So your child is getting into ultimate…
How can you help your child advance through the world of youth sports in a fun, healthy and age-appropriate way?
Parents play a key role in growing ultimate in the youth area. Parents often start youth in sports in a variety of ways through role modeling a sport, providing equipment around the home, and/or enrolling them in programs.
Additionally, parents are critical in supporting participation in sport through paying fees, providing transportation, and encouragement.
What is the role of a parent in long-term athlete development?
Parents serve the important role of guidance and support for the player during their ultimate experience. Parents can create a positive ultimate experience by:
- Supporting and encouraging your child to have fun. It’s about them!
- Understanding the USA Ultimate LTAD model and recognizing where their player(s) stand in terms of age and development.
- Encouraging sport sampling at least through age 14 where the player is exposed to many sports and physical activities to develop well-rounded movement abilities.
- Encouraging multi-sport/activity to reduce risk of burnout or overuse injuries.
- Rewarding your child for development and proficiency over performance outcomes such as winning.
- Enrolling or exposing your child in age-appropriate activities to develop general movement skills before moving to high amounts of competition.
- Balancing free play and structured practice with rest and recovery.
- Role modeling fair mindedness and being physically active.
- Asking coaches and organizers about your child’s development and that you value your child’s experience over outcomes such as winning.
Stage by Stage –
One Pagers
The links below provide summaries designed to give you some of the key elements in each stage of the LTAD model, based on your role as a parent: