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Long Term Athlete Development
 
LTAD having an impact on sport and all involved
 

 

'The 10 Year / 10,000 hour rule'
Dr Istvan Balyi* developed the Long-term Athlete Development (LTAD) model. His work was instigated by scientific research that shows it takes between 8-12 years of training for a talented athlete to reach elite levels (Bloom 1985; Ericsson et al. 1993; Ericsson and Charness 1994.)

Although the model was developed to support the successful development of elite athletes it also serves to promote a life-long healthy involvement in sport and exercise, and to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential in sport (whether that is to be a future performance athlete, or simply to gain social skills, confidence and a positive attitude to sport and exercise)
 
The model looks to complement the above rule (and therefore a life-long involvement in sport) through the following phases:

 

 

Phase Objective
To learn FUNdamental movement skills
To Learn FUNdamental sports skills
To build fitness and specific sports skills
To refine skills for the specific event or position
To maximise performance in competition
For athletes/players for retiring from competitive sport, many sports are developing Master Programmes. An additional phase -retainment - keeps the players/athletes involved in physical activity.

 

The phases look to redress the approach that many coaches take of training athletes to win as soon as they start to participate in sport. The model looks to ensure that the levels and activities of participation in sport are appropriate to the athletes physiological and psychological state, which develops as they do.
 
 
LTAD for NGB's
National Governing Bodies are in the process of re examining their programmes to adopt the model into their sports. Some sports have adapted this model to suit their sport, but the principle focus of being athlete centred remains at the heart of the process.
 
The model that National Governing Bodies choose to adopt is also influenced by the requirements of their sport. A sport can be classified as either an early specialisation or late specialisation...
 
Early specialisation refers to the fact that some sports require early sport-specific specialisation in training. Sports that fall into this category are: gymnastics, figure skating, diving and table tennis. (Istvan Balyi (2002)
 
Late specialisation sports need a general approach to early training, concentrating on the development of fundamental motor and technical/tactical skills, before moving in to sport specific training. Sports that fall into this category are: Athletics, combat sports, cycling, rowing and team sports (Istvan Balyi (2002).  (For further sports specific information on this please contact your National Governing Body)
 
Learning the ABC's
Key to the LTAD process is the FUNdamental phase as it looks to develop the movement skills required in every sport and physical activity through FUN games and activities. Development of these movement skills is key to ensuring correct movement patterns and body control, which enables the correct development of sports techniques in subsequent phases.
 
The importance of fundamental movement skills has long been recognised, but the development of the model and the named stages gives a clear approach for everyone involved in sport to work with to ensure that players reach their maximum potential.
 
 
How can I learn more about LTAD?
To support the implementation of LTAD, Suffolk Sport regularly runs the sports coach UK workshops 'An introduction to Long term Athlete Development' and 'The FUNdamentals of Movement'. To find out when the next courses are running, click here 
 
sports coach UK have produced a number of resources and workshops, which are detailed on the scUK Website at www.sportscoachuk.org and that can be ordered through
Coachwise at www.1st4sport.com
 
Useful resources/further reading from sports coach UK:
Or contact your National Governing Body for information on the model and how it relates to your sport.
 
 
*Dr Istvan Balyi is an internationally recognised coach educator and has published worldwide on LTAD.
 
 
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