Looking at the name of this website you might want to ask me “Do you really think my preschooler is an athlete?” Before I give you my answer let me ask you a few questions:
Is the person who runs a marathon an athlete?
Is the person who plays varsity basketball at her school an athlete?
Is the person who likes to rock climb an athlete?
Is the person who exercises by walking 2 miles a day around his neighborhood an athlete?
Is the person who rides her bike to work every day an athlete?
Some of these questions are fairly easy to answer while others depend upon your definition of the term “athlete”. So let’s start there. Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman said “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” While there’s a lot to like about the inclusivity with this broad generalization I think it’s important to include some more specific parameters. Various dictionary definitions describe an athlete as:
a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina (Merriam-Webster)
someone who trains for and competes in sporting events, as a professional or just for fun (Vocabulary.com)
One possessing the requisite strength, agility, and endurance for success in sports (Freedictionary.com)
A person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise (Oxford Dictionary)
If we take a look at “typical” preschool-aged children can we honestly say they fit any of these definitions? Personally, I would have to say no. Do I believe that the vast majority of preschoolers have the potential as they grow older to become an athlete as described in the above definitions? Absolutely! Let’s explore these definitions a bit so I can explain my position. First of all, definitions 1 and 3 mention terms such as physical strength, stamina, and endurance. These terms are considered key factors of physical fitness. The preschool years are an ideal time to introduce and reinforce the importance of physical fitness. The physical fitness components of strength, endurance, flexibility, speed, power, agility, and balance are extremely important for a wide variety of sports. Parents can provide lots of opportunities to help their children develop these fitness components at a young age.
In definitions 1 and 4 the terms skilled and proficient suggest that an athlete needs be able to perform a number of movement skills at a certain level of mastery. The preschool years are the perfect time to introduce multiple movement skills such as running and throwing. See how many sports you can list in which running is an important component. Now do the same with throwing. If you help your child run and throw with the proper mechanics when they are young the opportunities to participate in running/throwing type sports as they grow older increases significantly. The same can be said for all the fundamental movement skills such as catching, kicking, jumping, and striking.
Three important terms that are mentioned in definitions 2 and 3 are competes, fun, and success. Competition can take on a number of forms. You can be part of a team and compete against another team like in volleyball, basketball, or soccer. You can compete on your own against one other person or persons like in tennis, swimming, or track. You can also compete against yourself when you try and improve your score like in golf or try to improve your time like in running a road race. It’s my opinion that the competition factor is best postponed until after the preschool years. Competition has a way of creating unpleasant and unnecessary pressure on a young child which has the potential to diminish the enjoyment that sports and physical activity can and should have. Such pressures can result in negative feelings toward physical activity that can detrimentally influence whether or not a child leads a healthy lifestyle.
If we are going to deemphasize competition from definitions 2 and 3 then we are going to embrace our other two terms – fun and success. Some real estate folks like to say the three most important factors when buy a property are “location, location, and location”. Along those lines I believe the most important factors for physical activities with young kids are “fun, fun, and fun”. When children enjoy an activity they participate in it longer and are more likely to want to do it again in the future. They also associate the activity with pleasant thoughts and memories. This can have lifelong implications. One strategy to foster fun is to design the activity so that your child experiences success. You can help your child recognize when she is successful by always pointing out and offering praise when she completes a task. That feeling of success can be enhanced by challenging your child to try to improve on his performance: “can you throw it a little farther”, “can you jump a little higher”, “can you run a little faster”. These challenges can be tiny increments of improvement but are worthy of being pointed out and celebrated. My one caveat with this is to make sure your child finishes the activity with a successful achievement of the performance so she remembers the activity as one in which she was successful and hopefully was fun, fun, fun.
So as I mentioned earlier developmentally I don’t think your preschooler can accurately be referred to as an “athlete” based on the definitions given. I think a better descriptive term might be a “pre-athlete”. By focusing on fitness and skill development during the preschool years and deemphasizing competition it prepares them to enjoy and compete in a wide variety of sports as they grow older. This allows them to transition from a “pre-athlete” to an “athlete” while avoiding some of the factors that are not developmentally appropriate.
As always, don’t hesitate to contact me with questions or comments at john@preschoolathlete.com. I welcome your feedback. Also, if you haven’t already done so please consider joining our community of parents and family members of preschoolers by registering below. By registering I’ll keep you updated of any new videos, blog posts, suggested resources, new sports, and other materials when they are added.
Parents and family members… God bless you in the challenging and rewarding experience of raising a young child.
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