LTAD is Becoming Cliché

Let’s look at where we have been over the past seventy years. What has changed? Society has changed immensely; youth sport has become commercialized. There is no longer mandatory physical education in the schools. Then and now child development does not follow a neat linear progression, so-called windows of opportunity for development of various physical is a myth, sport development is all over the place, youth phenoms rarely turn out to be senior champions. We need to stop following recycled eastern European so called LTAD models. They were developed for a different society in a different era. We need to put a concerted effort to get mandatory daily physical education back in the schools, not just for sport development but for general health. Physical education will provide the physical literacy and movement skills base that are foundations for specific sport skills. Let’s stop following the flock, think critically and recognize the current socio-cultural milieu in America and come up with a workable framework that fits our society and current reality. We can do it!