What about the frequency of “racing” for the different age groups? Any recommendations here? Often going through the multisport activity is a major motivator.
There is no easy answer to this question. There is clearly a trade-off, for many children races are exciting and engaging, and having access to these on a regular basis is ideal. Consider other team sports where competition is often on a weekly basis throughout a season. For young athletes in Triathlon however the issue can be that they are also being asked to race at Swim Meets, Athletics races, and may be involved in other sports (e.g. team sports). Keeping a careful watch on children and younger athletes can allow you to see signs of being over trained, or over raced. A good sign is often how keen they are to race, if they are hesitant or don’t seem keen take time to find out why. A common problem can be the obsessive parent or coach who demands too much of a child, eventually this can lead you to driving them away from a sport, or even sport in general. The other danger side is the obsessive athlete who demands to race/train constantly but to the point where it has a negative impact on their mental or physical health, at this point coaches and parents should intervene to protect the individual form themselves, and find a healthy long term solution. As athletes progress though their teenage years, racing can be great fun, and also where they may build a social network, it can be great team building to travel and race with friends. From a competitive point of view, racing often builds experience, skills and race craft, which it can be heard to learn elsewhere. So maybe the answer is race often, but only while the athlete is enjoying it and not having a detrimental effect on their mental / physical health or wider life in general.
How About Some "parent and kid" events to keep the fun and joy? What is your opinion on that?
This can be a great idea, and can work at any age for the kids. When they are very young, having a helping parent run around with them can build confidence and increase the enjoyment, provided the parent adopts the right approach, encouraging and supportive. There are a range of options here, as they get older you could have family relay teams, where mum, dad, and two kids race as a team. In the past in my club, we had swim competitions where the parents actually raced the kids, it was seeded on ability in each race, but often the 10 year would easily outswim their, or someone else’s, 40 year parent (who hadn’t got much swim experience). In reality the kids enjoyed it and the parents had to be talked into competing. Use your imagination and for younger age groups, it might not look too much like triathlon, but if you are building events based around swim, bike and run and everyone is having fun, then that sets up the potential for lifelong enjoyment of sport.
For 4 and 5 year olds this format is too complicated. Maybe we should separate the disciplines and score them like a triathlon?
yes this is a good idea, for younger ages and those newer to the sport, it can be sensible to split the events, so instead of a transition in the middle of a race, these become a rest time, when the clock stops. Often at these ages and maybe for some up to 8-9 they don’t really understand the concepts of racing against the stopwatch anyway, so the idea of timing is not really that important. Introducing individual discipline events, then aquathlon, duathlon type events and finally triathlon is a good progression for youngsters and anyone starting in the sport. This could be extended to any other multisport concepts you may consider, such as aspects of winter triathlon, depending upon where you live and what you have access to.
The guidelines cover recommendations for individual races - any consideration for Mixed Team Relay events, as most younger athletes enjoy them and it’s a good way to mix ages to keep all involved?
We decided initially to focus on individual events in the first release, but there is some mention of Mixed Team Relay events and we would encourage anyone organising races to consider this as a great way of introducing the sport and keeping those involved actively engaged. Two immediate options include, mixed team relay, where everyone does all 3 disciplines and a general relay, where each person only does one discipline as part of the team. This second approach can be a great way to introduce those with less experience to multisport, they take part and become involved, and can get to see and experience the joy of multisport. Any future updates on the guidance could well add more in this area.
When you go to the background of world champions in mostly any sport, they usually tell that "since I was 6 year old I dream of being an Olympic or world champion" so those individuals were and are competitive all their career, they are not in sport just for enjoyment but for winning.
This is true, and as we saw from Emma’s comments that was her pathway, and she was very successful as a result. So on one hand, those looking after these athletes need to encourage, guide and support these athletes to reach their potential. Often they don’t need encouragement or motivation. They have all the passion required, and it’s the job of coaches to provide them with the right support, the opportunities and to mentor them through the very complex world of development through teenage years into adulthood. But equally tricky for the coaches out there are the people who don’t necessarily have that belief, but who have the potential, can they be nourished and supported in the right way, and last but not least, those who enjoy sport, but who have no competitive aspirations, and they too should be supported by Triathlon as a whole. As a coach working with younger athletes its not always clear which group an individual fits into, until later in their teenage years, they can be late and early developers both physically but also from a psychological and maturity perspective. So be careful not to pigeon hole individuals too early. It is often the case that into the teenage years the best way is that different coaches run different groups so that you can focus activities towards the needs of differently motivated athletes. But be careful always to allow the ability of individuals to discover a new motivation and swap between groups.
Wouldn’t the 2 extra years in the junior category be better focused on speed before they jump up to standard distance even just to try out can be overdoing it?
Whether it is overdoing it for a 17 year old to do a standard distance race is very much specific to an individual. In most cases, yes that is a sensible approach, get fast and technically very good in your teenage years, and then in your twenties, when you're more robust and strong, try and maintain this speed over longer distances. It’s usually easier to help an athlete train to go longer but slightly slower, than it is to get them faster. You have to have the long term goal in mind and the health of the athlete. However, there are athletes that may benefit from longer racing a little earlier than others. If we consider Alistair Brownlee finished 12th in the Beijing Olympics at the age of 20. There is usually the argument that you do better in your second Olympics, which he clearly did. If he hadn’t raced standard distance in the years proceeding Beijing, would he have qualified. Incidentally he also raced in a Helvellyn Triathlon and won in 2007 as a 19 year old, look it up, it’s a very tough middle distance race. Now Alistair is clearly at one end of the spectrum in what he is capable of, and has had an amazing career. We certainly wouldn’t suggest this approach for many young athletes, but you can argue that it was the right approach for him. Would he have had less injuries if he had waited until later to do longer races, it's hard to tell. This decision process is hard to make however and usually requires an experienced coach to weigh up all the issues and even then it's hard to know. If you are in doubt, stay with shorter faster racing, and seek guidance from more experienced coaches.
What is your opinion regarding 18 - 19 years athletes, racing/training for half distance (70.3)? Presumed with 6 to 7 years of structured training, good base & foundation in bike & run as well - not juniors who are new to endurance sports or triathlon. We all know this has been a "taboo" for junior athletes going long.. connecting it to over-training, injuries, killing speed in juniors etc. Has there been studies? and what is your experience, or thoughts on this?
Following on from the previous question this is just a more extreme version of the same question. I’m not aware of specific studies on this. But I’d reiterate the previous points made. One point I would add here though from personal experience is a while ago, we had two very good athletes who were in their early 20s, and were very competitive, one went on to win Age Group World Gold medal and race Domestic UK Elite level, the other has gone onto finish in top ten at Kona in Ironman. Even in the mid-twenties one was very robust for everything, including teh running. The other was from a swim background, but not as robust on the run, and got injured if they tried the same run program. The point I’m making is that this can still be an issue into the mid twenties for well trained athletes, so it’s certainly an issue for teenagers. So the question is for coaches is - this could be a big risk, is it worth risking the athletes career on. Middle distance and longer distance athletes can be successful well into their 30s so why rush it with all the risks involved. For a very small minority it might work, but it's high risk and may not even have a good payback!
How much rest time should be given to the athletes before the next competition?
Again, it depends, upon their age, if they are 8 and just done a race that lasted 12 minutes, you may find a keen one, wanting to do it again, half an hour later. If you're 16 and just raced hard over an hour for a spring distance, they certainly won’t want to do it again the same day or even the next day. At younger age groups, racing every couple of weeks is not uncommon, and in some countries there are race series where the implication is racing regularly. We’d refer back to the previous answer, and it’s working out how the athlete is coping with the races and how much recovery they need individually. For those under say 12 years old, racing is partly where they develop fitness and certainly where enjoyment comes, but it doesn’t take too much out of them due to the distance. As they get more competitive and older, a more well thought through race and recovery strategy needs to be developed.
Are the same principles apply for kids with impairments?
Great question, and honestly not one that was considered in much depth. This is certainly something that could be enhanced in a future version. However, as a common theme to these answers, initially we should be including everyone here, so considering when putting on events, is the run route on a hard paved surface suitable for race wheelchair for example? Also, following a recurring topic, it depends upon the individual, how can then be involved to a level where they are given the opportunity to show what they can do.
What are your views on restricting gears for young athletes who compete on race bikes during competition?
One of the ideas behind gear restrictions, is that by limiting gears it stops those athletes who are early physically developed exploiting their superior strength on the bike to win races. They then need to use skills and higher cadence, effectively develop skill to win, rather than just strength, the aim being in the long run they become better all-round athletes, and also late developers are not put off by having no chance of competing until they have developed physically. Several NFs use an approach to gear restrictions, for example there is an explanation and guidance on British Triathlon website. In an early draft of the guidance we included gear restrictions as an optional element that NFs could implement, however we eventually removed it for a few key reasons. It is logistically hard to implement at a race, and needs well trained staff, and also a way of educating parents and athletes in advance, so avoid issues on race day. The last thing you want is an athlete being asked to modify their gears 30 minutes before a race otherwise they aren’t allowed to race, and having no idea how to do it. That will put people off the sport. Also some NFs have tried gear limiting and then decided to stop using it, partly because of the issue already raised, but also because they weren’t convinced it helped in youth development anyway. As with everything in this document it is guidance, so NFs and coaches are free to try their own approach, but go into these decisions knowing the potential problems and possible benefits. This is exactly why we wanted to have this webinar, because the whole subject is not clear cut and there often the answer is ‘it depends. But you need to know what it depends upon and how to make a decision.
Triathlon Denmark are at this moment working towards hosting a seminar for YOUTH coaches - in the fall of 2021 or spring 2022. Any ideas as to how we might find other interested National Federations and the best possible guest speakers?
This is great news and the more that can be done for youth development the better. Please contact Development@Tritahlon.org to discuss further.
Is it sufficient for young triathletes to train just once a week? I am coaching 6-15 years old and only coach them once a week every Sunday morning. Would this be sufficient to develop them as triathletes / duathletes? If it is insufficient, what can I do if face to face coaching is not possible for the once a week I am currently conducting?
Ideally those wanting to specialise as a Triathlon will need more than 1 session a week. For 6 years old 1 session of triathlon a week is fine, to introduce the sport, with the idea being they are getting access to swimming, cycling and running at other times. The reality of many coaches working with children is as you describe. Ideally those in mid tee years will be doing several more hours than you mention, but one option is to build relationships with swim, run, cycling coaches to understand what else they are doing. A Triathlon specific coach may then have the role of working out from their other training what is missing, and then provide the missing elements, obviously transition is a common thing to cover, but there are many others depending what is commonly offered in your area. If they aren’t getting other training elsewhere a coach can perhaps suggest training they can do on their own, perhaps setting skills to learn as ‘homework’ or challenges of doing runs and rides ver certain distances.
