Training my son

Probably a troll, but I'll bite anyway. Way too young to be training. The kid should be having fun, not worried about times, etc. If he wants to train, let him run through the local fields/parks with abandon. You can think about more formal trainng once he's 13/14.

Nah...I'm not trolling I'm serious. There are tons of kids that run AAU & USATF meets that are his age. He trains just like the rest of the kids his age. I just wanted some genuine advice is all.

Here's the deal-30,40 years ago, kids started organized athletics in Junior High School-that's age 12 at best, and often High School. Three sport athletes were the norm. Kids played Football, Basketball and Track-or Cross-Country, Wrestling and Track, or Football, Wrestling and Baseball.In an effort to get that extra edge, parents have pushed that starting age down bit by bit to the point where we now have 4 and 5 year olds playing soccer and Flag Football. In my school district, playing more than one sport is strongly discouraged. If you play Football, you lift weights in winter, and do "strength and agility" in Spring. No basketball, no track, no baseball.What the hell are we doing to our kids. Get your 9 year old out of competitive track meets. Take him jogging. Run 5Ks with him. He doesn't need to be on a team-he doesn't need to "develop" his skills. He needs to be a kid. Mark my words-keep him in the AAU club scene-and it's extremely unlikely he'll be running in 5 years. Or, more importantly in 25 years.

black diablo wrote:

Nah...I'm not trolling I'm serious. There are tons of kids that run AAU & USATF meets that are his age. He trains just like the rest of the kids his age. I just wanted some genuine advice is all.

People who don't know how to develop speed talk about "tough." Developing neural connections for speed when young that you can use later in life is important. You get this by SPRINTING, not jogging distance.

Carl Lewis started jumping when he was 6. You can do sprinting in an AAU club. Kids should be doing activity that involves running fast--football, basketball, and such, in addition to track and field. What do the kids in Jamaica do? A LOT of fast sprinting on grass.

Personally, I was recruited for both football and track right out of 9th grade pe, and that came from playing a lot of team sports.

Sorry for these trolls, OP, here's some honest advice:

What you're gonna want to do is to start him training for 800m world record pace. As the 800m is the perfect blend between distance and sprints, it will give him the option to later pursue either choice.

800 world record pace is ~50 seconds per 400m lap.

Start with repetitions of 5 meters at 800m WR pace. Your boy should therefore be covering this distance in 0.625 seconds.

Do half the repetitions with a jogging, or "rolling" start, to work the distance side of things, and half from a three-point crouch, to work the sprinting side. I would recommend starting with about 20 reps per session. Recoveries can be equal to the work, so the total workout will only take about 25 seconds--very efficient, good use of time, and not overly taxing on the boy's developing musculoskeletal system.

As he masters this session, add distance in 5m units over the next several weeks.

I would also add a steady diet of gut crunches and punching frozen slabs of meat. Also, I advise having him wear a grey sweat suit with a white towel around his neck for all workouts.

Keep us posted!

No offense, but you and 'distance advisor' are retarded.

fusilli, you are spot on, I am in.

I am going to begin training my 14 year old using this method, hope it's not too late. I will keep you all posted.

6/10

Thanks for the honest answer coach d

I work for major shoe vendor and I've had people contact me about pre-school track spikes. Sad.

ask you son if HE wants to train and do all this... if the answer is yes then look at Jack Daniels training, easy to understand, sample weeks the whole shabang... if your son doesn't want to do all this your just creating problems for your son and yourself... he will

Or go google running clubs in your area. He can get some coaching and have fun running with other kids.

As an AAU coach, I can tell you that AAU is not bad. What gives AAU a bad rap is BAD COACHES. If you find a good coach, and one that is willing to train your child for long term progress and not just short term success, you will notice summer training does wonders for kids that age. The times your son is running are awesome for his age group. I work with a kid who is the same age and running similar times. We mainly teach him lessons about how to train, not simply get him as fast as possible as soon as possible. We want to set up a fundamental base for his future, serious training in high school.

He does want to train just so you know. My son is very active Basketball, Football, Track, Swimming & Soccer. He cried because I told him that he was done with Track for the year. Trust me I don't make him do anything that he doesn't want to do.

just continue to make sure he gets enough "multi lateral development" from playing different sports. Good for you for getting rid of the previous trainer. No one should question the mental toughness of a child. Work on his explosiveness, pure speed and make sure that he is having fun. Back him off like you are doing even if he is pissed. You're on the right track, keep it up and good luck.

So for the coaches that replied do you think I should have him running the 400/800 and move him down later or have him running the 100/200/400 next season if I want him to be a sprinter?

This is a great post.

I coached age group track for six years. With the little ones, you have to keep it light and easy. It is great that he enjoys it, and is doing well. But nine is WAY too young to get serious about it. Since he also participates in other sports, he should continue doing that. He will have enough activity to keep him going throughout the year, so that when next track season rolls around, he will still be fit.

Sports at his young age should be all about hanging out with his teammates, the excitement of going to meets, and the gradual learning of self discipline and training methods.

One nice thing about kids getting into track at that young age is that they can be coached in the technical events, which take longer to master. Coaches are smart to gradually get the kids into the jumps and throws, with no pressure and just teach them how to competently do the events.

My son started track at nine, and he did everything. He sprinted, high jumped, hurdled, long jumped and did throws as well. He continued with that through middle school, doing some running but mostly field events.

When he went to high school, because he had six years of track and field training, he was instantly the top thrower on the team. He had already been throwing shot for five years, discus for four and javelin for four. And had been high jumping for six years. He was able to compete at district competition as a freshman in shot and discus and do pretty well. So by the time he was a junior, he was all state in his events. And he went on to throw in college, all the way to nationals. And this was in addition to being a football player.

Don't put any pressure on your son. He may not want to do track next summer, he is nine after all. If you keep it light and fun, then he will be less likely to quit when he runs up against bigger and faster kids.

black diablo - My 13 and 11 year olds have been running club track for the last 6 years. AAU and USATF are awesome assuming the coach is good. You say you want him to be a sprinter, but are you sure he's really a sprinter? My 11-year old's 400/800 times are very similar to your son's, but he's about as far from a sprinter as can be...the 1500 and 3000 are his best events, and if they had a 5K, he'd really dominate. But if he ran the 100/200, he'd be dominated. AAU and USATF club teams are very often overloaded with sprinters (or those who think they are sprinters), and have very few athletes who run distance. I believe that is because many of these "sprinters" are being led in the wrong direction, and would be more successful in the 800/1500/3000. Your son is still a year or two away from being able to run the 3000 at meets, but the 1500 is available at his age. If you had a 100. 200, and 1500 time for him, I'd have a better idea of whether he's really a sprinter or not.