Do you remember the two old men (named Statler and Waldorf) who used to criticize the rest of the puppet crew from the theater balcony in every episode of The Muppet Show? Anyone who remembers them wouldn’t be surprised if these two, watching the training or games of today’s young athletes, mischievously remarked:
“Look at how uncoordinated that one moves. And he keeps dropping the ball from his hands. And look at the one next to him – his left leg is only good for stepping onto a tram... Neither of them will ever become a proper athlete.”
Luckily for us, Statler and Waldorf chose the puppet theater for their critiques rather than the sports field, right?
But since we’ve brought them up, let’s ask: “Would the two old men from The Muppet Show be right?”
The answer is – both YES and NO!
Children today move less than ever before. Casual play in playgrounds and parks has been replaced by social media interactions and button-mashing on various devices. The result? A lack of spontaneous motor development, which previous generations developed through informal play at a satisfactory level. This spontaneous motor development made it easier and faster for them to acquire sports skills.
Today, kids enter organized sports early, where the focus is on specific movement patterns from the start. In training, they aren’t taught to roll, fall, or jump; young soccer players don’t learn to catch and throw balls with their hands; young basketball players don’t juggle soccer balls; young tennis players don’t catch frisbees or throw balls into hoops.
We see a lack of coordinated hand and foot movements, no rhythm in their movements, no "feel" for the ball, and poor spatial awareness on the field. Balance is often lost in crucial moments.
If youth coaches don’t identify and address these shortcomings early on with appropriate exercises, then Statler and Waldorf’s initial comments would likely turn out to be accurate.
A lack of coordination is often the result of insufficient stimuli and challenges placed before young athletes.
Knowing this, there is a solution:
The solution is to integrate coordination development into regular training for young athletes from the earliest days. We emphasize – from the earliest days. The sooner a child begins improving their coordination and developing various motor patterns, the easier and faster they will later acquire sports skills and meet tactical demands.
Here’s what you should know:
From ages 6–9: It’s crucial to repeat certain movements/actions purposefully to ensure precise and stable execution
From ages 10–14: This period includes two phases.
The initial phase, where the high plasticity of the nervous system provides a golden opportunity to achieve significant coordination development through diverse sports exposure, enriching the "movement library," and varying activities.
The final phase, where due to rapid growth and development, it’s important to stabilize learned abilities. Despite this, expect reduced precision and quality in execution during this phase.
From ages 15–18: Coordination can still be improved, but significant results are hard to achieve if coordination development was neglected in earlier stages.
To simplify: Every child is born with millions of nerve cells. If we don’t provide young athletes with diverse challenges and stimuli, especially in the early days of sports participation, many of these nerve cells will simply die off and disappear forever—simply because they couldn’t connect with other cells and take on a specific function.
There is an abundant supply of nerve cells—it’s just a matter of how they’re utilized. The best way to do this is through coordination training, which must become a mandatory part of youth sports development today.
Youth coaches, take action now! Access our 4-part program, “Integral Physical Conditioning for Young Athletes” featuring an in-depth Coordination Training video as one of its key components.
Invest in the future of your young athletes and help them unlock their full potential!
Wishing you success,
Igor Macner
