Hunter sprint coach Stuart Dempster believes kids shouldn't "lose their childhood and teen years to sport".
Stuart trains young athletes only once a week and recommends they train no more than three times a week.
The young athletes he trains have shown that his method works. Four 12-year-olds he trains performed well at the regionals.
"All four ran lifetime bests, two won and in doing so qualified to represent NSW at the Australian Championships in Brisbane in November," said Stuart, a fitness conditioner who runs the Sprint Stable at Glendale.
"They don't go to championships to win, they go to enjoy and give their best. You don't have to overwork the kids. Studies have come out explaining this."
Stuart pointed to research in Norway, a country of 5.4 million people that is producing a wealth of sporting talent.
"The Norwegians are blossoming in various sports," he said.
Their approach is based on the concept of the "joy of sport for all".
Norway keeps the focus on participation. Children are encouraged to play as many sports as possible and costs are kept low for parents.
The Norwegian mentality is that you should give kids a chance to be kids.
Stuart uses the same philosophy. He said the kids he trains are happy.
"They're not doing it for any other reason than they love the sport," he said.
"We don't focus on beating this person or that person or trying to win a medal, we simply focus on enjoying the sport and seeing where it takes us."
He told the story of a young athlete who was burnt out from training in another sport. He tore his hamstring while jogging, which Stuart says is practically unheard of.
He also shared his remedy for kids who get nervous before competition. He asked one of his athletes, who suffers from nerves, what he was doing during the warm-up before a race started.
"He said 'I'm just checking the opposition out'. I said 'There you go'. He'd narrowed his focus. I told him to start his warm up on time and make sure he was hydrated and had energy [through proper nutrition].
"That's the aspects you can control. You can't control how fast the guy is in the lane next to you. Just follow your process."
Norwegian Erling Haaland, dubbed the "cyborg" for his goal-scoring exploits in the EPL with Manchester City, recently told the press he doesn't focus on scoring goals. He only focuses on the process.
"That's exactly it. He won't be thinking of the potential outcome, which is a goal. He's thinking he'll get the process right and where he needs to be to receive the pass. That's exactly what we do. We focus on the process," Stuart said.
Pay to Play
Speaking of junior sport, Topics discovered that it had been corrupted beyond belief when we learnt that a coach of a representative football team approached parents to pay for private coaching in the weeks before he helped select the team for the following season. Crikey!
Scary But Funny
Speaking of kids, we noticed a dozen or so youngsters out and about on Halloween around our area, looking for some treats.
We were driving behind a vehicle, which slowed down when the driver saw a youngster walking on the side of the road.
This youngster wasn't in Halloween dress, but he was holding a bag - maybe for treats.
As the car stopped, the passenger threw a lolly onto the road and the youngster picked it up. It was scary but funny, like Halloween.
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