Training Kids for Sport Performance: Build the Engine First

Youth sports have it backward.

Kids are being pushed into sport-specific drills way too early travel teams, private lessons, endless reps of the same movements, while the actual foundation of performance is ignored.

If your goal is to help kids become faster, stronger, more resilient athletes, the priority should not be perfecting a jump shot at age 10.

It should be building the engine.

Athleticism Comes Before Specialization

Every sport rewards the same basic qualities:

Speed
Strength
Power
Coordination
Conditioning
Durability

A faster, stronger, better-moving kid will adapt to any sport far more easily than a technically skilled but physically underdeveloped one.

Sport skills are software.

Physical capacity is hardware.

If the hardware is weak, the software doesn’t matter.

Why Early Sport-Specific Training Fails

1. It Caps Long-Term Potential

Repeating the same movement patterns year after year:

Limits overall athletic development
Creates muscular imbalances
Reduces adaptability later in life

Kids who specialize early often peak early—and stall fast.

2. It Increases Injury Risk

Overuse injuries in youth sports are exploding:

Stress fractures
Tendonitis
Growth plate injuries

These don’t come from “bad luck.”

They come from repetitive loading without a broad strength base.

3. It Burns Kids Out

When training becomes rigid and repetitive:

Fun disappears
Motivation drops
Dropout rates skyrocket

The goal should be lifelong athletic confidence, not a burned-out 14-year-old.

What Kids Actually Need to Train

1. Speed (Run, Stop, Change Direction)

Speed is one of the most transferable qualities across sports.

Training should include:

Short sprints
Acceleration mechanics
Deceleration and braking
Cutting and lateral movement

No cones. No fancy drills.

Just running fast with intent.

2. Strength (Yes, Kids Should Lift)

Strength training for kids is:

Safe when coached properly
One of the best injury-prevention tools available
A massive confidence builder

Focus on:

Squats
Hinges
Pushes
Pulls
Carries
Core stability

Bodyweight first.

Then dumbbells.

Then barbells when ready.

Strength makes everything else easier.

3. Power (Jump, Throw, Explode)

Power training doesn’t mean heavy weights.

It means:

Jumping
Hopping
Bounding
Medicine ball throws

This teaches kids how to apply force quickly, which is the basis of nearly every sport movement.

4. Coordination & Movement Variety

Kids should move in as many ways as possible:

Crawl
Climb
Balance
Roll
Rotate

This builds:

Better body awareness
Faster skill learning later
More robust joints and tissues

The more ways a kid can move, the more adaptable they become.

5. Conditioning Through Play

Forget long, boring cardio.

Conditioning should look like:

Games
Races
Relays
Competitive challenges

If kids are smiling and breathing hard, you’re doing it right.

When Sport-Specific Training Does Matter

Sport skills absolutely matter—but later, and in the right dose.

Ages 6–11: General athletic development dominates
Ages 12–15: Gradual increase in sport-specific focus
Ages 16+: Sport skills can take priority because the engine exists

Strong, fast kids learn skills faster.

Weak, slow kids struggle no matter how many drills they do.

Tommy's Take by Tommy Pomatico 2/9