Curious Dad wrote:
TrackCoach wrote:Running is a sport, I would expect a kid to practice running in the same way they practice playing soccer, basketball or any other sport. With that said, there is a limit to how much an 8 year should practice any sport, but I would not expect a kid's track practice to be any less structured than any other sport.
Are you advocating interval training? I know there is a lot of trolling here, but it's a serious question. I am not a big fan of serious training for girls until age 13 or so. I'd rather they be multi-sport athletes. The girls who are injured on my daughter's soccer tm are the ones who only play soccer and nothing else. I would fear the same thing with just running, especially hard running at this age.
YES, I advocate interval training, as well as tempos, long runs, block starts, calisthenics, form drills, etc. I have coached at every level from little kids to professional athletes. When I coached, college athletes did about 90% of the same training the pros did, high school athletes did about 90% of the same training the college athletes did and youth athletes did about 90% of the same training high school kids did. Obviously the lower the level, the lower volume and intensity and in the case of kids, you are only training a couple times a week and you put more emphasis on making training fun. There is nothing uniquely bad about any type of training, intervals, long runs, etc., the type of training is not the issue, the appropriateness is about the volume and intensity.
For perspective, an 8 year old might only practice 3 times a week, intervals might be 5x200s or a long run might be 3-miles. If I didn't do any intervals training, I would be one of the few youth coaches who didn't and it would not like teaching Pop Warner 8 year how to tackle. Btw, kids rarely get hurt practicing track & field.