A Recent Look at Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD)

We are all convinced of the theories formulated by Istvan Balyi and his colleagues. These exemplary educators have given us the clearest indication of the relationship between maturation and performance yet we do little to accommodate these vital theories into our modern day sporting culture.

Any internet search will give you over 400,000 web links to LTAD yet very few give a clear instruction on the detail of what we should deliver to the developing athlete.

It is accepted that strategy, process, protocol and administration of sport must make changes to accommodate the known theories of LTAD. Much is written on the 'new' plans for LTAD by many National Governing Bodies, yet close examination sees only a vocabulary change. Balyi implores us to not only comprehend the theory and develop a system for its application, but to actually do something practical and functional.

One NGB (along with several hundred others) has published it's LTAD plan on the internet, outlining the research undertaken, working out "where we are now", listing the outline of the journey with all implications and forming a plan. Stated in the document is the strong reference to the 'Fundamental' stage of training where they outline the detail of:

".... FUN with the emphasis on basic movement literacy and fundamental movement skills."

All well and good. Good theory, good plan, good research, but what have the coaches in the field been armed with to carry out this plan? Simply stating "... emphasis on basic movement literacy and fundamental movement skills" does little to allow the coach to be specific at the next training session. What exercises should they choose for their developing athlete with a zero training age? How do they develop 'total structural strength', 'total structural stability, and total structural flexibility'? Unfortunately nearly every introductory Coach Education course primarily details sport specific skill requirements and the components of competition. There may be some reference to LTAD and a little more to Growth and Development but little that integrates the two in terms of exercise selection, exercise progression and training plans. Little is done to arm the coach with the knowledge of how to develop the required physical qualities to carry out these skills. We are left with a biased program of competition or sport specific skills and little else. Both Balyi and Bompa have outlined the need for the correct balance between general and competition specific training yet our coaching resources and coaching practices are biased, alarmingly, to the latter.

All skill learning requires a certain sequence of physical competence to be present. This is often described as being 'all-round athleticism'. Running, jumping, throwing, kicking, catching and hitting activities require the body to express force, reduce force and retain sequenced stability (often multi-directional and multi-plane), throughout the activity, to be executed well. The essence of the Balyi model is to carefully develop these physical properties just ahead of the skill learning so that the athlete has the physical qualities to carry out the sport specific skills successfully and permanently.

The issue facing the world is how to colour in these theories with practical, exercise based decisions for the developing athlete. Understanding the theory is fine but we still don't have the tools to express these theories in actual training activities. What is needed, alongside plans and strategies, is a progressive exercise syllabus that transports the developing athlete along a coordinated pathway of attainment towards the required structural strength, stability and flexibility. It needs to be a scheme that can be integrated with technical and tactical development and at the same time give the coach an exercise starting point and a comprehensive journey.

Only a minority of practitioners are fully aware of how certain exercises support and integrate with others, how certain exercises open doors to others, and how the scheme takes advantage of the process of 'slow to fast', 'simple to complex' 'static to dynamic' and 'unloaded to loaded' . What we are now in need of is a commitment to LTAD that goes beyond the theories.

Kelvin Giles MA, Cert.Ed

Former Manager of Strength and Conditioning
Queensland Academy of Sport