Author:  Matt Dixon

Question 

My 13-year-old son showed an interest in triathlon a year ago and joined several short races. I was surprised that he placed 3rd last April in a local event (Capiz International Triathlon). This weekend, he placed first in a local aquathlon event.

As a parent, I do not know what to do. He's still growing, and I do not want to push him hard? Or should I? Given the reputation of Purple Patch as being holistic and scientific, I'm hoping you can give me a hand.

Answer

A wonderful question, thank you.  The first thing I will do is to refer you to one of our podcast episodes we recorded on children in sport.  I think you will benefit from a more global lens on parenting and athletics. Listen HERE.  

So far, as the specifics of your question, I think that you want to be a supportive parent and help your child follow dreams, but at the same time, you have a role to ensure that you are setting your child up for the long-term and, most likely, enjoyment and physical success.

Despite many sports driving toward early specialization and complete commitment, it is consistently displayed that over-focus on a single sport early on is a likely recipe for burnout, but also a cap in progression.  Let’s imagine that a youth showed great efficacy in running. While plenty of running is valuable and important if they are to develop in that sport, there are massive global benefits to that child participating in other sports.  We would hope to challenge the child physically in different ways and also allow growth of many emotional components. Jumping, bounding, and throwing all would (perhaps ironically) assist in long-term running, as would participating in team sports.

Build the Athlete Then Specialize

While triathlon is comprised of three disciplines, it enjoys the benefits of not having singular focus on the sport, which is neither healthy or needed.  I would argue that your child will benefit with some stand alone swimming (hopefully in a team environment), some cross country running, a wide range of riding (including mountain biking and road cycling), and even an extension of completely unrelated sports.  Some multi-sport events are fine, but feel free to add swimming races and adventures, riding tours, mountain bike races, road cycling, and anything else that is varied, fun and dynamic.

Do not specialize early - there is no need to over-focus on the sports itself now.  

When approaching the sport itself, a few things that might prove helpful:

• Focus on basics: swim, run, and bike handling
• Team-based and fun swimming and running
• Lots of variety of riding that enhances skills, adventure, and exploration.  No need to ‘train’ on the bike, have fun and play.
• Body Awareness:  balance, agility, speed
• A good amount of activity or sport that is agility based and multi-directional
• Speed is good, focusing on building the base with the intention of boring and a route to staleness at this age.
• Keep it SHORT and FUN: avoid going long
• In all triathlon racing, keep races around an hour or less.
• A stretch focus can be an Olympic distance.  Do not go near longer-endurance events yet.
• Let it come from the child but hold him back:  support but don’t drive.
• Fun, fun, fun
• Support, support, support
• The only question:  Was it fun, did you try your best?
• Equipment:  basic and free of gadgets.  The joy and the animal side of competition will serve as best metrics
• Don’t rush into buying equipment
• Maintain zero focus on metrics, bodyweight, or analysis
• Do not purchase a power meter, heart rate monitor, etc.

I hope that helps,

Matt