What does the age division name change mean for next season?
Changing the names and the age division to fit the LTAD model will be made official at the 2009 Ringette Canada AGM this coming June.
This means moving from Bunny, Novice, Petite, Tween, Junior, etc... to U7, U9, U10, U12, U14 etc...
This has brought up many questions as to the impact this will have on local associations and how they go about things.
In a nutshell – not much will be changing from a registration perspective. We have not eliminated any of the age divisions. We have simply switched to a more user friendly name.
We have also allowed for overlap in age at the younger and the older level. This was done to encourage the athletes to participate in the age division that is appropriate for their level of development.
The bigger changes will come in terms of programming and competition events (ie tournaments)
At the younger age divisions, be prepared to see more practice opportunities and more skill development. Tournaments will transition to festival type events where the focus will be on skill development rather than winning.
The impact will not be as a result of the changing of the names... but rather as a result of changing the way we do things to be in line with optimal athlete development.
Feb 26, 2009
Feb 25, 2009
Running time... good or bad?
I was involved in a tournament over the weekend, thus giving me the opportunity to see and live ringette at the early stages of development for the first time this year.
Given my inability to turn off the LTAD switch a lot of things jumped out at me. There were a lot of great things, and then a few situations that got me thinking.
Allow me to share the one that stood out the most:
Running time.
In most tournaments there is a rule which states a game will go into running time once a 7 goal differential is reached. Prior to my LTAD transformation, I had never thought twice about this concept.
It allows for a tournament to catch up on lost time during the day and avoids a long and “embarrassing” game for the young players. The 7 goal rule is also there as a sportsmanship thing.
I now ask myself, does this make sense?Should we be shortening these young athletes’ opportunity to take part in the game? Are these not key learning moments in their development? What is more important catching up on lost time in a tournament or an athlete’s fair participation in the sport?
Before I wrap this up, allow me to share this story. In the Novice group at this tournament, I officiated one game where the goal differential was extremely high... above and beyond the 7 goals. The same team that won the game by a landslide played in the final game. I didn’t notice much of a difference in these athletes from one game to the other. They still played the same way, had a smile on their faces and enjoyed being out there. The coaching staff on the other hand was very vocal, stressed and nervous during the final game.
Who is impacted the most by these lopsided games?Kids are there to have fun. Let them play.... better yet figure out a way to avoid these one way games. Clearly running time is beneficial to no one.
Given my inability to turn off the LTAD switch a lot of things jumped out at me. There were a lot of great things, and then a few situations that got me thinking.
Allow me to share the one that stood out the most:
Running time.
In most tournaments there is a rule which states a game will go into running time once a 7 goal differential is reached. Prior to my LTAD transformation, I had never thought twice about this concept.
It allows for a tournament to catch up on lost time during the day and avoids a long and “embarrassing” game for the young players. The 7 goal rule is also there as a sportsmanship thing.
I now ask myself, does this make sense?Should we be shortening these young athletes’ opportunity to take part in the game? Are these not key learning moments in their development? What is more important catching up on lost time in a tournament or an athlete’s fair participation in the sport?
Before I wrap this up, allow me to share this story. In the Novice group at this tournament, I officiated one game where the goal differential was extremely high... above and beyond the 7 goals. The same team that won the game by a landslide played in the final game. I didn’t notice much of a difference in these athletes from one game to the other. They still played the same way, had a smile on their faces and enjoyed being out there. The coaching staff on the other hand was very vocal, stressed and nervous during the final game.
Who is impacted the most by these lopsided games?Kids are there to have fun. Let them play.... better yet figure out a way to avoid these one way games. Clearly running time is beneficial to no one.
Feb 17, 2009
Changer l'âge de particiaption des Jeux du Canada??
En décembre 2006 Ringuette Canada a entreprit le travail de la restructuration du sport en vue du développement à long-terme de l’athlète. Sport Canada travail depuis quelques années à faire la recherche afin de bâtir un system sportif idéal canadien.
Ceci veux donc dire que nous avons du regarder à la structure de notre sport , tous comme les autres sport au Canada, afin de s’assurer que nous offrons un produit optimal pour le développement de l’athlète qui participe.
Un changement spécifique que nous avons identifier est la brèche qui existe entre les Jeux du Canada et notre Équipe Nationale.
Les Jeux du Canada on comme but d’être un événement pour la relève des équipes nationales de tous les sport. En plus les Jeux du Canada sont le point d’entré au stade de développement de Haut Performance pour un athlète.
C’est deux points étant dit nous avons identifié que l’âge que nous identifions présentement n’était pas approprié pour se stade de développement d’un athlète.
Au cours de la saison 2007-2008, ces informations ont été communiqué au associations provinciales avec la suggestion que l’âge serait changé pour les prochains Jeux du Canada en 2011. À la réunion annuelle de Ringuette Canada qui a eu lieu en juin 2008 la proposition officiel fut apporté au membre afin d’accepter certain changements en vue du DLTA. La décision officiel de faire le changement fut prise lors de la réunion du conseil d’administration de Ringuette Canada an Novembre 2008.
Nous somme au courant que pour ces prochains Jeux une deuxième chance de participer au Jeux pour certaines sera possible de plus certaines athlètes vont manque leur chance en vue de ce changement.
Nous travaillons a faire en sorte que le développement optimal de tous les athlètes soit une priorité et que tous aient l’opportunité d’attendre leur plein potentiel.
Ceci veux donc dire que nous avons du regarder à la structure de notre sport , tous comme les autres sport au Canada, afin de s’assurer que nous offrons un produit optimal pour le développement de l’athlète qui participe.
Un changement spécifique que nous avons identifier est la brèche qui existe entre les Jeux du Canada et notre Équipe Nationale.
Les Jeux du Canada on comme but d’être un événement pour la relève des équipes nationales de tous les sport. En plus les Jeux du Canada sont le point d’entré au stade de développement de Haut Performance pour un athlète.
C’est deux points étant dit nous avons identifié que l’âge que nous identifions présentement n’était pas approprié pour se stade de développement d’un athlète.
Au cours de la saison 2007-2008, ces informations ont été communiqué au associations provinciales avec la suggestion que l’âge serait changé pour les prochains Jeux du Canada en 2011. À la réunion annuelle de Ringuette Canada qui a eu lieu en juin 2008 la proposition officiel fut apporté au membre afin d’accepter certain changements en vue du DLTA. La décision officiel de faire le changement fut prise lors de la réunion du conseil d’administration de Ringuette Canada an Novembre 2008.
Nous somme au courant que pour ces prochains Jeux une deuxième chance de participer au Jeux pour certaines sera possible de plus certaines athlètes vont manque leur chance en vue de ce changement.
Nous travaillons a faire en sorte que le développement optimal de tous les athlètes soit une priorité et que tous aient l’opportunité d’attendre leur plein potentiel.
Jan 14, 2009
You do the math...
10 000 hours or ten years?....
One of the staff members here at the office was talking about the book ‘Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell’ earlier today. She was specifically referring to the 10 000 hours or ten years theory brought up in the book; a theory that is also front in center in all LTAD literature. (click here for for LTAD site info)
If it take that long to become a master of a skill, does it make that we expect our Tween AA players to perform at such an elite level... let’s say an interprovincial semi national year end event.
If you do the math quickly if they started at age 6 and they are currently 11 or 12... then that’s 6 years or less. No way they’ve acquire the skills yet to perform at such a level.
But I did says 10 years or 10 000 hours... so let’s see; 10 000 hours in 6 years would mean:
1666.66 hours of ringette per year = 138.88 hours per month = 34.7 hours per week = 4.9 hours per day.
So yes it could be possible to get 10 000hours into 6 years... however I’m pretty sure ringette 24/7 for six years at age 11 could be borderline crazy (or something else).
Using the same logic... you do the math... when would it be fair of us to put such high expectation on our athletes???
(Hint: We’ve just established that it’s after Tween, so no need to try and make a case for any of the earlier age groups)
Giving our athletes the opportunity to progress through the sport acquire the proper skills and more importantly ensure that they are enjoying what they do is what LTAD is all about.
Expecting an 11 year old to perform at a competitive level with high expectations doesn’t make much sense.
Provide them with an opportunity to learn, make friends, and have fun and do the best that they can... you’d be surprised at the results you get down the line.
Yours in Ringette,
-FL
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