Long-Term Training Programs for Elite Youth Athletes

Long-Term Training Programs for Elite Youth Athletes

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There are many factors that can influence an athlete’s performance
And both their coach and themselves need to be aware of this and
realise that the appropriate training programme is essential if they

intend to improve their performance by doing this properly can prevent
over training and injury.

I believe that there are 4 major factors that can influence the
planning of a training programme.

Firstly I believe that financial support should be discussed before
any planning takes place I think this because it wouldn’t be worth
while to take time in planning a whole programme if it wouldn’t be
possible to fund it.

There are many governmental agencies that support young athletes, for
example Sport England. Which aims to increase the development of sport
in England by influencing and serving the public,

The millennium youth games, which is funded by the government, is to
encourage young athletes to compete in a large number and too boost
confidence and also provision.

The UKSI also helps encourage sport excellence for potential UK elite
athletes.

A good training programme has to be arranged around the athlete’s
psychological state.

An individual’s genetic make up especially personality is what gives
them the drive to perform and continue training. For example
motivation, mood, ability, and self-efficacy are all major parts of
personality and all affect long-term preparation.

Increased stress and anxiety can affect an athlete’s performance and
they then begin to struggle in their sport.

Stress increases heart rate, which can decrease the chance of a good
performance. Anxiety can affect concentration during a performance and
therefore the athlete not performing to its personal best due to
worrying about the outcome of the situation.

Anxiety includes state and trait dimensions. An athlete with high
anxiety trait (A-trait) is likely to be more anxious in stressful
situations. According to the Drive Theory (Clark Hull 1943) if an
athlete is appropriately skilled then it will help them to perform
well if their drive to compete is aroused

Another way to the Drive Theory can be known as the Inverted-U
hypothesis this can predicts a relationship between arousal and
performance and is developed in to an inverted U shape. This is
believed to show that as arousal is increased the athlete’s
performance improves. The problem with this theory is that if the
athletes arousal is increased beyond the top of the Inverted U the
athlete’s performance decreases.

Physiological factors also contribute to a athletes performance these
include diet and nutrition, for example if a athlete does not eat
appropriately then this will affect their performance. So an endurance
athlete will have different diet to a sprinter, e.g. endurance athlete
high in carbohydrate for high production of energy and a sprinted a
high protein diet to help the formation of muscle tissue.

Some athletes are born with an innate ability- for example born with
fast twitch muscle fibres.

Following appropriate training methods also should be considered if
wanting to plan a good training programme. Some of which are the FITT
principle and the SPORT principle.

Fitness testing is defiantly needed so the athlete has a fitness
programme that is suited to their needs and if you are too see any
improvement in performance I believe this has to be planned early so
the actually programme can be devised appropriately to the athletes
weaknesses and to also be structured in a good manner to prevent
boredom and also injury. Goals also should to be set to allow the
performer to have the drive to reach them.

As long as all these factors are taken into account and are analysed
appropriately they all can contribute to make a good programme I
believe that all these factors should be taken into account if the
programme is to be a success and improve the athlete’s performance.