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Last Updated: 3 Jul 2021 - 10:52:54 AM |
IRISH YOUTH CYCLIST'S - ARE THEY RACING TOO MUCH?
By Paddy Doran
11 Aug 2010,
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Last Sundays Junior World Championship winner is only cycling for one year. How does his development compare to Irish youth cyclists?
Before I begin this article I want to lay out my stall and where I am coming from on this issue as some people who may be upset with the article might try to put this article and or me into the negativity box. Bang, Bang the sound of the messenger being shot!
WHERE I'M COMING FROM
' I know that the Irish juniors in this years Worlds have given their all and that they probably are very disappointed that they did'nt perform better.
- They had performed reasonably well at the European championships
- They more than likely are capable of performing better
- Some of them may go on to be very good cyclist's
- I love to see Irish riders doing well on the International stage,
- I believe Irish riders can be developed to very high standards
- I really like to see riders developing to their full potential whether they are very talented or of average ability
- I believe in doing everything correctly in regard to development of riders and coaching.
- I believe the youth section of cycling is not doing the best things to develop our future cyclist
- I also believe that they work hard for youth cycling and give a lot of their time
THE MAIN REASON FOR THIS ARTICLE
I had a question from a person I met this week in regard to concerns they had about young cyclist's in their part of the country who are racing up to five times some weeks, in some cases these riders were as young as U12.
NEW JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION
Lets look at the background of the new Junior Worlds Road Champion Olivier Le Gac of France. According to jean Francois Quenet on www,cyclingnews.com Le Gac is still only 16 years old and was playing football up to just a year ago and has only recently taken up cycling but has already been quite successful. Le Gac was also a provincial champion for cross-country running twice. Le Gac has stated that his main goal next year will be to pass his A level exams.
So here we have a rider who has participated in other sports at a young age, which is believed to be the best practise for developing athlete. Participation in many sports creates the best foundation of skills, tactical ability, and physical development as well as enhancing enjoyment of sport.
EARLY SPECIALISATION
The very opposite of this approach is early specialisation which results in the athlete focussing on one sport only. What this leads to is training and racing at only one sport at a very young age.
Sports science Experts believe and research shows that the early specialisation approach results in poor development of athletes and early dropout from sport.
I have no knowledge of how our Junior Worlds team approached their sport over the last number of years whether they were early specialisers or were involved in other sports as well.
IRISH YOUTH CYCLING
I would be very concerned about our current approach at youth level. What I see is a mini-racing programme with parents flying around the country chasing races for their children here and there. The common refrain from people involved with youth road cycling especially, seems to be, 'WE NEED MORE RACES' which is probably the most worrying part of the system.
THE BIG QUESTION
If we return to the question about very young Irish riders racing up to five times per week. Compare what these young Irish rider are doing now compared to the winner of last Sundays Junior World Championship early years. The question has to be asked, will these young Irish riders even still be racing or cycling by the time they reach junior level?
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