Physical Activities for Young Athletes

[bowt]

Hey Guys,

What are physical activities you would recommend for a parent to do with their child when they are developing

a) skipping
b) hopping
c) throwing
d) jumping
d) medicine ball throwing?
e) side stepping
f) catching
g) kicking?

[klacr]

Jumping rope and swimming are great!
I love a good workout with a medicine ball, I could go all day with the medicine ball but depends on the age of the kid.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[johnyandell]

Playing soccer and basketball. Learning to throw baseballs and (American) footballs.

[don_budge]

Playing soccer and basketball. Learning to throw baseballs and (American) footballs.

Great minds tend to think alike. Not always in agreement which is overrated. But along similar lines...when you see a pattern I almost find myself nodding in agreement. But I fight it. For reasons of my own.

But first of all soccer is a tremendous activity for the youngster. Getting the feet coordinated with the eyes and body. Balance, speed, stops and starts. Redirection and the transition from offence to defence and vice versa. Footwork first I say...get your ass in position.

The basketball suggestion is right from my heart. My dear old Father was a professional ballplayer in the old bush leagues. Nearly the Tiger shortstop according to my elementary gym teacher. Once again it is this idea...this concept of transition from offence to defence. Playing one on one is a tremendous activity. Full focus on the individual instead of the team. I remember playing guard with my doubles teammate. Learning the value of teamwork. Playing guard together we learned so much about our movement together and how to help each other out. Covering for the other...taking chance and gambles and knowing your mate was there and had your back. Playing defence together...disrupting the other team. Valuable lessons later on for the budding tennis player. Teach that kid to want the ball...you want a player that wants to take charge and dictate. One with a nose for the hoop. A scorer's mentality. Basketball...I had the jones so many years ago.

My dear old Father was a professional ballplayer in the old bush leagues. Nearly the Tiger shortstop according to my elementary gym teacher. Baseball...throwing. Catching. Batting. Construct the swing dynamic by breaking down the swinging motion here. Footwork, hip and shoulder movement along with the role of the arms, hands and wrists. Pitching...learning serving tactics. Playing pickle...it's a three person game where you have to fielders and a base runner. Excellent training. The throws are long, hard and fast and vary to the shorter, slower and more accurate. Developing a sense of feel...of control.

American football...possibly. Never was a fan or had much use for this stupid game. But going further...ping pong. Tremendous training for the eyes and learning the spinning concepts. Half of the battle is the spin of the ball as Tilden reference in the title of his epic work on the game of tennis.

All of these activities teach a youngster to play. Make that kid a "Johnny ball player". A nose for the ball. Develop that scorer mentality. Offence and defence. Seizing the initiative. These are integral parts of the game of tennis and are much easier to implement if you have a fully engaged athlete. hockeyscout will attest to this and more. I fully endorse his concept of developing the athlete first and the then the tennis player. Then you are not stuck in a rut of dictating the standard fare of today. You know what it is.

To develop the all court player you need a wide range of skills. The whole shebang. Kit and kaboodle. The whole nine yards. I remember how easily the game came to me because I had already developed all of these skill sets. I took up the game at 14 years old and was almost immediately competitive.

[don_budge]

Hey Guys,

What are physical activities you would recommend for a parent to do with their child when they are developing

a) skipping
b) hopping
c) throwing
d) jumping
d) medicine ball throwing?
e) side stepping
f) catching
g) kicking?

You must over and above install "game" into the youngster. Not mere rote habits. But installing the game is an entirely different perspective. It sort of goes along with the idea that technique is not the end in itself but the means to the end. The end being the result in win or lose and along the way developing tactics to achieve the desired end. Early exposure to other sports is perhaps more important that beginning with the idea of making a kid a tennis player. Make them a person first and when they show signs of the ability to develop cognitively as well...well there you go.