Three reasons why your child athlete should train differently than adults

The health magazines, websites, and podcasts are resource-rich in workout hacks to gain a few inches on the vertical jump, a couple of seconds in the :40, or another 10 mph in swing speed. Notice something? Most of the athletes in the videos have the build of an adult elite athlete. Ryan Cox, owner of Redline Athletics in Longmont, Col., points out the conditioning of a youth athlete is far different than an adult. Both are susceptible to injury, but three big differences set them apart. The biggest difference he says are growth plates.

Kids can damage growth plates. At the ends of long bones, like the femur in the upper leg and the humerus running south from the shoulder, have softer tissue at ends to accommodate growth into an adult body. This growth plate is cartilage and, while part of the bone, is actually weaker than the tendons and ligaments connecting the skeleton. It's like that rubbery stuff in a piece of chicken.

When an adult twists an ankle in a workout routine or swings repetitively too much, it can result in a sprain of the tendon or ligament because the bone is grown. “An ice routine and rest,” says Cox, “and they're probably fine. In a child, it can damage the growth plate, possibly altering their physical development – a problem that will last the rest of their lives, not just the rest of the season.”

Two other things Cox says Redline focuses on when working with student-athletes are closely related to the potential problems with growth plates. “An athlete between the ages of 8 and 18 isn't a smaller version of an adult, while some high schoolers are pretty much there. The muscles, tendons, and ligaments are still growing. Growing tissue, like healing tissue, is more likely to be damaged.”

“The final point is that children vary in size and maturity,” says Cox. How many times do you see two fifth-graders from the same class look vastly different at the same age? “From athlete to athlete the are significant differences in coordination, stamina and strength. One 10 year old might not yet have the tools to pull off some of the routines shown in these podcasts. Yet.” Redline works with the kids to get them there, “But even in our facility, we train high-school athletes differently than grade-schoolers and neither are trained the way an adult trains until they've got the fundamentals down.” Cox adds, “Younger athletes are less likely to get a severe sports injury because they are smaller and slower than adults. However, that younger frame can't take the repetitive stress beating that a grown person can.”

Cox says all these three points are especially important in the summer or off-season when the young athlete might be using YouTube as their trainer, rather than a coach or a training professional.

Image by Peter Lecko, used with permission