Hi,

The World Cup is over (congrats to Spain for being deserved winners), and the kids' summer holiday is moving along. This means that I've had time to peruse a few podcast episodes, and after listening to an episode of Rich Roll's podcast with Kelly Starrett as the guest, titled "Play is The Miracle Drug", I knew I had to relay some of the information shared there.

Ultimately, the premise is that play is the number one factor in performance and health, now and in the future. Most parents and coaches know and/or agree with this.

Why then are we seeing practices (and the whole youth sports 'pay-to-play' model seems riddled with this) that for one reason or another seemingly forget this?

Are we (as in parents, society, the youth sports complex as a whole) raising the stakes for youth sports too high?

Did we forget that participating in youth sports isn't just about developing adult professional athletes that win, but that it's about so much more?

Waiting in line for half the practice isn't fun, no matter if the argument that these drills develop 'basic skills' (they don't in my opinion, but that's a discussion for another day).

Being forced to do exercises that are not related to the game as part of practice, particularly during warm-ups isn't really fun either (yes, I recognise the dichotomy here to the last newsletter about reducing injury risk with unrelated strength exercises. There is a time and a place, but for 5-10 year olds, it's not at football practice).

Here are a few practical ways you as a parent, or the coach, can do to help make kids' practices feel more like play and not so much about being in the 'football factory':

• Play as a warm-up:

Use fun games as warm-ups instead of doing the same boring routine every time. If the players are younger than 10-12, I wouldn't hesitate to do something different than football (but I don't think I've got the skills to demonstrate the Fitness Marshall dance videos that mr. Starrett reference!).

• Play as a way to keep kids engaged in sports for a long time

I've alluded to this above; the reason why most of kids get into sports in the first place is to have fun. And if it continues being fun, they stick to it! (yes, there are also other reasons for dropping out that should be addressed on a societal level, but enjoyment is #1).

• Use the environment as a way to guide behaviour, e.g. celebrate defensive tackles as much as goals.

We are used to celebrating goals. Why not celebrating a great save by the goalkeeper, or a crucial block, or even shielding the attacker from getting to the ball as the last defender? Make more actions fun, and it will be seen more as play. And when that happens, more kids' shoulders drop, and they feel confident to express themselves. Who knows, some kids might actually get better, and stay playing for longer as well! (it's not about doing this all the time obviously. But the point still stands).

Hopefully you can use these points yourself, or give tips to the coach in charge of practice who may be able to implement all or some of them.

Next week I'll dive deeper into the use of virtual reality as promised a few weeks back. If you happen to have any questions about that, or this email, reply and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Best,

Hans Martin

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