Pre-puberty is the period when children learn their first sporting steps

It is very important that children take part in physical activity from the earliest period of their lives, because that way they acquire healthy habits and develop their body, and if it is a sport, then team spirit, motivation and other social characteristics and positive personality traits are strengthened, which will be useful later in life. The period before puberty is the time when the early anatomical adaptation of the heart, lungs, joints and muscles to specific, continuous physical activities takes place, and it covers the period from age 6 to 10. However, training, i.e. physical activity, is then directed at all-round development, not just the chosen sport, and it should be of lower intensity, with the emphasis on fun.

The main goal of training in pre-puberty is to enable children to perform physical activities of extended duration before they feel tired, and those activities should take various forms, from games and learning different techniques, through obstacle courses, to endurance sports, for as long as they enjoy it and it does not cause them stress. They should enjoy training sessions and socialise, and the sessions themselves should be designed in the form of fun and interesting games, because children’s attention is short-lived and focused on action. The emphasis should not be only on running, but on the tasks to be performed while running. Remember that children’s training is not military drill, and the ability to run long distances must under no circumstances be developed the way it is done with adult runners. The sooner they feel pain and discomfort in their muscles and lungs, the sooner children will want to quit training.

When we talk about sport, specifically running, we must point out that genetics has a great influence on good long-distance running results, because almost 70 percent of success depends on good genetics. The ratio of fast- to slow-twitch muscle fibres determines a runner’s potential and is inherited from the mother. But regardless of genetic predispositions, everyone can improve their running capacity, and the greatest contribution to improving it is achieved precisely through proper training in childhood. Pre-puberty is the period when children best adopt new techniques, and if this sensitive period is missed, it is almost impossible to build perfect technique in later stages. You should bear in mind that running itself has a highly developed methodology for learning technique that every child should go through. Running technique is worked on in athletics clubs or sports schools.

Children who train show better results in endurance tests, because tests measuring heart function and maximum oxygen consumption show better results in them than in children who do not train, although the differences are smaller than in adults because of the incomplete development of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. As puberty approaches, aerobic capacity grows as a result of the growth and development of the heart, lungs and muscular system, and at this age breaths are shallow and short and cannot provide enough oxygen for more intensive work. The resting respiratory rate is about 20 breaths per minute, but over time it decreases, while breaths become deeper and longer, and it is the same with the heart rate. The younger the child, the higher their pulse, while it decreases with age.

Below are guidelines for planning training for children:

– use exercises that are as varied as possible and involve running, jumping, throwing, rolling and balance

– the child should find their own running speed themselves, while the real challenge should be the distance covered, not the speed

– every child should spend an equal amount of time in all games and activities

– the duration of one activity should not exceed 60 minutes

– encourage children to do every technique correctly, to invent games themselves and to be creative

– stress the importance of fair play, let boys and girls train together

– give them the chance to try as many sports as possible