multitude of athletic skills. Since each station
is timed and completed by each athlete at their own pace, all athletes will experience the success of
completing the activity and will not be subject to the disappointment of losing or finishing behind others.
The Seven Elements of Athleticism
Developing athletes requires a plan for improvement. Athleticism is the foundation of every sport. Without
the ability to improve as an overall athlete, individuals can not improve as players in any sport. Practices
and pre-game activities need to include components of each of the 7 elements of athleticism:
Flexibility, Strength, Agility, Speed, Core Balance, Coordination and Power are essential ingredients that
distinguish an athlete from an individual who participates in athletic activities. Effective developmental and
reinforcement of these critical athletic skills requires knowledgeable coaching staff, efficient practice
routines and efficient pre-game drills and activities. Coaching plays a critical role in assisting athletes to
develop the enthusiasm, mental discipline and desire to acquire these skills.Tools and Methods Programs
that promote general athleticism in can serve large groups of young people with minimal investments of time
or money. In order for programs to efficiently serve a large number of athletes, they must be well
organized. Standard program components should include systematic warm up, flexibility and form running
routines. In order to maximize learning and assimilation of skills and concepts, these routine should change
as little as possible over the course of the program. Utilization of anaerobic or aerobic circuit training is an
extremely productive and time efficient method of exposing participants to the 7 essential elements of
athleticism. Circuits that utilize equipment such as agility ladders, step hurdles, jump ropes, cones, domes,
dot mats and medicine balls are portable and cost effective. They offer coaches and participants a
multitude of drill options and levels of difficulty based on the baseline skill levels of the participants.
Coaches can very easily customize circuits based on age and sport specific variables like aerobic recovery
requirements, coordination/balance demands and gross/ fine motor demands. Work to rest ratios can be
easily manipulated to accommodate sport specific demands and the changing fitness levels of the
participants.
The Bottom Line
The intent of organized youth sports programs should be to provide participants with a fun and stimulating
opportunity to facilitate their physical and psychosocial development. The measure of success of youth
sports programs should not be measured in terms of wins, losses and all star team appearances.
Successful programs teach participants how to interact with authority figures like coaches or in group/team
situations. Athleticism a key to developing well rounded young athletes and lays a framework for life long
healthy habits. Youth sports programs that emphasize fun and the fundamentals of general athleticism
before sport specific skill provide participants with a healthy foundation for future development.
Jim Ronai MS, PT, ATC, CSCS is the Director of Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine at Rehabilitation
Associates, Inc. in Connecticut. He is the founder of The Competitive Edge speed, agility and strength
program and a member of the USA Baseball Medical and Safety Advisory Committee.
