Running Technique Training For Kids – How Do We Improve Technique In Kids?

Clumsy?

A very common question we are asked is: “My son/daughter is great at sport, but often falls over/looks uncoordinated / isn’t as fast as the other kids, is this something you can help with?”

Our answer: “Absolutely!”

Practice

What does practice make? I guarantee 95% of you answer with perfect, which isn’t correct! Practice makes permanent. The more we practise something the better we get at it, even if the technique behind that skill is incorrect. Running is the same, and it starts when we are kids.

We are visual learners as human beings, we learn by copying other people, and when we are kids this is often our older siblings and parents. We have a mirror neuron; we copy what we see. However, if our older siblings/parents aren’t running correctly as they were never taught to, we copy that incorrect movement. This is how bad habits develop, and it’s not your fault.

We start running at an age when we can’t train it. We must wait until we turn six or seven to have the ability to assess and identify incorrect movement, and have the mental acuity to be coached to change.

Training kids to run correctly has several benefits:

– Happens fast – often for two reasons:
1.) Kids don’t have years and years of bad habit to re-train and re-learn.
2.) Kids brains are very plastic, they are designed to learn quickly and pick skills up a lot faster than adults.

– Crosses over to all sport – most sports out there involve some form of running, so learning to run and running faster from a young age gives you an advantage.

– Confidence at playtime – the issue we have with kids’ development is that kids know if they aren’t as good as others. If they aren’t good at football, they will play less football, and the gulf between the better players and those who aren’t as good gets bigger. The same principle applies with running. If we can improve technique to improve confidence, the more exercise kids do!

– Longevity – learning how at a young age to run sets you in good stead for a lifetime of efficient movement.

– Injury prevention – learning to run correctly and efficiently reduces the risk of injury.

– Performance – once we move better, we can move faster! We will discuss this in more detail in our next blog post.

Here at FixMyRun, our Manchester running coach organisation, we are specialists at running technique and movement training, which includes training for kids! If you want your son and / or daughter to run better with more confidence, let us know and we can discuss what we can do to help!