From FMS to Fundamental Sport Skills, ages 8 - 12

We’ve explored a little bit about the importance of physical literacy and developing the fundamental movement skills (FMS) in early childhood here. But developing those skills is just the first stage in what will hopefully be a lifelong and constantly evolving mastery of different ways of moving. Within Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) framework, that means entering the Learn To Train stage, which is generally from ages 9 - 12 for boys and 8 - 11 for girls.

This is the stage when we move from developing different ways of moving to learning the skills that are fundamental to participating in sport. It is also a stage of accelerated learning of coordination and fine motor skills - and also a time when kids start to notice and enjoy seeing their own progress.

While it is still generally too early at this stage for specialization, many kids will start to have a preference for one sport or another. However, for full athletic development, kids this age still need to engage in a broad range of activities, participating in at least 2 - 3 different kinds of sports.

This is also a great window to start to work on flexibility (better understood as maximizing range of motion in your joints and muscles) and endurance - start to lengthen activities like walking, running, swimming, bike-riding, skiing, skating, etc. At this age, kids need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, and even though this can be broken up into chunks throughout the day, progressively longer stretches increase capacity and can also increase their enjoyment of certain activities.

Lots of kids at this age like the excitement of competition, but learning should still be the focus of organized sport. Sport for Life’s guidelines suggest a split of 70% learning, practice, and play, and 30% competition for this age group.

Some other considerations: no matter where you live and what the weather’s like (within reason, of course!), encourage your kids to get outside and play with their friends. Unstructured - even risky - play is still the gold standard for developing physical literacy and confidence at a young age. And try different things in different seasons and in different contexts: fields, snow, ice, water, tracks, trails, and gyms all offer different opportunities and novelty - a key component of keeping kids motivated.

One more thing: no matter who they are, your kid is an athlete. I don’t even know them but I know that this is true. Our bodies were made to move! So even if they hate PE at school, or maybe there’s something that keeps them from doing the standard-issue stuff - don’t give up. I can almost guarantee that there’s something out there for them, and even if it just looks like play - especially if it just looks like play - I’d bet there’s movement and coordination and other skills in there too. Help them find that thing and just keep doing it. 

All about the ABCs: Agility, Balance, and Coordination (with a dash of "s" for Speed)

Agility, balance, coordination, and speed are useful in almost every sport, and are absolutely CRITICAL for aging well. Developing these skills early on and mastering them throughout the lifespan is one of the secrets to longevity. From Sport For Life:

“Some sports and activities are better at developing one or more of the ABCs than others, and the key sports are: 

• Gymnastics is a great way for young children to learn and develop their agility, balance, and coordination

• Athletics (track and field) is a great way to develop speed and coordination

• Skating and skiing (and snowboarding) provide great opportunities for the development of balance, coordination and speed

• Soccer helps with speed, agility, and coordination

• In addition to developing confidence and safety in the water, swimming develops   balance and coordination

• Cycling (or skateboarding or horse riding) to develop balance and the judgment of speed.”

... and of course karate is great for agility, balance, coordination, mastering complex moves, and gaining physical confidence 😁.

Keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive! Depending on your resources and where you live, you may need to get creative about helping make sure the young people in your life are developing the physical literacy required to carry actively into adulthood. But the payoffs - in confidence, community, long-term health, and even environmental stewardship! - are enormous. 

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Resources:

Canadian Paediatric Society: www.cps.ca

Canadian Sport for Life: https://sportforlife.ca

Participaction: www.participaction.com

Physical Health & Education (PHE) Canada: https://phecanada.ca