If you noticed your young son was extremely talented at distance running, how would you handle it?

Do what Peter Coe did:

1. XC, to build a general base.

2. Once he is mature and has built a good fitness base, I'll try to figure out what his best distance is.

Wait until 9th grade. An early start has no benefit.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Wait until 9th grade. An early start has no benefit.

Wrong. Until 9th grade you would still want them to be active. I.e. put them in swimming, have them be active outside a lot riding bikes, soccer and other activities. Also, have them walk to school. Up till they are mature and start running, you want to build a general fitness base.

I think the best general development (both physically and emotionally/psychologically) would be for the kid to just do a bunch of different activities, be active, and just have a lot of interests.

In a perfect world, I'd also keep running a prominent aspect of that. I don't know how. Maybe pick 2 or 3 super fun 5k road races or easy trail races and make it something of a tradition to do those every year. Play some sports/games together that involve a decent amount of running. Maybe go on a lot of hikes as well. I don't know. Just ways to keep running in there regularly, but not highlight it.

Then when high school is approaching, hopefully they pick cross country.

Sand Dunes wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Wait until 9th grade. An early start has no benefit.

Wrong. Until 9th grade you would still want them to be active. I.e. put them in swimming, have them be active outside a lot riding bikes, soccer and other activities. Also, have them walk to school. Up till they are mature and start running, you want to build a general fitness base.

The OP was talking about possibly having him train and race prior to the 9th grade. Most kids already participate in other sports and also have PE in on a daily basis. And walking to school has no effect, especially of you live across the street.

dritius wrote:

Would you train him like a serious runner right from the start or let him play any sport he wanted and discover running on his own?

If you decided yes you would train him from a young age, how would you:

introduce him to the sport?

help him avoid injury?

coach him so that he doesn't lose interest?

dont be a failure douche father....here is what YOU need to do

- find a good catholic coach, who used to be a top tier runner himself

- give your son androgel rub downs with happy endings NOW to test if sabotage could in fact happen by a rouge masseuse

- find a shady doc, prob in texas who will diagnose your son with a thyroid condition

- move to oregon so you can do the necessary blood work and micro dosing regiment under the watchful eye of Nike in-house physicians

- make sure all his training surfaces and locations are "certified"

- give him a nerdy elf boy haircut

- make him an insta profile so he can start having "fan boys"

- get him a super feminine "Bane" mask for those bad pollen days

- go to the UK and get a Somalian boy to be his training partner

- get him on a super team, but train him solo

- have him practice ridiculous poses that he will use after he crosses the finish line

- last but not least, cut out a big chunk of your bible, so you can transport PEDs in it over state lines without getting caught

I would mostly do the latter, let him play any sport. But I would make sure that he knew cross country and track were actual sports that he could try and might like. That's what I did with my sons and they both really took to the sports. But if you're talking about a kid who's so young that he's not even in high school I don't know how you'd know he was extremely talented at distance running.

HRE wrote:

But if you're talking about a kid who's so young that he's not even in high school I don't know how you'd know he was extremely talented at distance running.

I was thinking somewhere along the lines of Jakob Ingebrigtsen. He was only around 10 and his father Gjert took a very smart approach to his development. Then again, he did have all of Jakob's older brothers so he could probably assume Jakob would be talented as well.

HRE wrote:

I would mostly do the latter, let him play any sport. But I would make sure that he knew cross country and track were actual sports that he could try and might like. That's what I did with my sons and they both really took to the sports. But if you're talking about a kid who's so young that he's not even in high school I don't know how you'd know he was extremely talented at distance running.

Kids are timed for the mile in middle school PE. If he/she had the fastest time you would be likely to hear about it. You can't identify VO2 max but body type and natural stride are good indicators of talent level.

hand em over to AlSal

start him running in maybe 7th grade, but try to keep him not totally dedicated to it, still encourage him to do other sports and things. But like definitely get him started. 15-20 mpw? then 20-30 in 8th grade? maybe less. Definitely not running every day. training him probably at 70-80% as good as he could be trained so he would not get injured or burnt out, but have a noticeable advantage to other kids, on top of the talent he has

I'd break those split shorts over his head and say in my voice "Stop that's gay".

Sand Dunes wrote:

Do what Peter Coe did:

1. XC, to build a general base.

2. Once he is mature and has built a good fitness base, I'll try to figure out what his best distance is.

Yeah, something like this, but I wouldn't make it formal.

I'd find opportunities to notice little things relevant to distance running while attempting to seem indifferent yet intrigued.

I notice you've watched races on YouTube. [not that means an interest in Athletics]

I notice that you're spending time at the middle school practice. [not that extra time makes better athletes]

I'm going to the track for a workout, want to join?

I noticed that your form is compact. [not whether they is good or bad]

Continue ad nauseum

SDSU Aztec wrote:

HRE wrote:

I would mostly do the latter, let him play any sport. But I would make sure that he knew cross country and track were actual sports that he could try and might like. That's what I did with my sons and they both really took to the sports. But if you're talking about a kid who's so young that he's not even in high school I don't know how you'd know he was extremely talented at distance running.

Kids are timed for the mile in middle school PE. If he/she had the fastest time you would be likely to hear about it. You can't identify VO2 max but body type and natural stride are good indicators of talent level.

Maybe that shows talent but nothing before puberty means very much. Fast kids at that age may have good running ability but they may simply be further along the maturation curve. I actually think that temperament might be the best indicator at young ages.

Id take him running, leave him behind so he knew whats what and his morale was crushed. Let him learn for himself. When he can catch me then he can train with me.

Down south wrote:

Id take him running, leave him behind so he knew whats what and his morale was crushed. Let him learn for himself. When he can catch me then he can train with me.

I tried that with my son when he was in 5th grade. I ended up getting dropped before the first mile.

The thing is if your kid is going to be good it has to be her or his choice. It will not matter how talented they are if they do not want to do it for themselves.

Q: If you noticed your young son was extremely talented at distance running, how would you handle it?

A: I would get multiple additional opinions about his perceived “talent” from people not related to him. The rationale being that people tend to overestimate their own children’s talents / skills.

Sand Dunes wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Wait until 9th grade. An early start has no benefit.

Wrong. Until 9th grade you would still want them to be active. I.e. put them in swimming, have them be active outside a lot riding bikes, soccer and other activities. Also, have them walk to school. Up till they are mature and start running, you want to build a general fitness base.

This right here is the correct answer. Like myself, you can stop reading after the above comment.

In studies they've done of successful athletes the overwhelming majority of them did not specialize until they were in high school. Before then they participated in many different activities and developed all around general fitness base.

Make your kids full-time 5k to Marathon runners at age 7, your boys won't be able to race sub-57.5 400m and your girls won't be able to race sub-67.5 400m. Bert Blyleven, HOF MLB pitcher says variety of youth sports is they key. Variety of sports enhances overall coordination and reduces the likelihood of over use injuries. In MN most parents with combined household income greater than $120,000/yr., place their kids, especially their sons in hockey, all year hockey. The best hockey player in MN history, Phil Housley played high school football and high school baseball.