In the evolving world of sport and physical activity, the Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity (LTD) framework developed by Sport for Life represents a strategic approach designed to foster lifelong engagement in sport and physical activity. This framework is especially crucial for community leaders and parents who play pivotal roles in shaping the sport experiences of young participants.

Here, we explore five key benefits of LTD and why it is instrumental in your child’s athletic and personal development.

1. Holistic Development

The LTD framework emphasizes the holistic development of participants. Unlike traditional models that focus primarily on physical skills and high performance, LTD integrates the development of physical, mental, social, and sport-specific capabilities. This approach ensures that children grow not only as participants but also as well-rounded individuals. For instance, the Learn to Train stage of LTD focuses on teaching fundamental movement skills while also encouraging cognitive understanding of the sport, which is crucial for developing decision-making skills and sport intelligence.

2. Prevention of Burnout & Overtraining

One of the fundamental principles of LTD is to match training and competition to the developmental age of the participants, which helps in preventing burnout and overtraining. This is particularly important as children grow, as their engagement should be based on enjoyment and skill development rather than the pressure of early specialization. The LTD framework’s stage-based approach ensures that young participants are not pushed too hard too early, which can lead to physical and psychological burnout.

3. Increased Retention in Sport

By focusing on enjoyment and appropriate developmental challenges, LTD helps increase retention rates in sport. Young participants who enjoy their sport experience and feel challenged at a suitable level are more likely to continue participating. This is crucial in an era where many young people drop out of sport due to negative experiences or undue pressure. For example, the Active Start and FUNdamentals stages prioritize fun and fundamental movement skills acquisition, which are key to fostering a lifelong love for sport.

4. Better Long-Term Performance Outcomes

Participants trained under the LTD framework tend to achieve better long-term performance outcomes. This is because the framework provides a foundation of broad-based skills before specializing, which is critical for peak performance at older ages. This underscores the advantage of multisport participation at younger ages, leading to better skill development, fewer injuries, and a greater chance of sporting success in the long term.

5. Enhanced Social Integration & Teamwork Skills

One of the other important benefits of LTD is its ability to enhance social integration and teamwork skills among children. By engaging in sports that require cooperation and communication, children learn essential social skills such as empathy, leadership, and conflict resolution. These experiences contribute to their overall social development and help them build meaningful relationships with peers. The LTD framework, through its various stages, ensures that these social skills are developed in tandem with physical and cognitive skills, providing a more comprehensive growth environment for children. This aspect of development is crucial as it helps young participants not only excel in sports but also succeed in group activities and team settings throughout their lives, promoting a sense of community and belonging.

In today’s world, it can be challenging to raise kids who like and want to move. But don’t despair, there’s a recipe to help you raise kids who will like (if not love) to move. And as we know, when kids love doing something, they keep doing it.

A Super Healthy “Smoothie” to Raise Kids Energy

The recipe to get kids moving is to serve them a daily dose of three ingredients: skills, confidence, and the love of movement. When you “blend” these three ingredients, they become a “super-smoothie” that kids can’t resist. We call this powerful recipe “physical literacy.”

Like all healthy food, the power of this blend comes from the goodness of its ingredients. Good ingredients make you healthy from the inside-out. Kale, for example, the superfood of the moment, is a “nutrition superstar” because it’s full of vitamins A, B6, K and C, and full of cancer-fighting ingredients.

And that’s what the three ingredients of physical literacy do to kids’ bodies and brains: it gets them healthy from the inside-out. But there’s more. Each one of the three ingredients amplifies the goodness of the other ingredients.

How Physical Literacy Works Inside Your Child’s Body and Brain

Imagine you’re sitting on the living room floor with your two-year-old. Your child is watching you play with a foam ball. You smile and laugh as you throw the soft ball against the wall and catch it after it bounces back to you. Your child can’t take her eyes away from you.

And then you turn to your child and give them the spongy ball. Your child smiles, looks up at you and then throws the ball too. The ball flies sideways. You laugh, and so does your child.

With kind words and a smile, you praise your child’s effort (“Well done!”). You watch as your toddler fetches the ball and throws it and laughs again.

As your child throws the ball, magic is taking place in their young brain. They watch the ball fly, your toddler’s brain engages, adapts and makes new connections. As all of this brain activity is taking place, your child is developing the skill of throwing.

Magic also takes place when you react with kind and constructive words. Every time you recognize how hard your child is trying, or how much they are learning, your child’s confidence in their ability to throw a ball grows.

The best part of this simple game is the addictive joy that fills both your child and you. Joy leads your child to throw the ball, over and over. As they throw, they get better at it. Their confidence grows and they experience more pleasure, which leads them to throw the ball some more. In that moment, your child falls in love with throwing a ball.

As an elementary school PE teacher—and dad—I know how important it is for kids to get lots of active play, every day. Here’s how I’m keeping my four-year-old active during this unprecedented time:

1. Keep it simple

We walk daily. Rain or shine. They say adults go for walks but children go on adventures. During these adventures, we’ve looked for animals in the forest, picked up natural loose parts to make a magic “potion,” and we’ve done a few window walks, looking for hearts. My toddler has also ridden her bike, and created her own obstacle course.

2. Learn new skills or improve a skill

When we go outside to play, I like to let my daughter lead the activities. This improves her engagement in staying active because the ideas come from her and not her dad. I like to keep the garage door open when we’re outside, and she’ll go in and choose what she wants to play with. Lately, she’s been wanting to learn how to hula hoop or skateboard (we work on her balance while she’s holding my hands).

Here are other ideas that you could try with your children (you’ll get more engagement from them if you also give it a try!):

• Learn how to juggle a soccer ball. If that seems too difficult just now, you can start by keeping a balloon up with your feet.

• Improve your basketball dribbling skills. Try using both hands.

• If your access to sports equipment is limited, take the time to improve your flexibility.

• Challenge your family with minute-to-win-it activities (How many jumping jacks can you do in a minute? How many times can you successfully attempt a bottle flip?).

3. Try an online activity video

Sometimes it’s fun to just follow along with a video on YouTube. We’ve noticed that when we ask her if she wants to try a video, she’ll often say no. However, if we just put the video on and start working out she’ll eventually join us.

4. Your physical education teacher can help!

Don’t be shy to send an email to your children’s PE teachers. We love to hear from the kids we teach! Or, if you search for #HPEatHome on Twitter, you’ll find plenty of amazing ideas from PE teachers all over the world.

For more ideas, you can join the Active at Home Facebook group.