Sensing human activity up ahead – and a traffic blockade - you pull over to the side of the road where a large gaggle of young athletes scramble out to acres and acres of playing fields. Seeking out one of the dozens of adults dutifully following their tyke out to their assigned turf surface, you inquisitively ask, “So what’s going on?” Awaiting a reply, a couple of seemingly tired souls wax excitably about an event unfolding in 30 minutes that is supposedly the largest recruiting tournament this side of the Rockies, with over 300 DI college coaches in attendance looking to round out their rosters for the next 17 years. “We just drove 21½ hours and hope to get our son recruited this weekend”, one of the parents exclaim. 

And just like that, precisely at that exact moment, the “light bulb” blindingly flashes your prefrontal cortex with reminiscent images of days gone by flooding your senses. Duh, of course, you recognize it now; it’s one of those so-called “elite” sports events for kids that permeate our competitive and cultural landscape, from sea to shining sea. While the autonomic adrenaline rush slides down the backside of your sympathetic nervous system, you feel a gentle turn at the corner of your mouth cresting in a light smile, leading to a subtle chuckle and a slow shake of the head. 

Unconsciously, the pace of your journey back to your vehicle accelerates from brisk walk to jog to an all-out sprint as your mind drifts into a state of thankfulness that it’s not you setting-up for another long weekend of parental misbehavior where yelling and screaming are de rigueur. “Ah yes”, whispering to yourself in mournful tones that betray those excruciating years chasing your own kids through that chaotic, dystopian world of elite youth sports, “How could I ever forget that experience.” 

This scenario has played out over the last two decades in repetitive fashion and to questionable effect right up to the moment that COVID-19, a crashing economy, mental exhaustion, psychological burnout, an accumulating rash of injuries - some recurrent, and a rapidly depleted bank account has finally pushed you to the brink. Ample time in repose on the couch – in full contemplative mode – has afforded you the time to think; to really digest the value, virtues, legitimacy, and efficacy of your child’s current youth sports participation model. And as you dwell on it in deeper thought, you can’t seem to disaggregate the emerging assessment and conclusions of your child’s elite sports experience with the escalating anxiety and growing anger you feel bubbling up from below the surface.  

For the first time in years, you’re confused, befuddled, bewildered, but have not yet budged from your solid, stolid commitment to your child’s sports activities. You feel there’s too much at stake, yet you can’t stop asking yourself, “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” unconsciously humming the opening gambit of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody building to a crescendo as the rhythm escalates in your rising consciousness. You stop mid-lyric for a reality check, “Or am I in denial? Is this pro/elite model I’ve been pursuing for my kid really working? Is it paying off? Have we been hoodwinked? Something just doesn’t feel right anymore.” 

Congratulations. You’ve finally arrived. Welcome to the future; a world where what we’ve known as the unassailable conventional wisdom of developing youth athletes has been twisted from its moorings and flipped on its head. Propped up, teetering on the precipice and controlled and influenced by a cartel of opportunistic coaches, affluent parents, and desperate college sports programs trying to snare the next generational talent, the pro/elite model has been exposed as a second-rate solution to a first-class challenge. 

The formulaic combination of time plus experience divided by analysis has revealed powerful insights and even the innocent bystander can’t “unsee” the trainwreck the model has become. We now know there is a better way to engage, train, develop, and sustain long-term involvement in sport, starting at the most-earliest ages, and offering opportunities along the way for virtually every interested person seeking their natural participatory fit.

The Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Model was developed by experts through experiential insights and as an antidote for deficiencies in the “train kids like pros” phenomena, which spread globally like a novel virus over the last 25 years. The 10,000 hour rule, sport specialization, playing-up to higher-level competition, distant travel, winning obsession, college recruitment, tuition/scholarship, cost/benefit/ROI, etc. became the mantra chanted by those pushing pro/elite training for kids. And while it grabbed hold of a few generations of young unsuspecting children and their parents, the grip of the pro/elite model has been loosened as a result of its inherent flaws, inefficiencies, improprieties, and ultimately failed theories of athlete development. 

By comparison, LTAD has been adopted and implemented in various locations across the globe, with some countries connecting the dots between positive, properly-tailored youth athletic participation and long-term health and function and contribution on a societal level. Those countries that have re-configured youth athletic development in sync with LTAD principles report tremendous results in participation and retention rates as well as order of magnitude performance improvements at the higher competitive levels up to and including professional sport. 

Although virtually every major sport National Governing Body/Organization (NGB/O) has adopted LTAD as a participatory vision, the concept has not gained sufficient traction in the United States, remaining a largely conceptual ideal operating at the 30,000 ft level. The Athletiq Youth Development Foundation aims to alter that dynamic here, right now, and abroad.

The Athletic Youth Development Model (AYD) focuses on the specific and unique needs, interests, capabilities and competencies of each individual youth athlete. Relying on the concepts, precepts, theory, logic and experience of LTAD, AYD shapes its model by providing a point of reference for coaches, administrators, parents and sport scientists related to athlete participation patterns and performance-orientated pathways in sport and physical activity. Our model translates LTAD structure and framework into actionable details that improve the quality of sport participation and physical activity by helping youth athletes become more physically literate at their most optimal pace.

Based on three specific operating principles (OP), the AYD Model reflects the essential patterns, behaviors and performance characteristics of successful athletes. These principles are:

1. Build a Physical Base Through Foundational Movement
2. Know Your Stage of Development for Optimal Synchronized Training
3. Manage the Attributes That Leverage Development at Each Stage

These OP's are dynamic and interrelated, and any training program that adopts the AYD Model must integrate these principles to achieve maximum effect. 

AYD’s Model is comprehensive and offers a framework to advance through each stage in an independent, individualized manner as it builds on the baseline foundation of its three Operating Principles. 

The Athletiq Youth Development Foundation believes that the pro/elite model has a specific role for those athletes who have reached Peak Height Velocity and certain stages of athletic, physiological, and psychological growth and functional capability. However, prior to this level, youth athletes should be trained and developed in an environment that fits needs, desires, and preferences without sacrificing the long-term prospect or potentiality of each individual. AYD provides the framework, curricula, and opportunities to maximize such potential and success.