Training for Kids

IMO, this is a great resource for anyone who is working with youth in triathlon or who has kids who are interested in the sport.  Hope it helps

http://www.loaringphysio.com/LPC/Articles/LTAD-Booklet-07.pdf

Shane

To answer your specific questions (I hit reply too quickly):

1)  Competitiveness - just let him have fun; there are many reasons that people participate in sports and it doesn't have to be for competition.  This is always a struggle for me as I am a very competitive person and when I deal with athletes who are involved for other reasons, it causes me to reflect on my practices and how to develop a program for someone who doesn't care (as much) about achieving their potential.

2)  This could be due to breathing patterns, when he last ate, core strength, among many other issues; not sure I can provide any real guidance on this one.

3)  I think Triathlon Canada is doing the right thing with races; there is a youth series and until an athlete is 16, they cannot take part in the adult races.  I would not enter an eight year old in a race with adults, regardless of they physical abilties.  With the training that your son is doing, he could probably finish the race but I would definitely stick with youth races for the time being.

Shane

It tough as a parent not to push your kids when you see potential.  I push my 11 year old daughter enough regarding schoolwork and piano, so I don't try not to push (just a lot of positive encouragement) in sports.

FWIW, while your son might be able to do an adult triathlon, it's probably too early.  My daughter is on a kid's triathlon team.  Her coach really doesn't want the pre-teen kids doing sprint triathlons or 5k runs.  She wants them to develop confidence and speed at shorter distances.  She has her teenagers (among the top in the country) focus mainly on sprint distance triathlons. 

Brian

The biggest thing for kids involved in Triathlon is keep it fun. The competativeness will either come or it won't, but you pushing isn't going to make him want to do it more. We have a kids section to our club which was formerly the North Atlanta Youth Triathlon Club, you can email our kids coordinator and see what they have on tap. [email protected]

1)  You cannot be competitive for your child, but I know how you feel.  I am very competitive but my son is a complete marshmellow.  I had to ask myself why I wanted him to "compete"was it for him or for me.  When I decided it was for me I had to tell myself to back off and let him be who he is, he will find his own passion in life in his own time.

2) I wouldn't put my child in a lake with a bunch of adults.  First you might hamper the adults as they might be overly worried about hurting him. Second he may be a good swimmer but he is still significantly smaller and at a much greater disavantage in the melee of and OWS.

X2.  Remember this axiom of parenting:  If you push your children to go north, they will eventually, despite what you do or say, go south.

I think there's 2 factors in the adult wanting their child to be competitive.  You have to look at what motivated the parent (as a youth) to become competitive; often this is related to their environment and situation, whether it be siblings or school or circumstance.  Usually it isn't the same for the offspring, so they won't have the same motivations as the parent had. 

 Then there's the fact that the child is around a parent that is competitive.  Quite often that will make the child non-competitive, since the child can't succeed against the parent and will give up.  Unless the parent is very careful in the early stages to allow the child some successes, and for the child to not see the parent as a contender, the parent can often act as the same sort of demotivator as an older sibling can.  Whether the child takes up a strongly competitive stance against tough competition like siblings, parents, or perhaps school/sports mates, is probably strongly influenced by their self-perception bound to self-confidence.

 I'm very conscious of these things and am trying to nurture my 11 yr old son's self confidence so that he becomes self-driven and not driven by my own wish to see him excel, but it's hard.  I think self-drive and strength of will (willpower) are the two key abilities that are going to be critical for (my) children to successfully navigate through sex, drugs, peer pressure, and aimlessness as they go from being children to adults.  And it starts when they're young.  I don't have answers yet, but I think I'm starting to ask the right questions.

As for the side stitches, it is likely a breathing issue, possibly compounded by core strength (as someone up there said). Help guide him to take deep, full, diaphragm-and-rib-swelling breaths. Also, rhythmic breathing helps substantially as well. Does he get the stitches in the pool? When he's running, have him focus on breathing in for two footfalls, out for three (or vice versa). He can change that up to match the breathing he needs - shorter in higher exertion, longer in lower exertion - but make sure it is always SOME sort of rhythm. Finally, relaxing the shoulders, neck, back, and chest will help. Once he gets into the groove of rhythmic deep breathing, he can go kinda zen with it and start to concentrate on relaxing his entire upper body.

I suffered from serious side stitches, and these helped tremendously. I've no medical training, though, so take it for what it is worth. I also independently (not consciously connected) built up my core strength, which could have played a role.

For the rest, let him be a kid. He'll have fantastic memories of his tris no matter what place he comes in, and if the competitiveness comes from within, he will explode with pride at his first major placing, rather than his first big placing be finally getting Dad off his back.

Pretty good advice above.  I also wouldn't worry about his lack of interest in competition.  The way I see it with my kids, you have the rest of your life to compete.  As you grow up you compete in EVERYTHING: for grades, for friends, for jobs, for dates!, for money, etc etc etc.  So my philosophy is let them feel that no-pressure fun for as long as they want.  It sounds like your son loves tri enough that I think the competition will come as a natural evolution as he continues the sport and gets older.  

 As for the stitches/cramping, I know that I had a MUCH more sensitive stomach as a kid and teen ager than I do now as an adult athlete.  I had to be sure not to eat or drink pretty much anything for a solid 2 hours before I exerted too much.  Maybe experiment a little with some easy-to-digest snacks at different times before he works out.  Sometimes I think it just takes finding out what works for each person individually.  Maybe also ask his pediatrician for some advice as well. 

My daughter did sprints that were short when she was 11. We did a relay last year and this year she'll do 2 sprints.

For her I wouldn't let her do a ows tri unless she had a wetsuit. Pool swims made me feel more comfortable. We pick sprint tris that have short swims and have her go in the beginner wave so she is in a smaller group. She is quite a fish and super comfortable in the water.

It is hard to explain but she was really into tris in '06 and I think I didn't well. This year she told me she stopped being interested as I said something like she was obsessed with triathlons. I don't recall that but obviously my response to her enthusiasm was not so good.

She enjoys triathlons and handles the competition aspect well. She trains when she wants and likes to do it with me. Now having a 13 year old want to train with me is great. She loves that other triathletes are supportive of her out on the course when they see 11 or 12 on her calf.

There is another kid in our tri team that is amazing and has gone to Youth Nationals and has great potential. His parents are divorced both do tris and his Dad buys him ever cool tri toy out there. I hope his enjoyment/participation in the sport is for the right reasons. 

As for as pushing him to be competitive .. don't

my ex's brother was a natural talent baseball player.. he could run, hit and pitch extremely well.. everyone kept pushing him to be more aggressive and such.. he was even being recruited for college and pro ball in high school..

then all of the sudden he just quit.. it wasn't fun anymore so he didn't want to do it anymore..

No kids and no opinions, but at the race I did this weekend, I saw a family running the race together - mom, dad, twin sons and daughter. At least I'm pretty sure the boys were with them b/c I though I saw them with the mom in the transition area setting up. (They numbered us alphabetically, so the family was all on the same rack). When I passed them in the run, the mom and the daughter (in matching running skirts) and the dad were running together. The 11/12 year old boys (who totally kicked my a$$, even on mountain bikes) were racing each other and were ahead of the rest of the fam. One of them yelled "I'm gaining on you" and the other one was like "oh no!" and took off. It was cute. I think that's a pretty good idea, actually. Do it as a family, and stay together as much as possible during the race.

Thanks for the tips... I started triathlons this year, my son (who will be 11 in Sept.) asked to sign up as well, and I was not sure if that was ok. When I checked the min. age of 14, I told him "nope, have to wait!" but I discovered the kids triathlon and agreed to sign up both him & my daughter (8) as the distance seems ok.

He is a really good runner (we do 5k together but I can't keep up with him any longer as he runs it under 21 minutes now!!). We'll see how the swim and bike go!!

One thing I meant to say earlier - he's swimming five times a week, plus a meet per week, plus running and (presumably) biking? Dude, that's WICKED competitive! Just because he's not driving at the top of his lactic threshold doesn't mean he doesn't have the drive for competition. He shows up, yes? He works, yes? He's having fun, yes? You remember that who tortoise/hare thing? Sounds like you have a kid who is way into this stuff, much more so that most kids in this country, and he's working toward good, solid goals. His drive may not stand out as much to you because 1) you don't see a mirror of your own drive yet; and 2) he's surrounded by other motivated, driven, competitive kids. Spend some time volunteering with Joe Schmoe kids, and I think you'll get a different perspective on your own son.

And you are to be highly commended for being aware of NOT becoming the overbearing parent. I think there is just a bit of skewed perspective here, nothing more. Kinda like getting an A- at Phillips Exeter or Harvard or somewhere equally as cliched - make sure you put him and his personality in a broad context, not just that of the uber-competitive kids he's with at the swim or tri club.