For many athletes and coaches there is no off-season.<\/p>\n
Dedicated coaches and conscientious parents ensure that kids are active all year \u2013 \u201cdriving for excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Extreme sports participation will lead to stardom.<\/p>\n
Right?<\/p>\n
Wrong.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n
At the core of the LTAD is a training variable called \u201cPeriodization.\u201d \u00a0You may know that a Canadian sport scientist, Tudor Bomba<\/a>, is known as the father of periodization.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n If you listen to running guru\u2019s there is disagreement about how much to rest before a race.<\/p>\n The same controversy applies to the transition from the peak competitive ringette season to the off-season.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The message to coaches: tell your athletes to enjoy and benefit from the ringette off-season.<\/p>\n Great, now what?<\/p>\n For many athletes and coaches there is no off-season. Dedicated coaches and conscientious parents ensure that kids are active all year \u2013 \u201cdriving for excellence.\u201d Extreme sports participation will lead to stardom. Right? Wrong. The long term athlete development model, … Continue reading \n