For many athletes and coaches there is no off-season.
Dedicated coaches and conscientious parents ensure that kids are active all year – “driving for excellence.”
Extreme sports participation will lead to stardom.
Right?
Wrong.
The long term athlete development model, known as LTAD, talks about the 10 year plan and the need to do a variety of physical activities and sports to achieve one’s potential.
At the core of the LTAD is a training variable called “Periodization.” You may know that a Canadian sport scientist, Tudor Bomba, is known as the father of periodization.
The idea is that changing the total time spent in exercise, the intensity, and the type, leads to better performances at provincial, national or international competitions.
If you listen to running guru’s there is disagreement about how much to rest before a race.
The same controversy applies to the transition from the peak competitive ringette season to the off-season.
Mentally, it is good for athletes to get away from the stress of sport specific competition. Take a break from their season-long team mates. Do something different. Teams get stale when they face the same old social stresses day after day.
The message to coaches: tell your athletes to enjoy and benefit from the ringette off-season.
Great, now what?
- Take a week or two off after the big championships – stretch, do yoga and breathe easy;
- Play a similar sport to Ringette – try soccer, basketball, or dance – develop agility, quickness, balance and coordination;
- Take a summer ringette camp – consider a MY Ringette Camp – we offer socially and physically active camps that build the best foundations for ringette; ringette athletes need a variety of coaches to fully develop;
- Try summer ringette 4 v 4 or shinney – no refs, no winners and losers, no stress, just play and enjoy – you will be amazed how players can develop by playing with good players in a relaxed yet competitive “shinney” environment;
- If you are 14 or older, join a fitness club and learn about fitness technique and program ideas for ringette;
- Prior to tryouts, get some ice time, get active and consider fitness interval training to ensure your cardio does not fail you at tryouts.
