Years ago, in a galaxy far far away, children, many of them aspiring young athletes, would spend their summer days and after school pre-dusk hours playing outside in backyards, sandlots, woods, and playgrounds across America. These marathon sessions of movement allowed children to develop many basic physical skills. Games like tag and kick the can involved sprinting and numerous changes of speed and direction. Climbing trees or wrestling with friends developed total body strength and body awareness. Riding bikes or running on trails through the woods provided very sufficient cardiovascular benefits. As the children experienced more of these activities, this foundation of physical skills grew and expanded. When the time was right as these children grew older they would use this physical foundation as a platform to learn and master more complex movements like the skills found in sports like baseball, football, soccer and basketball etc. Children played many sports throughout the school year, and summertime was for vacation and camps. The words A.C.L. reconstruction or Tommy John surgery were literally non-existent because young athletes were hardly ever exposed to one activity long enough to cause overuse problems... #LTAD

Play... Explore... Problem solve... Have fun... Repeat! #LTAD

My 10 year old Friday night: I want to go to a QB clinic... My 10 year old Saturday morning: I can't wait for my basketball game today... My 10 year old Sunday Morning: I don't want to play baseball this year... My 10 year old Sunday afternoon after the batting cage: I can't wait for baseball games to start... Kids literally change their mind by the hour...nothing is set in stone. Encourage them to try lot's of different stuff. Variety and diversity of movement is literally the life blood of athletic development and #LTAD