Youth Running Question

I have no experience working with kids, but for what it's worth, you might try suggesting that he focus on tapping his hip bones with his thumbs as he swings his arms back. Not all the time, but say for 20-30 taps in a row every lap or every mile or something. That may help him drive his arms back with each stride.

Running form is overrated.

His form will get better when he gets faster.

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/running/dont-think-too-hard-about-your-running-form/

Would not worry much about it but you can make some changes by training like a sprinter for a while. The form drills and coordination training sprinters do is critical to their success. It'll be boring as hell though for an 8 year old.

If the kid is really that much taller than his peers the hunched over might come from not wanting to stand out.

I would take a gentle approach and look at small changes. You can go two ways and your understanding of the kid should guide you. One way is to take something small that you think would be easily corrected. Another way would be to take the "grossest" example and work on it. Maybe the one that you think would give the best results.

I suspect his form will get better as he gets stronger. Does he play other sports? I bet if he swam and did gymnastics or martial arts his form would get better.

A bit of both options you laid out. The point of youth running should always be for enjoyment, fun for the kids, and to teach the fundamentals of running and T/F (form, drills, baton exchanges). And there shouldn’t be much real training in a formal sense until 13 at the youngest. I think if you just keep doing what you’re doing you’ll do what’s best for his form long term.

Also maybe he’ll learn to play the cello or something and stop caring about running next year and none of this will matter

Don’t worry about his form at this age; he’s going to get taller and stronger over time and his form will even out.

I coached a youth team for many years and one of my best kids went through a season or two where his form dramatically changed and he was bent at the waist at an unnatural angle. We wondered how that form felt comfortable but a few years later I saw him in the state final and he looked great. It was just the result of working through growth spurts.

Yes, you can encourage him to get a healthy and strong body. for this, he should know about the daily life food routine, which must be ensured for him and also ensured that he eats properly every day. After that, the runner becomes stronger than before.

Thank you everyone for the input!

I'm a very task oriented person and it's hard for me to see an issue and not try to make some kind of attempt at correction.

He does play other sports (soccer) .... not sure how long he will stick with running, but I feel like having correct form would increase his likelihood of being successful in almost any sport he'd pick up in the future.

This is maybe a little outside of this thread - but I feel like so many people look at youth running as either - 1. they've got natural talent, they'll do well without much need for coaching in mechanics or 2. they have an amazing work ethic and can be successful, but they need some extra help. I gravitate more to the option 2 kids as I'm coaching - a kid who has heart, but maybe isn't a "natural" - I'd just love to be able to give him any advantage I can in terms of helping to level that playing field when going up against kids who just naturally have perfect running form.

I have no experience working with runners that young. My thought though is that kids usually seems effortless when they're running. It's possible that a biomechanincal issue could be causing the form issues, or maybe the kids just uncoordinated, which is more common with taller kids. If he is enjoying himself and the form issues aren't causing any physical discomfort, I'd say leave it alone.

Remember kids grow fast and it takes time for them to catch up with coordination etc. Just keep working on him on form, drills, etc. It will pay off if not now but years down the road.

citius5000 wrote:

Remember kids grow fast and it takes time for them to catch up with coordination etc. Just keep working on him on form, drills, etc. It will pay off if not now but years down the road.

This is most of your answer. Also, many of my kids in track including my own grow into better form, sometimes in 1-2 years around 11/12. I have never been sure all the form drills we do actually do anything? But I do agree with some here that hill running, and speed/sprints can go a long way toward putting them on the fast track with form. Speed/hills and reminders while they are running help. I personally believe that the most underrated thing you can do is have them actually SEE great from. We do it in every other sport, kids mimic things. So, I have my daughter watch a lot of Jenny Simpson, Shebly H, my son watches some nick willis, hobbs kessler, Kipchoge, etc... guys that are perfection in motion. I believe it gives them something to shoot for overall rather than us just saying relax, use you arms etc etc