Physical Literacy

United States Sports Academy
Physical Literacy
William J Price
wprice@ussa.edu
United States Sports Academy

One Academy Drive
Daphne, Alabama, USA
2012 United States Sports
Academy
WHERE DO ATHLETES
COME FROM?

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#1 goal of any sport group

Get as many athletes into skill
and training programs as
possible and
KEEP THEM INVOLVED
long enough to make a
difference

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Two Development Methods

Rely on numbers for success
Large countries
No planning necessary
No long-term effect
Construct a development strategy
Physical literacy
Athlete development plan
Significant long-term effect!
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Typical age group sport pyramid

At each level the number of participants
shrinks
Those who do not advance are
frequently eliminated or else they
Elite
dropout
System is good at identifying Advanced
early maturers but not good
athletes
Intermediate
Identifies talent only by
Novice
accident
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Athletes not involved in sport

training
Athletes in a sports
training program
Number of athletes diminishes

through attrition
AGE

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Age group sports training

Age group training programs are based on
chronological age
Early maturers receive more attention since they
are usually bigger, stronger, and faster than their
same-age peers
Because of poor performance relative to early
maturers, it is assumed that late maturers do not
have talent in the activity
Better athletes advance while others become
discouraged, dropout, or both
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Effect of losing late maturers

On the athletes who leave:
Poor sport experience, leave the activity
Less likely to be active throughout life
Children of discouraged or discarded
athletes might develop the same
attitudes toward physical activity

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Effect of losing late maturers

On sport governing bodies:
Pool of athletes diminished
unnecessarily
Top performers might be leaving before
we even know they are top performers
Identifying talent early is neither
possible nor productive

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Mastery of fundamental movement and fundamental sport

skills
PHYSICAL LITERACY

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10
The Foundation of Athlete

Development
Physical Literacy
The development of fundamental
movement skills and fundamental
sport skills that permit a child to move
confidently and with control, in a wide
range of physical activity, rhythmic,
Colin Higgs
and sport situations.

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11
Physical literacy: key concepts

Physical literacy is the foundation of
all sport
Child-centered approaches to
teaching skills is critical
Needs and current abilities are more
important than the skills of the sport
itself

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Physical literacy: key concepts

System needs to provide opportunities
for physical literacy to occur
Early childhood
Education
Commercial and sport clubs

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13
Skill development is a cycle

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Development begins
at a very young age
Those with skills play
and improve and have
more opportunities to
play
Those with less skill,
play less, improve
less, and have fewer
opportunities to
improve
14
Skill development is a cycle

Not having the skills to play is a
major reason why children dropout of
physical activity and organized sport
For almost every skill the developing
child needs to go through a series of
developmental stages

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15
The basic movement skills of 3

activities provide the base for all
other sports

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16
Fundamental movement skills (FMS)

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Body grows and matures

Not mature
enough to
learn
fundamental
movement
skills
Optimum time to
learn the
fundamental
movement skills
Ready to learn
Time for
remedial
work
Optimum time to teach

skills
Wide range of movement opportunities
needed
1
Remedial
9
10
11
12
AGE
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18
Questions to ask
Do all children have the
opportunity to be
physically active for at
least 60 minutes per
day?
Do they engage in
dance and music
activities?
Is there a wide variety
of things that children
can play with?
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More questions
Do teachers and caregivers encourage all
children to engage in
active play?
Can teachers and caregivers provide basic
instruction to children
who have difficulty with
specific fundamental
movement skills?
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Being physically illiterate

Children who miss out on physical
literacy suffer several disadvantages
Cant keep the game going, wont be
asked to join in
Unlikely to choose to take part in any
formal sport activity
Choice of life-long healthy activities is
restricted
Restricts opportunities for sporting
excellence
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Effect on schools
Students show up in secondary
schools without skills they should
have already learned
Teachers spend lots of time in
remedial work
By now learning remedial skills is
difficult and negative attitudes
toward physical education and
activity in general increase
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Effect on recreation programs
Physically illiterate children are less
likely to take part in recreation
programs (loss for the child)
Reduced enrollment = reduced
revenue
Reduced revenue and participation
make programs vulnerable to budget
cuts
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Effect on sport organizations
Physically illiterate children typically do not
join organized sport programs
For those who do, remedial work takes time
away from other components of the various
training stages
Reduced number of physically literate children
means a smaller pool of potential athletes
Fewer athletes to choose from = less able
performances at all levels
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Developing physical literacy in

every child
Challenge with all children but
especially underrepresented groups
Child centered
Parent driven
Club, school, and community
supported

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25
Current model: without physical

literacy program
Athletes not involved in sport
training
training program
Number of athletes diminishes

through attrition
AGE

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With a physical literacy program

Athletes not involved in
sport training but still
involved in physical activity
training program
Number of
Number of athletes still

diminishes through attrition
BUT the pool of athletes is
bigger to start
AGE
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Who, what, and when?

Ages 0-6
Play games making body
shapes
Play throwing games
Balancing games during
quite times
Jumping, making shapes
in the air
Introduce water activities
Ride a tricycle or bike
If its not fun, dont do it

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Boys ages 6-9, Girls ages 6-8
Encourage unstructured physical play w/
friends
Continue catching, throwing, hitting, and
running activities
Join multi-sport programs, no
specialization (except in earlyspecialization sports)
Forget about scores in competition,
focus on the game, learning, and having
29
fun
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Boys ages 9-12, Girls ages 8-11
(This stage ends with the onset of puberty)
Focus on playing at least 2-3 sports in different

seasons
Continue to encourage unstructured activity
Enroll in minor sport programs each season, try
different events or position
Participate in land and water based activities
Encourage continued work on the 5 performance
components of speed, strength, endurance,
suppleness, and skill
Keep it fun
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Once a child reaches puberty (onset of

PHV)
the optimum period for learning
fundamental movement skills
and basic sport skills
ENDS!

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Growth phases
Age
Phase
<1
Very rapid
acceleration
20
1-2
Rapid deceleration
10
3-6
Moderate
deceleration
10
Steady growth
5-6
7-12
Rate
(cm/yr)
13-14
Rapid acceleration
(PHV)
10-11
15-16
Rapid deceleration
5-6
17-20
Slow deceleration
1-4
The
adolescent
growth spurt
20+
Growth ceases
normally
occurs
between the0 ages of
12 and 15 and represents a window
of trainability for stamina and speed.
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32
CM
Growth rates by age
25 Very rapid growth

20
15
Very rapid deceleration
10
5
Rapid growth
Rapid deceleration
Physical
literacy
Steady growth
Slow deceleration
AGE
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Without the basic movement skills, a

child will have difficulty participating in
any sport

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34
Learning fundamental sport skills

before mastering related fundamental
movement skills reduces performance
ability later

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35
Physical literacy in early training

stages
Physical literacy must be achieved
prior to the onset of PHV
Skills not learned prior to this will
most likely never be mastered
completely
Without physical literacy athletes will
not reach optimum performance

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36
Early & late maturers

Children who enter puberty late
have a longer time to refine
fundamental sport skills
BUT
Early maturers are usually seen as
more talented
Get more attention
More instruction
Bigger, stronger, and faster than peers
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Time spent on skill development

Time to develop
skills
EARLY
Time to develop
skills
AVERAGE
Time to develop skills
LATE
EARLY
1
0
1
1
Males
AVERAGE

8
Female
s
LATE
1
2
1
3
1
4
1
5
1
6
1
7
AGE
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Effects on early and late maturers

Males
Late maturers are often at a disadvantage in
age group sport
Late maturers are smaller, less muscular and
physically weaker then same age peers
Competing against bigger, stronger, faster
players is not fun but because they spend more
time in the skills development stage they have
greater potential for success
Early maturers tend to drop out of sport at the
end of adolescence
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Females
Situation is less clear but seems to be
reversed
Late maturers do better in early years
with prepubescent bodies
Early maturers develop sooner and face
pressure to discontinue sport
participation
Late maturers face this same pressure
later on
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The relative age effect causes
situations similar to those
experienced by early and late
maturers
A major problem within the system
Procedurally easy to fix but
administratively difficult
A good example of integration and
alignment problems
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CM
Growth phases by age
25 Very rapid growth

20
15
Very rapid deceleration

Rapid growthRapid deceleration
10
Steady growth
Slow deceleration
AGE
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Windows of Optimal
Trainability
(female)
Stamina
Onset of
PHV
Speed 1
6-8
years
Skills
8-11 years
Strength
Right after
PHV
Speed 2
11-13
years
Suppleness
6-10 years
5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.011.012.013.014.015.016.017.018.019.020.0

AGE
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Windows of Optimal
Trainability
(male)
Stamina
Onset of
PHV
Speed 1
7-9
years
Skills
9-12 years
Strength
12-18 months after
PHV
Speed 2
13-16 years
Suppleness
6-10 years
5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.011.012.013.014.015.016.017.018.019.020.0

AGE
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Sport classifications
Group
Training goals
Examples
Skill type
Perfect the coordination and

form of a skill
Gymnastics,
diving
cyclic sports
rowing,
swimming,
cycling
Perfect the strength and

speed of a skill
Weightlifting,
throwing,
jumping
Combine
d
Team sports
(some
individual)
Acyclic
Perfect the skill performed in

a contest with opponents
Perfect the conduct of
different means of travel
Sailing,
horseback
riding,
motorcycling
Combine
d
Acyclic
Only group that might require early

Attain a superior speed
in
Running,
Cyclic
specialization
Perfect the activity of the

6
CNS under stress and low
physical involvement
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Shooting,
Acyclic
Adapted from Bompa,
chess, archery
1999
45
7 stages of development (Balyi)

Active start
0-6 years
Fundamentals
6-9 years for boys, 6-8

years for girls
Learning to Train
9-11 (boys), 8-11 (girls)
Training to Train
12-16 (boys), 11-15 (girls)

Age range is PHV
dependent
Training to
Compete
16-23 (boys), 15-21

(girls)
Training to Win
19 (boys), 18 (girls)
Active for Life
Can enter at any age, any

stage

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Accelerated
adaptation for skill
acquisition and CNS
speed
Accelerated
adaptation for
stamina and strength
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Possible solutions
Create programs that recognize
developmental age as being
important
Coaches training
Parent education
Competition structures

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Result
Larger pool of athletes moving
through the system making team
selections easier
Keeping athletes involved long enough
to make a difference
Physically literate youth who are

equipped with the skills to engage in
an active lifestyle well beyond their
sport years
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Long term development model

Winning
Competing
Trainin
g
Active
Retirement
Can be entered from
any stage and at any
time
Learni
ng
Fundamentals (physical
literacy)
Adapted from Balyi,
2009
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Physical Literacy

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United States Sports Academy

United States Sports Academy

2012 United States Sports

#1 goal of any sport group

2012 United States Sports

Two Development Methods

Typical age group sport pyramid

Athletes not involved in sport

Number of athletes diminishes

2012 United States Sports

Age group sports training

Effect of losing late maturers

2012 United States Sports

Effect of losing late maturers

2012 United States Sports

Mastery of fundamental movement and fundamental sport

2012 United States Sports

The Foundation of Athlete

2012 United States Sports