The American Development Model

As I stated last week, this week’s post will be dedicated to discussing the five stages of the American development model (ADM). But first, I’d like to tell a quick story. Last week, I attended a TEDx event in my town. I attended the event due to the fact that the owner of my gym was a presenter and I wanted to show my support. One of the individuals who was an organizer of this event was a young lady I coached in Cal Ripken Baseball about 15 years ago. Since I coached her, she has graduated from college and started an extremely successful marketing company and along with some other young minds, put together this event. Following the event, a small group of people went out to a local restaurant to celebrate the events success. While speaking with some people she mentioned that I coached her in baseball (which surprised some of the people who were part of the discussion… LOL) she continued on to say that at the time I was coaching her she had no idea that the skills we were teaching her on the baseball field such as leadership, character, how to handle adversity and even how to win gracefully, would ever be used later in life yet, here she is, 15 years later using the skills that we taught her. Needless to say, I stood there with an ear-to-ear smile on my face as this is exactly what I’ve been trying to get across in my writings and I was so happy to hear a former athlete of mine confirm what I’ve been writing about.

Now, back to the American Development Model. The ADM has five key principles and they are as follows:

· The 1st Principle is Universal Access to Create Opportunity for All Athletes – Universal access is defined as creating opportunities for everyone to participate in a sport. By providing universal access to all youth regardless of gender, age, physical disability, and economic status, more children could become involved in a sport and be more physically active;

· The 2nd Principle is Developmentally Appropriate Activities that Emphasize Motor and Foundational Skill Development – A clear understanding of an individual’s development level (as opposed to his or her age) will help coaches, parents and administrators appropriately tailor the training, skills and tactics taught to maximize and individual's full potential, while helping avoid burnout;

· The 3rd Principle is Encourage Multi-sport Participation – Multi-sport participation is critical to developing a well-rounded foundation for physical activity that can transfer between sports. Encouraging children to participate in multiple sport activities at a young age offers them the opportunity to explore, play and discover sport according to their personal interests and skill levels. Multiple sport play also provides several cross-training benefits for athletes – such as strength, endurance, agility, coordination and speed training – that enhances athleticism and promotes a healthy lifestyle. Athletes also benefit from the social and psychological impact of multi-sport participation;

· The 4th Principle is Fun, Engaging and Challenging Atmosphere – Fun, engaging and challenging environment is essential for any youth sport activity. The definition of “fun” may change as children advance to more elite levels of competition, but a standard emphasis on making the process positive and enjoyable is key; and finally,

· The 5th Principle is Quality Coaching at all Levels – quality coaches are critical to athlete development; therefore, quality coaching education is critical for athlete success at all competitive levels. Quality coaching not only requires the youth coach to be qualified and highly knowledgeable of their sport, but also basic training on effective communication, practice planning an athletic development. The very best coaches view themselves as continual learners and are always working towards improving themselves.

As you can see these principles focus on allowing a child to work on and learn a sport or sports at an early age, minus the competition, and at their own pace while not having them quit at an early age due to not having the physical and or mental maturity at those young ages. I am totally in agreement with principles one through four; however, its principle 5 that really speaks to me. Without quality coaches, who know and understand the sport they are coaching, principles 1 though 4 are useless. We need coaches who understand the sport they are coaching and understand the importance of effective communication with both young athletes and parents alike. I feel that most coaches get into youth sports coaching for the right reasons and usually they mean well; however, they are also the coaches who get run out of coaching by the parents who feel that is okay to attack them from the stands and after games because they feel that the coach “doesn’t know what they are doing”. This has to stop and even the well-meaning coaches need to be properly trained in coaching and communication techniques. While I understand that most volunteer coaches may not have the time to be “continual learners” due to other life commitments would it be too much to ask a coach, even if they are a volunteer, to learn about the sport they are coaching and how to communicate with the children that they may be coaching?

The five stages of the ADM are as follows:

· Stage 1: Discover, Learn and Play (ages 0–12) – This is the first step to being involved with sports at a young age (0 to 12) or when first introduced to a new sport. Discovery of key concepts and motor skills of the sport/activity is critical in order to learn how the sport is played. Many skills are transferable between sports. Programs should accommodate athletes that participate in multiple sports. This early stage requires coaching that will allow fun and enjoyment through discovery and exploration;

· Stage 2: Develop and Challenge (ages 10–16) – The second stage of the development process occurs after an athlete has been engaged in a sport and wants to explore more organized training options. This stage focuses on finding the skills needed to be successful in the activity or sport, and then furthering skill development through challenges, such as recreational competition, organize sports programs or club participation;

· Stage 3: Train and Compete (ages 13–19) – At stage three, athletes begin to train and compete in a program that matches their personal interests, goals and developmental needs. Competitions become more clearly defined in this process with potential for new experiences in team selection. Maximizing potential becomes an option for athletes as they start to grasp the commitment necessary for certain sports, and the skill sets needed to excel at the next competitive level. This is also the stage to increase sports specific training;

· Stage 4: Excel for High Performance or Participate and Succeed (ages 15+) – When an athlete reaches high school they will likely face the option to either focus on a sport for high-performance and increased competition, or continue to compete for the fun, healthy and social aspects of sport. Athletes will be able to choose the pathway that best represents their interests and abilities. Growth spurts, experience or dedication to training may all affect which path an athlete follows during their sports career; and finally,

· Stage 5: Thrive and Mentor (active for life) – Everyone can use sport and physical activity to establish and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Many athletes want to give back to their sport after they finish competing. Coaching, officiating and mentoring other athletes are natural next steps. With previous experience as an athlete; the coach, official and/or administrator can help prepare other athletes to be the best they can be in sport and enjoy the development process.

As you can see, the stages are broken down to assist in the young athletes their development and allow them to grow and develop at their own pace and more importantly to allow them to explore multiple sports, allowing them to develop skills that can be transferred from one sport to another and be used throughout life. I liken this to our educational system. When a child starts school they are taught the skills necessary to move from grade to grade. We wouldn’t expect a child who is in kindergarten, 1st or 2nd grade to do complex high school math problems at those young ages because they have not developed the necessary skills to handle those types of problems at those young ages yet, when it comes to youth sports, we have no problem having children compete like high school, college and professional athletes in tournaments at ages as young as 6 and 7 years old, when they may not have the mental or physical abilities to do so. My question is why? I realize this is a rhetorical question, but one that needs to be answered.

As someone who coached youth sports for many years I would have loved to have worked under a model like the American Development Model when I was coaching and I feel that we need to start looking at other models to run our youth sports programs, such as the American Development Model. This is a model that can be used to properly teach and train our youth and make youth sports a more enjoyable experience for the children and parents alike.