Why Invest in Dry Land Training?

The winter season is busy running from activity to activity and making time for all the other important stuff in life. Hockey budgets are tight and you feel that money spent on ice is more important. Well, consider these points before you make up your mind...

The Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L)- Long Term Athlete Development Model tells us that it is vital for young athletes to move their bodies in a variety of ways to be confident and successful in sport. This is true whether it is working towards a specific sport or simply to build self-esteem with being active for the rest of their lives.

(Guiding our kids to be healthy and active now is an incomparable investment for their future for the best health and wellness we can give them as they enter into adulthood.)

Moving our bodies in various ways is called physical literacy. CS4L defines this as, "the development of fundamental movement skills and fundamental sport skills that permit a child to move confidently and with control, in a wide range of physical activity, rhythmic (dance) and sport situations. Physical literacy also includes the ability to “read” what is going on around them in an activity setting and react appropriately to those events.
For full physical literacy children should learn fundamental movement skills and fundamental sport skills in each of the four basic environments:
On the ground – as the basis for most games, sports, dance and physical activities
In the water – as the basis for all aquatic activities
On snow and ice – as the basis for all winter sliding activities

In the air – basis for gymnastics, diving and other aerial activities

This is what the CS4L Model says about specialization in sport, "sports are classified as either early or late specialization. Early specialization sports such as gymnastics, diving, and figure skating require children to learn complex skills before physical maturation since it is extremely difficult to fully master these skills if they are introduced after puberty. Late specialization sports such as soccer, hockey, basketball, and baseball can still be mastered for elite levels of competition if specialization begins between the ages of 12 and 15, but it is essential that these athletes have already acquired physical literacy prior to adolescence.

Here are two stages of the CS4L- Long Term Athlete Development Model:

CS4L: Learning to Train Stage

The ages for this stage are 8-11 years in girls and 9-12 years in boys, to the onset of the growth spurt (usually around the ages of 11-12)

Children are ready to begin training according to more formalized methods, but the emphasis
should still be on general sports skills suitable to a number of activities. While it is often tempting to over-develop “talent” at this age through excessive single sport training and competition (as well as early positioning in team sports), this can be very detrimental to later stages of development if the child is playing a late specialization sport: it promotes one-sided physical, technical, and tactical development

CS4L: Training to Train
The ages that define this stage for boys and girls are based on the onset and end of the growth spurt, which are generally ages 11 to 15 for girls and 12 to 16 for boys.

At this stage, they are ready to consolidate their basic sport-specific skills and tactics. These youths may play to win and do their best, but they still need to focus more time on skill training and physical development over competition. This approach is critical to the development of top performers and maintaining activity in the long-term, so parents should check with their national organization to ensure their child’s program has the correct training-to-competition ratio.

The benefits of dry land training are evident, even if only done once in a while. The kids will have experienced physical literacy, even in small amounts, and can translate these movements to the school playground, the basement, the driveway, or around the rink.

If team budgets are still tight consider asking parents to pay as little as $20 for 4 sessions, over 2 months and experience the benefits!

Work Hard!

Play Hard!