Long-Term Player Development for Softball in Canada

As parents, we recognize that sports and physical activity play an important role in our children’s healthy growth and development, but in recent times physical activity has suffered serious decline among Canadian children.

Medical and sport research shows that our children are increasingly at risk for obesity and disease due to low levels of activity and poor nutritional habits. Some experts have also suggested that Canada is producing declining performances in international competition due to a lack of physical activity and sport development during childhood years.

Your child may already be involved in physical activity and sports, or you may be wondering how to get your child started. Download the Parent's Guide to read more about Long-Term Player Development (LTPD), a model for development in physical activity and sport that not only provides a safe, enjoyable, and progressive pathway for children to pursue healthy physical activity, but also provides a pathway to excellence.

Why does Softball Ontario support Long Term Player Development?

Softball Ontario supports Long Term Player Development because it:

• helps all children to be physically literate (competent in fundamental movement skills for sport and physical activity).
• recognizes that children play to have FUN.
• is a pathway to excellence from playground or pond to podium.
• allows all Canadians to be physically active through sport and recreation participation 

What are the various levels of Long Term Player Development?

Long Term Player Development consists of seven (7) stages:

• Active Start
  (Chronological Ages Males & Females 0-6)
  • Focus on learning proper movement skills such as running, jumping, wheeling, twisting, kicking, throwing, and catching; combined with well-structured gymnastics and swimming programs
  • Fitness and movement skills development as FUN and part of daily life
  • Daily physical activity, not sedentary for more than 60 minutes except when sleeping
  • Some organized physical activity and exploration of risk and limits in safe environments
     
• FUNdamentals Stage
  (Chronological Ages Males 6-9 & Females 6-8)
  • Focus on general overall development, FUN and participation of daily physical activity
  • Integrated mental, cognitive, and emotional development; Introduce simple rules of sport ethics
  • ABC’s of Athleticism: agility, balance, coordination, and speed
  • ABC’s of Athletics: running, jumping, wheeling, and throwing
  • No periodization, but well-structured programs
     
• Learning to Train Stage
  (Chronological/Developmental Ages Males 9-12 & Females 8-11)
  • Major skill learning stage: all basic movement and sport skills should be learned before entering next stage
  • Overall physical, mental, cognitive, and emotional development; introduction to mental prep
  • Medicine ball, Swiss ball, own body strength exercise; introduce ancillary capacities
  • Single or double periodization
  • Sport specific training 3 times week; participation in other sports 3 times a week
     
• Training to Train Stage
  (Chronological/Developmental Ages Males 12-16 & Females 11-15)
  • Major fitness development stage: aerobic and strength. The onset of Peak Height Velocity (PHV)
  • Sport specific skill development and integrated mental, cognitive, and emotional development
  • Develop mental preparation, introduce free weights, develop ancillary capacities
  • Frequent musculoskeletal evaluations during PHV, Single or double periodization
  • Sport specific training 6-9 times per week including complementary sports
     
• Training to Compete Stage
  (Chronological/Developmental Ages Males 16-23 +/- & Females 15-21 +/-)
  • Sport/position-specific physical conditioning, tactical preparation, technical and playing skills under competitive conditions
  • Integrated mental, cognitive, and emotional development, and advanced mental preparation
  • Specialization with single, double, or triple periodization
  • Sport specific technical, tactical and fitness training 9-12 times per week
     
• Training to Win Stage
  (Chronological/Developmental Ages Males 19 +/- & Females 18 +/-)
  • Focus on high performance, maintenance and improvement of physical capacities
  • Further development of technical, tactical, and playing skills
  • Modelling all possible aspects of training and performance
  • Frequent preventative breaks permitting recovery to avoid injuries, Maximize ancillary capacities
  • Sport specific technical, tactical, and fitness training 9-15 times per week
     
• Active for Life
  (Enter at Any Age)
  • Focus on being physically active for life with a minimum of 60 minutes moderate daily activity or 30 minutes of intense activity for adults
  • Transfer from one sport to another or move from competitive sport to recreational activities
  • Move from highly competitive sport to lifelong competitive sport through age group competition
  • Move to sport careers or volunteering
  • Better opportunity to be Active for Life if physical literacy is achieved before the Training to Train stage

Want to Learn More?

Learn more about Long Term Player Development by downloading the Parent's Guide:

A Parent's Guide	downloads: 627 | type: pdf | size: 2 MB
The goal of this booklet is to help you understand the needs of young athletes and what may be done to promote their best interests in staying active and healthy. In these pages you will read about Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD), a model for development in physical activity and sport that not only provides a safe, enjoyable, and progressive pathway for children to pursue healthy physical activity, but also provides a pathway to excellence.