Responsible Sports Experts Discuss Training

SOURCE: Hockey USA Responsible Sports Experts discuss training Last month, a Responsible Sports Parent wrote to our panel of experts to ask: Should a high school athlete be allowed to train for sports outside of his normal already-busy school sports schedule. Bert wrote in and asked: “There is a 16-year old 3-sport high school sophomore in our school who is interested in running a full marathon during competitive hockey season. This athlete has never trained for a marathon, plays football, hockey, and runs intermediate track distance events. One of his parents is a runner who has successfully completed 3 marathons, and feels that the son is capable of participation without detriment to schoolwork/other interests/commitments and wishes the son to enter/compete in the next one. But the other parent is not a runner, and feels the son may not fully understand the impact of training/participation and does not want son to train or participate due to commitments to high school sports teams/studies and possible wear-and-tear injuries. What would you advise? Which parent is right?” We asked two of our experts to weigh in. Ken Rausch, Manager of Youth Hockey for USA Hockey and former NCAA Division I National Champion with Boston University, weighed in and had this to say: RauschKenny“Training for a marathon is a long and arduous process. I am training for one now and it seems like a part time job. Many hours are needed for training and recovery. Given that, I am not sure how appropriate it is for a 16-year-old to be running a full 26.2 miles. I would think that in a time of great change in an adolescence’s body (growth spurts, hormones, etc.) a teen might be even more prone to overuse injury. In addition, training for a marathon and a sport like hockey or soccer are very different. Hockey and soccer are primarily anaerobic sports that typically train fast twitch muscle fibers. Marathon training is primarily aerobic training that trains slow twitch muscle fibers. While training both is important, marathon training takes one to the extreme. If it were my son or daughter, I would advise them to stick to what they are currently doing in high school and to focus on their current sports and academics. There will always be time a little later in life to train for and run a marathon.” And Tina Syer, Chief Impact Officer from Positive Coaching Alliance answered: ask the expert 225“I believe the parents’ role in this sort of situation is to help guide their child through a decision making process that will result in him making the best decision about whether or not to train for and compete in this marathon. From what you’ve written, it certainly does sound like this student athlete has a full plate, but if he’s hitting his goals in the classroom, with his already existing sports commitments, and with other family obligations, then it seems he’s earned the right to add more to his plate, if he determines he’s passionate enough to do it. As a former high school coach, I would also encourage him to talk with his hockey coach. He might just go to the coach and say, “I want to talk with you about my desire to run a marathon later this spring. I realize that’s during our season, so that’s why I’m here to talk with you about it.” If after talking with his coach, he still wants to move forward with the marathon, I’d have my son talk with an athletic trainer or sports medicine doctor about his training plans. They can give him specific tips on how to avoid overuse injuries – and perhaps even give your family some warning signs to keep an eye out for during training. We talk about sports’ ability to help kids learn life lessons, and figuring out whether or not it’s the right move for him to participate in this marathon is a wonderful process for your 16-year-old to go through at this time in his life.”