S226 Sports Administration Understanding Test 2-Assignment Athlete Development plan UT2 Question:

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1 S226 Sports Administration Understanding Test 2-Assignment Athlete Development plan UT2 Question: Singapore athletes have done relatively well to bring pride and glory to Singapore in the last few years. The medal tally in South East Asian (SEA) Games has been improving since So are our local athlete s performance at recent Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Olympics Games. There are also evident that our young budding athletes are also producing result at the recent Asian Youth Games in 2009 and the Youth Olympics Games in The above result has demonstrated the importance of putting in place a robust Athletes Development Plan (ADP). This is also emphasised by Singapore Sports Council (SSC) to all NSAs when SSC introduced the requirement for NSAs to submit their Multi-year sports plan. You are required to choice a NSA of your choice, review their current ADP and recommend improvements. If the NSA of your choice has no existing ADP, you are to develop and recommend an ADP to the NSA. The scope of your project should cover the problem packages from P6 to P10 which include International Ranking, Athlete Pathway Development (covering all 6 stages from Active Start to Train to Win), Athletes support schemes and Coach & volunteer management.

2 The chosen NSA is Singapore Ice Skating Association (SISA). After much research, SISA does not have any Athlete Developmental Plan (ADP), therefore, I m using Canada Ice Skating association to infer and apply to Singapore s. There are different types of ice skating and I ve chosen speed skating. In problem 7 of Sports Administration we learnt that Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is now seen necessary for every NSA in Singapore because it s a philosophy to help athletes to reach sports excellence, helps to change culture in sports for better, provides framework for accountability, aligning Games and programs, it s a framework for full sport system alignment and integration designed on empirical/practical coaching experiences and on scientific principles. LTAD not only consist of models, but also the 10 key factors influencing LTAD and the focus on early and late specialization. Before implementing LTAD to sports, we need to know the consequences so as to mitigate and avoid it. Some major consequences of LTAD can be lead athletes of having bad habits developed from over-competition focused on winning, children not having fun as they play adult-based programs, there is no talent identification (TID) system and lastly, athletes are peaking too young. LTAD framework should be athlete centered and built upon principals of human growth and development. It stresses the need for an individualized approach to develop young skaters, which we ve learnt in problem 7, the model is being guided by biological maturation and depending on different sports, and they have different ages to start as well. Like Gymnastics, its considered as an early sport due to athletes have to start as young as 3 years old as for ice skating, its late as they start only at 6years old. Framework is based on physical, mental, emotional and cognitive development of children and in ice skating, there are 5 stages and 7 specific categories that we ve learnt in problem 7. In referral to problem 7 of S226, there are 7 categories that appeared in LTAD, which is Fundamentals, Learn to train, train to train, learning to compete, training to compete, learning to win and lastly, training to win.

3 Figure 1. Shows the LTAD framework for ice skating in 5 stages and 7 categories. In LTAD, we also talk about the 10 key factors influencing it. First influence, the rule of 10. Scientific research has concluded that across most sports it takes minimum of 10 years and 10,000hours of training for a talented athlete to each elite level. This translates to slightly more than 3 hours of training daily for 10years. This factor is supported by The Path to Excellence, which provides a comprehensive view of the development of US Olympians who competed between 1984 and The results reveal that U.S Olympians begin their sport participation at average age of 12 for male and 11 for female. Second influence, the fundamentals. Fundamentals movements and skills should be introduced through fun, games and it should follow and include basic overall sport movement kills. Fundamental movement skills and sports skills will be help in physical literacy. Basics of athleticism include agility, balance, coordination and speed. Advanced would be run, wheel, jump, throw and swim.

4 Third factor, specialization. It has significant effect on speed skating. Understanding, implementing and promote the importance of basic fundamentals in skaters will limit some of their potential in later stages of development. Speed skating being a late specialization sport will need special attention and consideration in training and competitive programs for young skaters. Specializing early in speed skating will result in overuse injuries, early burnout and early retirement from training and competition. Fourth, developmental age. In LTAD, growth and maturation in athletes is a must to take note of because athletes will have a certain degree of physical, mental, cognitive and emotional maturity. Where girls experience breast budding and menarche (menstruation) while boys experience peak strength velocity. Figure 2. Maturation in girls and boys.

5 Figure 3. Maturity events in girls (Modified after Ross et al. 1977) Figure 4. Maturity events in boys (Modified after Ross et al. 1977) LTAD requires the identification of early, average and late maturers in order to help design appropriate training and competition programs in relation to optimal trainability and readiness. The beginning of growth spurt and peak of growth spurt are very significant in LTAD.

6 Fifth factor, trainability. Window of trainability refers to point in development of a specific capacity when training has an optimal effect. In this factors, athletes will be trained on 5 S that is Stamina (endurance), Strength, Speed, Skills and Suppleness (flexibility). To understand and implement the windows of trainability, we need to first identify the basic S s of training and performance. As seen in Figure 5. Stamina is trained at the onset of PHV and aerobic power is introduced after growth rate decelerates. Strength, the optimal training period for girls is immediately after PHV, while boys are months after PHV. First speed training for boys occurs between age 7 and 9, second occurs between For girls, first occurs between 6 and 8, and second at For skills training, boys training window take place between 9 and 12 and between 8 and 11 for girls. For suppleness, for both girls and boys occur between age 6-10 and special attention should be paid to flexibility during PHV. Figure 5. Shows Optimal Window of trainability (Balyi and Way, 2005)

7 Sixth factor affecting LTAD is physical, mental, cognitive and emotional development. All training, competitive and recovery programs should consider these 4 factors listed for each skater. Speed skating requires an amount of decision making skills. Seventh factor that is periodization, that helps to do time management can help in arranging the training process into scientifically based schedule to bring optimal improvements in performance and helps skaters peak at the right time for competition, avoiding burn-out. It comes in Marco cycle, meso cycle and micro cycle (weeks, days and sessions). Eighth factor, calendar planning for competition. Ninth, system alignment and integration. Tenth, continuous improvement. Stages of development Physical Objectives Stage 1 Fundamentals (Basic movement skills) Male age: Focus on critical skill and speed skating literacy and introduce core stability - Skaters will need to learn about speed, power, endurance through fun and games. Female age: 6-8 Stage 2 Learn to train (Fundamental Sports skills including speed skating skills) Male age: 9-12 Female age: Focus on critical skill and speed skating literacy, further development on all fundamental skills. Continue developing core stability, introduce generic ankle and knee stability through fun and games. - Learn to speed skate for long and short track. Speed through agility, quickness and change of directions - Develop endurance, flexibility exercise through fun and games Stage 3 Train to Train (Building the engine & sports specific skills) Male age: Female age: Continue to develop speed through agility, quickness and change of direction. - Ankle, knee and core stability based on diagnostics - Continue to develop body alignment and challenge motor coordination

8 Stage Learn to compete (Optimizing the engine, speed skating specific skills & fitness) Male age: /- Female age: /- Stage 4.2 Train to compete Male age: /- Female age: /- - Strength, aerobic, speed and skill development with diagnostics (help to identify skater s strengths and weaknesses for improvements) - Introduce fitness and recovery programs for individual skaters - Teach skaters who are proficient in basic and speed skating specific skills, to perform those skills under variety of competitive conditions during training. - Focus on diagnosing individual strengths and weaknesses for specific distances - Ankle, knee and core stability based off of diagnostics - Introduce physical preparation to peak by the end of stage 4. Stage 5.1 Learn to win (Maximizing the engine and speed skating specific skills and fitness) Short track age Male & Female: /- Long track age Male & Female: /- Stage 5.2 Train to win (Further maximizing the engine and speed skating specific skills and fitness) - All of the skaters physical, technical, tactical (including decision making skills), mental, personal and lifestyle capacities are fully established. - Maintenance or improvement of physical capacities - Continue to develop speed through agility, quickness and change of direction. - Physical preparation to peak for major competitions. Short track age Male & Female: 23+ Long track age Male & Female: 25+