The sports initiation is outlined as a necessary process for the training of new sports talents, but at the same time as an essential element for the creation of intellectually and motorically healthy adults.
To avoid creating deficiencies in young people during the various stages of their development, we must know and respect the peculiarities of different subjects based on the chronological and biological age in which they are located.
Furthermore, it is interesting to highlight that the deficiencies that occur during this process, in most cases, are not recoverable in adulthood (2).
Therefore, it is a process that must be characterized by patience, respecting biological rhythms, and in which haste or immediate results can be harmful.
What is sports initiation?
The term sports initiation schools has different interpretations, let’s see what the specialized literature tells us.
The period in which the child begins to specifically learn the practice of one or several sports is known as sports initiation (20).
Sports initiation is understood as the teaching-learning process through which the individual acquires and develops the basic techniques of the sport. It does not imply regular competition but rather activities adapted to the child’s possibilities (16).
Sports initiation is the contact with the specific skill (sport), respecting the pedagogical and psychological characteristics of the participants, as well as the objectives or purposes of the institution, for global development (18).
As we see, some authors define the concept of sports initiation as a more global and multi-sport activity and others as a more specific initiation to the practice of the chosen sport.
Characteristics of the sports initiation process
To begin, it is important to determine what the 3 basic and indispensable factors that determine the process of sports initiation are. According to Lazo (13), these factors are the sport, the person, and the context.
Therefore, a grassroots sports coach who only has specific knowledge about the sport he instructs and does not take into account the developmental age of the subjects or the exercise context will never be a great professional.
For all these reasons, a training program for sports initiation must always consider the evolutionary moment of the players (7), respecting the physical, physiological, and psychological characteristics of the children (3).
All this can be summarized in the following quote from Horst Wein (14):
“Possibly, the biggest problem in training young footballers is that many coaches know well the subject to be taught, but do not know their students well.”
On the other hand, the main objective of sports initiation is to provide the subject/player with a broad motor base (13, 9).
For this, it is necessary to introduce multilateral activities that impact different motor skills and abilities. Furthermore, the educational mission of the instructor or educator in sports initiation is crucial, as they must transmit knowledge and values that are part of their personality and character (3).
In short, the general objectives of the sports initiation process could be summarized as follows (13):
- Achieve the individual’s motor base.
- Confirm their sports preferences.
- Establish values that allow them to face their daily life.
- Extract their personality.
- Reaffirm their character and personal characteristics.
- Seek socialization in line with their way of life.
- Allow the consolidation of the principle of sports transfer.
Motor skills and abilities in sports initiation
Motor skills are the internal character conditions that make possible the development of learned motor abilities (13). Therefore, they are innate to humans but must be stimulated to serve as a basis for better learning of basic and specific motor skills.
These are subdivided into conditional and coordinative skills (Gundlach, 1967, extracted from 12).
The physical or conditional skills are speed, endurance, strength, elasticity, and flexibility (13).
The main perceptual-coordinative skills are motor learning ability, kinesthetic differentiation and motor control ability, reaction ability to optical and acoustic stimuli, movement adaptation and transformation ability, spatio-temporal orientation ability, rhythm, balance, laterality, and the ability to combine movements (6, 12, 13).
In contrast, motor abilities are skills acquired through learning to solve a specific motor problem using the body (13).
Therefore, while motor skills are innate, abilities must be learned through motor practice.
These are subdivided into basic and specific. Basic motor abilities are movements, jumps, turns, and manipulations (13).
Specific motor abilities are those specific to the sport modality (shooting at goal in football, for example). There are 3 progressive stages for acquiring a specific motor ability (9):
- 1st stage: cognitive (the child learns the ability).
- 2nd stage: associative (the child automates the ability).
- 3rd stage: autonomous (the child applies the ability in certain situations).
Furthermore, a great prior mastery of the 4 basic motor abilities is necessary to establish an effective learning base for specific motor abilities.
Following this line, practically all abilities in sports have their origin and foundation in basic physical abilities (13).
When to start the sports initiation process?
Gallahue and McClenaghan (4) distinguish 4 major phases in the child’s motor development:
- Reflex movements phase: up to the 8th month.
- Rudimentary movements phase: until the end of the 2nd year.
- Fundamental movements phase:
- Fundamental stage: between the 2nd and 3rd year.
- Elementary stage: until the 5th year.
- Maturity stage: until the 6th year.
- Sports movements phase (specific): from the 6th – 7th year.
Therefore, until reaching the last phase, approximately at 6/7 years, it is not recommended to start the sports initiation process, although it seems that sports schools currently start their activity at excessively early ages.
Thus, for example, nowadays, there are the famous grassroots football categories called “biberones,” with children aged between 3 and 6 years.
This type of category should not exist, and if it does, it should exclusively focus on developing motor skills and basic motor abilities, without establishing specific competitions in the field of football.
The relevance of play in sports initiation
Sports initiation that does not contemplate the use of games is doomed to failure (8).
This is because play is a right, an innate need of all children, and an indispensable activity for the maturation of the individual’s behavior (3, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15).
One of the best definitions of play we can find is promoted by Cagigal (1):
“play can be designated as a free, spontaneous, disinterested, and inconsequential action that, stepping out of habitual life, is situated in a temporal and spatial limitation according to certain rules, established or improvised, and whose informative element is tension.”
In short, the main characteristics of games are (3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15):
- Intrinsic activity (with value in itself). It has no extrinsic goals or purposes.
- Free, voluntary, spontaneous, and disinterested practice.
- Fun and joyful activity. Playing, the child learns while enjoying.
- Dispenses with reality (fantasy, imagination). The player is able to abstract from the real world to enter the different world of play.
- Develops the child’s basic motor skills.
- Allows subjects to directly experience the use of rules.
- Regulates behavior in relation to others. Allows socialization among players.
Competition in sports initiation
In recent years, the real value of competition in the process of sports initiation has been discussed, as inappropriate or excessively competitive behaviors (only winning matters above all else) have been observed, by players or spectators, who are usually relatives of the participants themselves.
However, competition in itself is not negative, but its misinterpretation and application in teaching. Thus, although in most cases it does not happen, competition should always be used under an eminently formative approach.
In this way, competition should be considered as a pedagogical act, an important pillar of the teaching and learning process of our young talents (14).
Following this line, Sánchez Bañuelos (10) reaffirms the validity of competition and competitive games/sports as an educational act:
“competitive play is a valuable educational element not only for what it can have as preparation for later sports practice, but because the cooperation-competition binomial is at the base of life itself and the survival of man as an individual and as a species.”
In addition to emphasizing the educational nature of competition, it is also necessary to adapt the competition to the physical, physiological, and psychological characteristics of children.
All observations and research show that children have more fun and learn more by playing with fewer players and with adapted rules (3).
Following this line, it is important to modify the competition rules in the sports initiation phase, especially regarding the dimensions of the ball and goals, the dimensions of the playing field, and the number of players. All these formal aspects of the game should be reduced as the players are younger.
Finally, to focus the children’s attention on the development of the game and not on the final product of the competition (win-draw-lose), it is important to establish one, two, or three specific, relevant, and achievable goals.
In this way, players improve their skills and abilities, leaving aside the competition result and changing their success criteria (14).
There are different perspectives when defining and understanding sports initiation that can vary in terms of the methodology used, the specificity or not of the sport, and the sports field in which it is developed.
The child must develop a physical activity that is satisfactory for them according to their motivations, this does not imply the obligation to seek maximum performance, as sport can be practiced in many ways and pursue different objectives (17).
When talking about the age of sports initiation, it is necessary to distinguish between the appropriate age for starting sports practice and the age of specialization, the moment when the child focuses exclusively on a sport thinking about obtaining high performance (21).
Sports specialization
Sports specialization is understood as the process of developing and training technical-tactical, organic-functional, and neuromuscular capacities to achieve optimal or maximum performance. It implies regular competition, hierarchies, categories, regulations, etc. (16).
Sports specialization is training oriented towards a specific type of sport to reach individual high-performance possibilities in a sport. This specialization can be early or premature (21).
Depending on the chosen sport, sports specialization may occur sooner or later. The age of sports initiation should be in line with the level of demand of the practiced or chosen sport. As a general rule, too pronounced specialization in a single sport before the age of 12 should be avoided (22).
Periods of development of sports practice
The elaboration and organization of the teaching-learning process must be carried out by structuring development stages, that is, specifying what objectives, contents, evaluation instruments, or type of competition will be developed throughout a year or a sports season (19).
Early sports training is the process by which the child’s basic motor skills and sports skills are developed, in correspondence with their psycho-biological development and sensitive phases (22).
The sports initiation process corresponds to a period between approximately 6-7 years and 14-15 years. Within these periods, there are more sensitive periods than others for sports learning (17). We can divide it into three stages (16, 17):
- Sports initiation stage (6-7 years).
- Development stage (7-10 years).
- Perfection stage (10-14 years).
Other authors talk about the most appropriate age for starting sports practice and the age of specialization and distinguish between (5,6):
- Early age (6 years).
- Effective age (9-11 years).
- Middle age (11 years).
- Specialization age (12 years).
Based on sports training, we can also find the division in (22):
- General motor training stage.
- Specific sports initiation stage.
- Sports perfection stage.
- High-performance stage.
In sports development, there is a close relationship between the evolutionary-maturational process and the ability to acquire movement, with the learning of different individual and collective technical-tactical elements (specific skills of each sport) and with the skills or motor competencies that significantly impact the learning, development, and sports perfection of one or several sports specialties (17).
Situations must be proposed according to the participants’ possibilities, levels of difficulty, and stimuli that allow them to improve through successive successes (20).
Depending on the age or period our students/players are in and taking into account all the proposals based on the sports initiation process used in this article, we will focus our work on the development of one or other aspects (figure 2).
Sports initiation according to the methodology used
Depending on the characteristics and objectives of the institution in charge of sports coordination, we can find a sport oriented towards competition (product) or a sport oriented towards recreation (process) with their respective characteristics (16, 17, 20).
- Oriented towards competition or product; Focused more on technical-tactical aspects to obtain results in competition. Focused on learning a single sport, competitive sport.
- Oriented towards recreation or process; Focused on sports learning without prioritizing performance and result. It is intended that children know and understand the logic of a group of games (multi-sport), seeking transfer in terms of strategies from one sport to another. This aspect is more oriented towards the educational field and, in some cases, approaches formative recreation. Focused on learning the sport by practicing several sports with common characteristics. Recreational sport or sport for all.
Sports initiation according to the specificity or not of the sport
There are three aspects regarding specialization or not in sports initiation (20).
- Generic physical education prior to developing psychomotor skills to then choose and have good specialization in the chosen sport.
- Preparation through sports specialization: two aspects: without early specialization, working on several complementary sports of the main sport. Early specialization with only the practice of that sport.
- Multi-sport practice. Practice of multiple sports emphasizing some of their aspects.
Sports initiation according to the sports development field
Generally, the most common school sports practice is competitive, seeking maximum performance. Gradually, sports schools open to different levels of abilities or practice styles are being implemented, reducing the importance of success.
Sports schools can be oriented towards three different fields (16, 17, 18, 19, 24):
- Recreation/recreational sport: Sport for all. Social relationship.
- Competition sport: Achieve a good level of competition. They can be formative. They are subject to federation rules.
- Training/educational sport: Connected with the school, participatory and promotional competition.
Another classification of different sports schools is the one that divides sport into (18):
- Elite or high-level sport and spectacle sport.
- Recreation-recreational sport.
- Competitive sport.
- Educational sport.
- Health sport.
Towards a model of sports schools
The modalities of sports schools will be marked by the convening bodies and the objectives of generality-specificity, multi-sport – mono-sport, initiation or perfection, recreation or performance, grassroots or elite, with purposes of educational centers or federations, etc. Objectives can be interrelated as long as they are not contradictory (18).
Sports initiation schools have their beginnings in sports training itself and combat the excess of specialization and competition at early ages (figure 3), (16).
Currently, sports schools are responsible for providing initiation and beginning in various sports disciplines with the fundamental objective of consolidating a broad base that enables future high performance.
These stages are linked through an advanced training stage oriented towards the particularities of the specialty (722).
A sports orientation towards high performance, with the selection of children, in certain organizations and for certain players, can also be carried out respecting the development periods of the young player.
It must be taken into account that teaching sports in initiation by copying the high competition model based on early selection and specialization, and an excess of competition that always seeks short-term results is not a valid model for the initiation stage and for the implementation of a sport that aims to be educational (23).
Early specialization of training and a competitive orientation of this sharpens the premature abandonment of sport due to loss of motivation and the risk of “burning” the young athlete.
Competition designed to achieve high expectations early is negative from the child’s psycho-biological point of view (…) at the grassroots levels, the most important thing is the achievement by each subject of the satisfactory level marked by their own potentials, leaving competitive success in the background (22).
The withdrawal of many players from the initiation school, especially at a very early age, can be partly explained by the use of inadequate methods to access sports practice (…) sport must be used as an educational tool.
All this serves to promote technical, tactical, perceptual, cognitive, healthy physical, fun capacities and contribute to the development of the participants’ personality (15).
The use of multi-sport practice, through the use of different basic tactical skills common to many sports (getting unmarked, feinting, seeking and offering support…), will facilitate the understanding and knowledge of the principles of the game, establishing the necessary bases to later face more specific learning (23).
Formative and educational sport
Formative or educational sport, as its name suggests, has educational and not competitive goals. Motor skills and the child are the main protagonists.
The technician’s concern is to provide their students with motor autonomy to adapt to various situations. This type of sport can and should be present in Physical Education classes and/or within the framework of school sports (extracurricular schedule).
The competition and its competitive nature can create more problems to promote this type of sport but clubs and associations can be a meeting place just like the school. It will depend on the institution’s pedagogical will (20).
The supervision and control of the content of sports practices by educational leaders is the best guarantee that school sports, whatever form it takes, is oriented towards the integral education of the child and the harmonious development of their personality (20).
Regular supervision of the formative work carried out in sports schools is necessary to protect young talents (…) a proposal would be to edit and disseminate didactic information so that trainers ensure that in each preparatory session the child aged 7-13 is exposed for half an hour to versatile motor activities that improve their coordination level (23).
Who better for this task than the educational leaders in physical education of the students in coordination with the body in charge of sports practice.
Often, however, the organization and management of school sports are far from the structure and teaching schedule due to the lack of physical education teachers in the centers who take care of this (16).
We find that there is little linkage and coordination between the school and sports schools as well as with PE classes and the PE teacher (18).
Psychology plays a fundamental role in the field of sports sciences. Sports results and athletes’ mental health have improved significantly since different psychological tools began to be applied in sports disciplines (5).
Recently, psychology is beginning to settle in the field of sports initiation.
Psychology plays a very important role in this area of application, considering that most young people prefer to play sports rather than engage in other activities in their free time, the large number of competitions that exist, and the large number of weekly training hours available (1).
Psychological knowledge applicable to sports initiation
The amount of psychological knowledge that can be applied in the field of sports initiation can be innumerable, therefore, we will mention the most outstanding ones without distinguishing between the different branches into which psychology can be divided (25):
- Developmental psychology.
- Social and organizational psychology.
- Personality, evaluation, and coaching treatments and the like.
- Basic psychology, emotions, motivation, learning, etc.
- Psychobiology.
- Methodology of behavioral sciences.
Elements that integrate the sports initiation process
Dosil (27) states that the psychology applied in the sports initiation process can be analyzed from the people who integrate it. Based on this, we find (26, 27, 29):
Young athletes
Teammates and training partners play a fundamental role in the field of sports initiation. In these stages, the role of friendship in helping, sharing, or cooperating among young athletes stands out.
The role of parents in sports initiation
The influence of parents in their children’s sports initiation process is beyond doubt.
Most of them support their children in sports practice, although there are cases of parents whose behaviors are problematic, we refer to those who, for example, are overprotective or excessively critical of their children, the coach, etc.
The role of coaches in sports initiation
In the process of sports practice, the figure of a professional dedicated to directing and controlling it is fundamental. The coach’s figure is the main one, and on it, psychology must support it so that it can enjoy the best psychological tools that are beneficial and appropriate for its young athletes.
The role of managers in sports initiation
The study of their influence in the field of psychology of sports initiation is really recent, among their functions are:
- Plan the season and sports situations to avoid problems.
- Organize sports activity.
- Decide on behalf of the club, so they must be able to correctly assess the pros and cons of each decision they make.
- Educate players and other club members through their way of acting and focusing on practice.
- Represent the sports club.
Each of these functions directly or indirectly impacts different psychological aspects of players, coaches, and other members of the sports entity, hence their importance in the sports initiation process.
The role of referees in sports initiation
Referees are a key figure in sports competitions due to their role as the person in charge of enforcing the rules of the game, respecting authority, and ensuring fair play.
Their privileged position gives them great power to help young athletes play sports correctly, complying with the rules and ensuring that their behavior is within the scope of learning and sports training.
Conclusions on sports initiation
- It is necessary to know and respect the different development periods for practice in sports initiation.
- In sports initiation stages, generic physical education with multi-sport learning will provide the child with a broader motor background that can be applied in later stages in the specific learning of the chosen sport.
- Avoid very rigid early specialization in sports initiation, starting with learning the technical-tactical aspects of a sport through varied multi-sport games.
- Competition in sports initiation should be oriented towards formative means, reducing the importance of results and using it as another means towards the comprehensive learning and development of the child.
- To ensure formative and educational sport in sports initiation, the educational center and sports initiation schools should collaborate, with the Physical Education teacher being the link between them. This person can supervise and provide didactic material to the institutions in charge of school sports.
- A process-oriented, multi-sport sport in a sports school connected with the school seems to be the best way to provide good sports initiation.
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Article Author: Joan Huesca Vancell | Graduate in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences
