Youth sports and training for youth sports have largely become exercises of pressure and fear. Only perfect or near perfect performance is deemed worthy of praise, while anything short of the desired outcome is met with negative feedback. Repercussions for poor performance or lack of aptitude or skill are oftentimes severe. The sad reality is that for all but the best athletes, sport participation may often lead to feelings of inadequecy and low self esteem. Because of this many young athletes today have lost the joy and innocence of what sport and fitness participation truly are, and the stark reallity is that they never fully develop a lifelong love for movement.

 

At Vector Athletics, using the Long Term Athletic Development approch, athletes are taught to search for continual improvement rather than immediate performance as the principle marker of athletic success. This mentality encourages the young athlete to develop a far more useful and powerful approach to success and personal improvement, both athletic and otherwise. Using this approach, reasoning and creativity are enhanced. Problem-solving skills are better developed. Perhaps most importantly, self-worth is preserved due to the fact that "success" is an ability demonstrated over time rather than an instantaneous or momentary expression of skill linked directly to any one splecific performance. Because athletes using this approach associate success with improvement rather than performance, burnout and dropout issues that currently plague the youth sports culture may be averted.