Racing the Gateway to Sprint Triathlon
USAT has established age-appropriate distance for youth athletes entering the sport of triathlon. The 11-to-15-year-olds compete in the 200 meter swim, a 10k bike and a 2k run, while the youth elite ages 13-15 compete in the 375 meter swim, a 10k bike and a 2.5k run. These distances offer a transition into sprint races as the athlete matures. Based on the race director, these sprint distances will range from a 200 to 500 meter swim, with the bike 15 to 20k and the run three to five kilometers. These distances are for fully developed adults and juniors age 16-19. I would not recommend sprint distances for anyone under 13. Many race directors will not allow anyone under 16 to compete. USAT expanded this youth age group from 11-14 years old to 11-15. This strategy has eliminated athletes falling into a year limbo between 15 and 16 which had no competitive events for them to compete. This change in policy allows for a more effective transition into sprint competition. The younger athletes (7-10 years old) have a separate category of races that allows them to compete with athlete their own age and offers a transition into the 11-15 category.
Bringing Youth to the Sprint Competition Level
From a developmental standpoint, the young athlete should not compete in the sprint events unless they have had at least one year, or better yet two years, of youth distance training and competition experience. The physical requirements necessary to jump from the 11-15 age race categories of about 30-40 minutes duration to the adult sprint race of approximately 75-100 race minutes can be a big jump. It is not like football or basketball where you have quarters, half time and timeouts. The physical demand here is continuous.
Athletes who race in age-specific distance competitions naturally mature as they gain experience. This rate of adaptation is highly individual and this is where coaching plays a key role even more so than it does with adult athletes. Another factor is the amount of time an athlete has to train before they consider taking the next step. The minimum time you should devote is three days a week, but five is ideal.
The Maturation Process-Early vs. Late Developers
We have mentioned the individuality of the development process. This is mainly due to the maturation process. Every parent knows there are "early bloomers" and "late bloomers." Trying to identify this phenomenon is guesswork at best, but it plays an important role in bringing athletes along the competitive continuum.
One of the best ways for a coach is through observation. This
means that the coach has observed the athlete over a few seasons. A 12-year-old
might not be able to compete against kids their own age because they are facing
athletes that are early developers. They can realistically be overpowered by
this group of maturation-advanced athletes. However, they come back and are
able to compete the next year. I experienced this first-hand. I had a
12-year-old who never was able to finish above seventh the prior year but was
unbeatable the next year. It was amazing to watch, but it was due to coach's
observation and the athlete's ability to stick with it that proved to be his
success.
Another observation point is muscular development. Some athletes are more "muscled" than others at a given age, be it youth or adults. They look older even if they are the same age. Beyond the muscularity, there is an endurance factor. If an athlete is the same age as the others but has a low maturity level she simply does not posses the speed or power that goes with the endurance. They struggle at the finish.
Another factor is training. I have a 13-year-old daughter who has been involved in youth triathlons since she was 10. She lost to a competitor who was more experienced two years ago. That competitor has not come within two minutes of my daughter's time in the past year or this year. In my opinion, the difference is that my daughter's racing experience caught up with her. More importantly, training experience has enhanced my daughter's maturation process. She is a more mature-looking 13-year-old than the other girl. While I have addressed this unique situation I am not as concerned with my daughter's results as much as I am with improvement. This can be applied to any triathlete. I can watch her over the years to monitor her improvement. We are on the right track if it is steadily improving.
She will be ready to reap the fast gains that come with this when the maturation process takes hold. Place does not matter nearly as much if we improve in performance.
Another issue to consider with maturation is that it is not flat line or straight up. You have growth spurts, plateaus, slight down turns and more spurts. It all happens at different rates, times and frequencies. This process is different for males and females. Athletes are trying to understand what is going on with their bodies. They are not mature enough psychologically to understand all of the physiological things that are going on with their bodies. Coaches should talk their athletes through this and really listen to what they say. Athletes are motivated to train some days but not others. This goes beyond periodization models. The coach should decide whether or not to push it or to talk about what is going on.
The Psychological Aspect of Maturation
There is a psychological aspect that goes along with early and late blooming beyond the physical process of maturing. Results vs. performance take center stage here. Athletes who are "king/queen of the hill" at 13 may find themselves moving down the podium at 14 when late-maturing athletes find themselves on the upswing. The psychological aspect of this is an important issue that must be considered by the coach because they play a key role.
Coaches can observe development's big picture. Parents are much more focused on the here and now, results over performance. This also becomes a big psychological issue with the athlete. I talk to the kids about their performance. They may not have won like last time, but they improved if they were a minute or two faster than last year. I talk to athletes about the different rates of maturation so they should not get too caught up in comparing themselves with the others. I also talk to the parent about this.
Kids, who want to win so badly and have a history of only focusing on that, tend to get discouraged when they do not win and may fall away from the sport. What will happen to kids who hate to lose if they do not win? They will try to figure out what they did that lost them the race and see what they can do to improve themselves. Elite athletes seem to have a common theme; they hate to lose more than they want to win. This big psychological issue is from the athlete's perspective. Do I hate to lose or do I just want to win?
Youth Triathlon Club Training and the Social Aspects
Most people talk about triathlon as being an individual sport.
Technically it is, but if you look at the ITU approach, there is a team concept.
Kids like to be involved with other kids doing the same thing. One of the
things that USAT found out at the sensing sessions with kids at the youth
nationals last year is that our kids are somewhat unique when they are around
their classmates. They do not necessarily feel isolated, but they feel different
in their school settings. The youth club offers camaraderie not found at school
and they do not get that "outsider" feeling. Beyond the social aspect, clubs
provide kids with structured training opportunities. This really helps their
motivation. There are days when the athlete does not feel like training, so
having a group commitment really helps during the rough days. This works well
for both young male and female athletes. However, the men's group setting
must be somewhat restrained because it is simply their nature to turn
everything into a race. They should be constantly reminded that it is a
training session and not a race. Improvement can be made in individual
training sessions, but a group setting works the best with young athletes
who want to maximize training.
The club is also an excellent outlet for the parents. If a parent has little or no background in triathlon, they can learn through the club's training sessions that more is not necessarily better. I tell parents, "More is not better. Better is better." I had one situation with a 13-year-old girl running a marathon. I had to explain to her why this was not a good idea from the standpoint of potential injuries or overuse. We even had a 10-year-old girl here in Hawaii run a marathon barefoot! The mother told me that the girl's pediatrician said running barefoot was fine as long as she did her own pace. So as you can see, the club setting is a great environment for parents to become better educated about smart training and the risks of overtraining a youth.
We have workouts in our club where the athletes train in the water and away from their parents view. The club administrator talks to the parents during this time about certain aspects of training and what we want to accomplish. Parents want to help but they do not know how. The parents with marathon or triathlon backgrounds are surprisingly the most difficult to deal with. They have a tendency to want to advance their son or daughter faster then normal. This push is even harder if they have a child who is maturing quickly.
Clubs for young triathletes offer unique advantages. They provide a sense of camaraderie, training motivation and parental education. I cannot think of anything more beneficial for young athletes!
For More Information Please contact Boris!
Train Well!
Boris G. Robinson
Triathlete / T3 Coach