By Jonny Fraser, Owner of Science in Tennis, Strength and Conditioning Coach Claudio Pistolesi Enterprise,
CTPS, MTPS

Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD) refers to the athletic progression of young people improving health and wellbeing, physical performance, reducing the risk of injury and enhancing psychosocial development. Without doubt it is very multifactorial, non-linear process and requires coaches and sport scientists to be adaptable and understand how children’s anatomy and physiology varies (Lloyd et al., 2016). Recent evidence has been published with updated position statements from various organisations and highly respected practitioners about LTAD (Faigenbaum, 2017, Ford et al., 2013, Lloyd et al., 2016). The aim of this blog is to consider the challenges many coaches face within tennis centres such as coaching large groups of young people across various chronological, biological and training ages and how can they practically apply this evidence every day and longer term in their coaching programs.

Consideration one: motor skills and strength are the foundations.

Figure 1 U16 Mesocycle for Training to Compete Phase U16 Group   High, Medium, Low

The development of technical skills in tennis requires the ability to produce and reduce force through a synchronised neuromuscular coordinated action. Without having this base of solid motor skills and strength an increased risk of injury may occur alongside a negative association with tennis.

The implementation of a strength and conditioning program or ‘multiskills (SCM)’ programs can provide a long-term solution to tennis centre programs.  Sessions can vary based on ages from 30 minutes before or after the tennis session for younger players combining fundamental movement skills within a game based approach, to more structured and individualised sessions, multiple times a week as part of tennis squads or stand-alone sessions. These sessions will have greater emphasis on tennis specific training as players get older  (Figure 1). Alternative activities within a structured program also provides diversity, continually helping develop fundamental movements skills and may reduce the risk of injury and provide ‘time out’ from the challenges associated with larger volumes of tennis training.  Examples may include yoga sessions, rock climbing and/or team based games within the program (Figure 1).

For this to be effective it requires long term planning from a range of parties including the tennis manager, coaches and sport science support team involved. Coaches must also have a philosophy or ‘vision’ that can be communicated to the parents and players. It is essential that parents of players are educated about the benefits of SCM. This can be done via the use of traditional methods such as information or parents evening, or using screencasts and webinars as alternative options (Figure 2).

Within everyday setting the use of warm ups provide a very effective time to deliver SCM. This may involve 10-15 minutes of fundamental motor skills such as hopping, jumping and landing to working on tennis specific movements. The dynamic warm up also allows an effective time to develop lunging, pushing, pulling, bracing, rotating or hinging exercises, the corner stone of strength training. Effective progressions and regressions can be used to challenge players of all ages. Furthermore, providing players with ‘home workout’ or ‘on the road’ training cards can also provide a simple, yet effective method to integrate SCM at an everyday level across a large number of players. This can be set as ‘homework’ or as the ‘coaches special’ (see consideration four ‘embrace the teaching’ in the following part of this blog).

Figure 2: Screencasts can be an alternative option to provide parents with information.

Consideration two: Tennis Centres can be used as hubs to promote lifelong health and wellbeing.

The NSCA Position Statement (2016) below explains health and wellbeing is one of the ten pillars of LTAD:
“Health and Wellbeing of the Child Should Always Be the Central Tenet of Long Term Athletic Development Programs”
Tennis centres and coaches have the important role to understand the benefits that tennis has on the health and wellbeing, the holistic elements that surround that such as cognitive, affective and lifestyle elements by providing both an environment for psychological and physical development.

Process orientated goal setting with players can be one way in which to do this both short, medium and long term (Lloyd et al., 2016). For example, at the start of the term, players who attend regular coaching but play a lower volume of tennis can set simple process goals which can be written down and reviewed at the end of each term. This may be just one technical, tactical, mental or physical goal. Where, more detailed goals may be set with players who have higher training volumes focusing on developing several areas, alongside setting outcome goals.

The language in which coach’s use is also very important. The aim is to use language which creates an environment to promote a growth mindset and embrace challenging scenarios. This may be praising the strategy that students have come up after you have observed a technical area to develop or to reinforce the positive of being unable to perform a task, for example:“I like the way you worked out how to get more top spin on the ball from that position, what did you do?”
or “Great work keeping your shoulders back during that deadlift, how did you work out to do that?”or
“I really like how you maintained focus throughout today’s session and really worked on the theme of our session”or
“You can’t quite manage that power clean technique yet, let’s just work on that start position and it will come.” Within longer term planning setting out sessions where the players are the ‘teachers and coaches” can be one way to develop the feelings of autonomy to facilitate learning. This could be a week where players are given a challenge such as setting up an injury reduction circuit or planning the week’s lessons linked to the current theme in the mesocycle. This will help create a motivational climate which players can embrace.

Longer term planning may involve the organisation of sport science workshops such as nutritional and mental skills workshops being incorporated within programs to support player’s development. This can either be done through workshop or online mediums and may be scheduled monthly (Figure 1). Workshops should first promote the health and wellbeing of young people such as how the mental skills or nutritional information will help players throughout their lives (such as what is healthy eating) to more performance related strategies for players competing regularly in the sport. Some workshops can be open to all players and parents, where others may be more tailor made to different target groups. As mentioned above this requires well-structured macro and mesocycles with tennis managers, coaches and the sport science team supporting the tennis centre.

Part one of this blog was to consider the evidence of LTAD and how this can be implemented within tennis centres with focus on motor skill and strength development, alongside the vision that tennis centres can be used as hubs to promote health and wellbeing to young people every day and longer term level. Part two will focus on other considerations including “embracing the teaching “and “monitoring/assessment tools for young players.
 
 
References
Faigenbaum, A.(2017). Resistance exercise of youth: survival of the strongest. Paediatric Exercise Science, 29(1), 14-18.
Ford, P., De Ste Croxi, M., Lloyd, R., Meyers, R., Moosavi, M., Oliver, J., Till, C. and Williams, C. (2016).The long term athlete development model: physiological evidence and application. Journal of Sport Sciences, 29(4), 389-402.
Lloyd, R., Cronin, J., Faigenbaum, A.D., Haff, G., Gregory, H., Kraemer, W.J., Micheli, J.l., …Oliver, J. (2016). National Strength and Conditioning Association position statement on long-term athletic development. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 30 (6), 1491-1509.

Below you will see the abstract from the full report and also some of the major principles outlined in the report. Please let us know if you agree with the points made and if you have any thoughts specifically related to this topic.

“The health, fitness and other advantages of youth sports participation are well recognised. However, there are considerable challenges for all stakeholders involved—especially youth athletes—in trying to maintain inclusive, sustainable and enjoyable participation and success for all levels of individual athletic achievement. In an effort to advance a more unified, evidence-informed approach to youth athlete development, the IOC critically evaluated the current state of science and practice of youth athlete development and presented recommendations for developing healthy, resilient and capable youth athletes, while providing opportunities for all levels of sport participation and success. The IOC further challenges all youth and other sport governing bodies to embrace and implement these recommended guiding principles.”

General principles

·         Youth athlete development is contingent on an individually unique and constantly changing base of normal physical growth, biological maturation and behavioral development, and therefore it must be considered individually.

·         Allow for a wider definition of sport success, as indicated by healthy, meaningful and varied life-forming experiences, which is centered on the whole athlete and development of the person.

·         Adopt viable, evidence-informed and inclusive frameworks of athlete development that are flexible (using ‘best practice’ for each developmental level), while embracing individual athlete progression and appropriately responding to the athlete's perspective and needs.

·         Commit to the psychological development of resilient and adaptable athletes characterised by mental capability and robustness, high self-regulation and enduring personal excellence qualities—that is, upholding the ideals of Olympism.

·         Encourage children to participate in a variety of different unstructured (ie, deliberate play) and structured age-appropriate sport-related activities and settings, to develop a wide range of athletic and social skills and attributes that will encourage sustained sport participation and enjoyment.

·         Make a commitment to promote safety, health and respect for the rules, other athletes and the game, while adopting specific policies and procedures to avert harassment and abuse.

·         Across the entire athletic development pathway, assist each athlete in effectively managing sport-life balance to be better prepared for life after sport.

Coaching

·         Provide a challenging and enjoyable sporting climate that focuses on each athlete's personal assets and mastery orientation.

·         Coaching practices should be informed by research-based developmental guidelines that promote flexibility and innovation, while accommodating individual skills and athletic development trajectories.

·         Coaching should be context-specific (eg, participation vs performance focus) and aligned with individual athletic readiness.

·         Coaching education programmes should assist coaches in establishing meaningful relationships that enrich the personal assets of their athletes and foster their own intrapersonal and interpersonal skills (eg, reflection and communicative skills).

·         Coaches should seek interdisciplinary support and guidance in managing a youth athlete's athletic development, fitness and health, and mental and social challenges and needs.

Conditioning, testing and injury prevention

·         Encourage regular participation in varied strength and conditioning programmes that are suitably age based, quality technique driven, safe and enjoyable.

·         Design youth athlete development programmes comprising diversity and variability of athletic exposure, to mitigate the risk of overuse injuries and other health problems prompted by inappropriate training and competition that exceed safe load thresholds, while providing sufficient and regular rest and recovery, to encourage positive adaptations and progressive athletic development.

·         Maintain an ethical approach to, and effectively translate, laboratory and field testing to optimise youth sports participation and performance.

·         Develop, implement and continue to evaluate knowledge translation strategies and resources that will enhance injury prevention and promote health in youth athletes, such as the Get Set—Train Smarter injury prevention app developed by the IOC for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games

·         Promote evidence-informed injury prevention programmes, protective equipment legislation and rule changes that are context specific, adaptable and consistent with maintaining the integrity of the sport and participation goals.

·         Strictly adhere to a “No youth athlete should compete—or train or practice in a way that loads the affected injured area, interfering with or delaying recovery—when in pain or not completely rehabilitated and recovered from an illness or injury”.

Nutrition, hydration and exertional heat illness

·         Dietary education for young athletes should emphasize optimal eating patterns to support health, normal growth and sport participation demands, with emphasis on a balanced intake of nutrient-dense carbohydrates, high-quality protein and sufficient dietary calcium, vitamin D and iron.

·         Youth athletes and their support personnel should be educated on the risks associated with dietary supplements and energy drinks.

·         Emphasise and mitigate the risks of sport-related EDs, DE and RED-S, by raising awareness through education, improving screening and treatment, and implementing applicable rule modifications.

·         Education and training on exertional heat illness risks and effective prevention and risk-reduction strategies (including practical preparation, offsetting measures and management and immediate response protocols) and policies should be regularly provided and emphasized to youth athletes, coaches and staff, and others overseeing or assisting with children and adolescents participating in outdoor sports.

·         A written emergency action plan and effective response protocols should be in place and practiced ahead of time with trained personnel, as well as readily available facilities on-site for managing and treating all forms of exertional heat illness and other medical emergencies, for all youth athletic activities, especially in the heat.

Sport and sports medicine governing bodies and organisations

·         Sport and sports medicine governing bodies and organisations should protect the health and well-being of youth in sport by providing ongoing education, and fully implementing and monitoring practical, and effective, athlete safeguarding policies and procedures in all youth athlete programming

·         Youth athlete selection and talent development philosophies should be based on the physiological, perceptual, cognitive and tactical demands of the sport, and a long-term, individually variable developmental context.

·         Diversification and variability of athletic exposure between and within sports should be encouraged and promoted.

·         Competition formats and settings should be age and skill appropriate, while allowing for sufficient rest and recovery time between multiple same-day contests.

Read the full report - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/13/843.full

Improving youth physical fitness is a major objective of city, state, regional and federal government agencies, multiple organizations and trade associations, non-profits and private companies. Below is an article provided by SHAPE America (The Society of Health and Physical Education – formerly AAHPERD). The goal of this article was to provide physical educators and health professionals with new and relevant information about physical fitness. This is a very good resource that covers in greater detail the following 10 Concepts of Youth Physical Fitness.


1)      Fitness education is an important part of the total physical education program

2)      Health-related physical fitness assessment is an important part of physical education and fitness education programs.

3)      The relationship between health-related fitness and health  varies by age, but it exists for people of all ages.

4)      Although the strength of health relation­ships varies for different parts of fitness among youth, it is important to teach about all health-related fitness components in fitness education programs.

5)      Functional fitness is an important consideration in fitness education.

6)      Health-related fitness test items for use in fitness education may differ from those used in research or for national surveillance.

7)      Cardiorespiratory endurance is the recommended term for the fitness component frequently described as cardiovascular fit­ness, aerobic fitness, cardiorespiratory fitness, or cardiovascular endurance.

8)      An understanding of the term aerobic capacity is important for fitness education

9)      Fitness components classified as health-related are also criti­cal to performance in a variety of sports and other activities.

10)   Power, formerly considered a skill-related fitness component, can also be considered a health-related component of physical fit­ness.

 
Information from : Corbin et al. Youth Physical Fitness. JOPERD, 85 (2), 24-31, 2014

Download the 10 Aspects of Youth Physical Fitness PDF HERE

 A few months ago  we posted a short blog titled Tennis The Best Sport For Education and Health In The Young Athlete (http://www.itpa-tennis.org/1/post/2013/03/tennis-the-best-sport-for-education-and-health-in-the-young-athlete.html) highlighting some of the findings of the report from a study commissioned by USTA. Here are a few more interesting facts from the report. In a very interesting report funded by USTA Serves (The National Charitable Foundation of the United States Tennis Association) were data from over 54, 000 youth in the United States between 8th and 10th grade were analyzed with 4,278 of these youth being tennis participants. The purpose of the study was to analyze various academic, social and behavioral outcomes (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013).   Achieving an “A” in School The data presented in 2013 seems to show a shifting on the typical tennis youth participant from a history of being an “elite” or “country club” sport to being similar to other non-contact sports in the US demographic. The suggestions in the report that this shift is likely due to greater opportunities and accessibility to tennis over the past two decades (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013).

The percentage of tennis participants in this study who reported an average grade  of “A” was almost twice as high as non-sports  participants. 48% of tennis players throughout the US reported an average grade of “A” as compared with only 25% for non-sport participants. (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013). 48% of students in 8-10th grade reporting an “A” is a very interesting statistic. Interested to hear from the iTPA membership what you feel this statistic is saying. Is it how smart tennis players are? Is it a sign of grade inflation in the school system? Is it due to parental/family expectations on academics over individuals that do not play sports?  

Suspensions In School
17% of tennis participants reported being suspended during the past school year, which was considerably lower in contact sports (27%), non-contact sports (23%), non-athletes (27%) (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013).    “Because youth athletic participation in the U.S. is generally greater among more affluent and predominantly White populations, the discovery of positive outcomes attributed to sport participation are often later found to be owed to socioeconomic differences or racial/ethnic differences (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013).” What are initially considered the “benefits” of youth sports participation are often more fundamentally owed to larger social forces that flow through sports rather than the primary influence of sports (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013). However, this study found that positive relationships between tennis participation and academic performance were evident across family socioeconomic levels (low, middle and high) (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013).  Meaning that at every socioeconomic level, tennis participation was most highly correlated with higher academic performance than other sports participation and non-sport participation (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013). This paragraph is one of the most impactful findings from the entire report. It clearly shows that tennis participation is linked to greater academic performance even when socioeconomic levels are accounted for.

An interesting finding for parents: High School tennis athletes had lower rates of consumption for alcohol, marijuana and cigarette smoking compared to other athletes and especially to non-athletes (Sabo, Veliz et al. 2013). Interesting tip for parents: One way to reduce your child’s potential for performing illegal activities and using illicit substances is to have them participate in tennis.  

Here is the link for the executive summary of The USTA Serves Special Report, More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health  http://assets.usta.com/assets/822/15/More_than_a_Sport_Executive_Summary-v7-web.pdf 

Here is the link for the full report of the survey data of The USTA Serves Special Report, More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health  http://assets.usta.com/assets/822/15/More_than_a_Sport_Full_Report_2.27.13.pdf

Watch the below video by iTPA Certification Commissioner Dr. Don Chu on Myths Surrounding Young Athletes doing Plyometric Training.  Current special on iTPA Plyometrics for Tennis DVD course: Through Sunday, August 4th, 2013, use coupon code Plyo and receive 20% off!

 “A growing epidemic of preventable sports injuries is dismantling the hopes and dreams of young athletes at an early age.” – Dr. James Andrews and the STOP (Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention) Sport Injuries Organization.

As April is National Youth Sport Safety Month, it is important to evaluate the quality and quantity of training and competition that your young athletes are exposed to. Tennis is a sport that typically has a very high volume at a young age, and although tennis is an early initiation sport, it should be a late specialization sport. This means that to be highly successful (i.e. earning a college scholarship or dreams of playing professionally) in the sport an individual needs to be exposed to the sport at a young age – typically before 10 years of age. However, it is a late specialization sport. This means that it is important to learn the sport at a young age, but also participate in multiple sports to at least till 12-14 years of age. Over the past decade a number of studies in different sports have consistently shown that athletes that specialize in one sport from a very young age have a greater number of injuries. Some of the most recent research was presented at the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) meeting in San Diego in April. The study is titled “Risks of Specialized Training and Growth in Young Athletes: A Prospective Clinical Cohort Study” and was led by Dr. Neeru Jayanthi (iTPA Certification Commission member) http://www.itpa-tennis.org/certification-commission.html.

Below are some of the most relevant notes from the study :

• Between 2010 and 20103, Neeru Jayanthi (iTPA Certification Commission member) and colleagues at Loyola and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago enrolled 1,206 athletes ages 8 to 18 between who had come in for sports physicals or treatment for injuries.

• There were 859 total injuries, including 564 overuse injuries, in cases in which the clinical diagnosis was recorded. The overuse injuries included 139 serious injuries such as stress fractures in the back or limbs, elbow ligament injuries and osteochondral injuries (injuries to cartilage and underlying bone). Such serious injuries can force young athletes to the sidelines for one to six months or longer.

• Young athletes who spent more hours per week than their age playing one sport – such as a 12-year-old who plays tennis 13 or more hours a week – were 70 percent more likely to experience serious overuse injuries than other injuries.

• The study confirmed preliminary findings - that specializing in a single sport increases the risk of overall injury, even when controlling for an athlete’s age and hours per week of sports activity.

• Young athletes were more likely to be injured if they spent more than twice as much time playing organized sports as they spent in unorganized free play — for example, playing 11 hours of organized soccer each week, and only 5 hours of free play such as pick-up games.

• Athletes who suffered serious injuries spent an average of 21 hours per week in total physical activity (organized sports, gym and unorganized free play), including 13 hours in organized sports. By comparison, athletes who were not injured, participated in less activity – 17.6 hours per week in total physical activity, including only 9.4 hours in organized sports.

• Injured athletes scored 3.3 on researchers’ six-point sports-specialization scale. Uninjured athletes scored 2.7 on the specialization scale. (On the sports specialization scale, an athlete is given one point for each of the following:

1. Trains more than 75 percent of the time in one sport;
2. Trains to improve skill or misses time with friends;
3. Has quit other sports to focus on one sport;
4. Considers one sport more important than other sports;
5. Regularly travels out of state;
6. Trains more than eight months a year or competes more than six months per year.

Dr. Jayanthi offers the following tips to reduce the risk of injuries in young adults:

• Do not spend more than twice as much time playing organized sports as you spend in gym and unorganized play.
• Do not specialize in one sport before late adolescence.
• Do not play sports competitively year round. Take a break from competition for one-to-three months each year (not necessarily consecutively).
• Take at least one day off per week from training in sports

The iTPA Parent’s Guide To Basic Injury Prevention

The iTPA has created a Parent’s Guide To Basic Injury Prevention Course which is specifically designed to help the tennis parent to appropriately work with their junior players to help reduce the chance of injury through appropriate prevention exercises. The course comes with over one hour of practical video instruction showing detailed injury prevention exercises and tutorials, in addition to an 85-page color Workbook. Please see the webpage for a detailed description and sample videos of the course http://www.itpa-tennis.org/parentcourse.html

Perspective below from Dr. Ellen Rome, Head of the Center for Adolescent Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic and a Member of the iTPA Certification Commission (www.itpa-tennis.org/certification-commission) and a member of the USTA Sports Science Committee.

• How does the brain develop when an athlete is very young?
• Adolescent age and stage is important.
  
• Understanding the differences between the different stages is important for the Tennis Performance Trainer or Certified Tennis Performance Specialist.

AUDIO clip below:

The USTA Serves Special Report, More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health

According to USTA Serves (the national charitable foundation of the USTA), this is the first nationwide study to analyze the educational, behavioral and health benefits for adolescents who participate in tennis. Below you will find the major take-homes from the research; all these points are beneficial to understand to help promote the benefits of tennis – especially to parents.

1) Tennis is a unique catalyst for educational advantage.

Compared to non-athletes as well as the top nine high school sports, tennis athletes devote more time each to homework, report higher grades and are more likely to attend a four-year university.
Remember that this highlights a correlation – not a causation. This means that just playing tennis alone will not cause better grades or going to a four year college. Socio-economic status, parental influence, geography, aptitude among many other factors contribute.

2) Tennis players reported significantly lower rates of suspension from school and other disciplinary measures than participants in other sports as well as non-athletes.

3) Educational advantages among tennis players occurred across and within all family and socioeconomic levels.

“Half of U.S. adolescent tennis participants come from families in which parents have less than high  school education, a high school degree only or some college—indicators of middle and lower socioeconomic levels. The perception that tennis is a “country club” sport benefiting only one segment of the population is at most only 50% correct. The educational and social advantages associated with tennis participation were strongest among adolescents from higher-socioeconomic-level families, but still present in families with middle and lower socioeconomic levels and often higher when compared to adolescents who participate in other high school sports or do not participate in sports at all.

4) Adolescent tennis players are well-rounded.

The research found that tennis players performed more extracurricular activities and volunteered in their communities at higher rates than other high school athletes and students who did not participate in sports.

5) Tennis contributes to improved adolescent health.

Participation in tennis was associated with lower rates of:

-    Cigarette smoking
-    Binge drinking
-    Marijuana use
-    Being overweight
-    Being obese

6) Adolescent participation:

•    Whites: 77%
•    Blacks: 9%
•    Hispanics: 14%
•    Male: 47%
•    Female: 53%
•    Live in the South: 33%
•    Live in the West: 26%
•    Live in the North Central States: 20%
•    Live in the Northeast: 20%

Here is the link for the executive summary of The USTA Serves Special Report, More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
http://assets.usta.com/assets/822/15/More_than_a_Sport_Executive_Summary-v7-web.pdf

Here is the link for the full report of the survey data of The USTA Serves Special Report, More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
http://assets.usta.com/assets/822/15/More_than_a_Sport_Full_Report_2.27.13.pdf

iTPA's Executive Director Dr. Mark Kovacs was interviewed on today's ParentingAces radio show and discussed fitness and injury prevention for the junior tennis player. You can listen to the hour-long recorded version at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ur10s/2012/11/19/parenting-aces

Thanks ParentingAces for the opportunity, and the great discussion on fitness for the junior tennis player. If anyone has any more questions feel free to post them!