Youth football players, hockey players, volleyball players and gymnasts should be broadly developed in motor skills. To allow children to do more and more versatile exercise, four sports associations are joining the BMO Skill Generation Project.

Less than 60 percent of youth associated with the club engage in organized sports under the flag of KNVB, KNHB, Nevobo or KNGU. When asked about the common denominator of those estimated 600,000 children, initiator Martine Hofvijak does not need much time to think. In short: They learn a trick, where ideally they should become a mass-developed athlete. “They are trained in a specialist way, which means they enjoy less. As a result, they will exercise and exercise less at a later age. ”

Two year old football player

The reasons are many. For example, Hofvijk, a sports scientist who works at KNHB, sees the trend that children can join the club at an early age. “Football clubs are where two-year-olds can already go. This trend is now visible in hockey as well, as they already walk their little ones with sticks. By training especially toddlers and pre-schoolers in a particular sport at such a young age, there is a lack of extensive motor base necessary for normal development. Johan Cruijff once stated that he was allowed to become a member of the local football club at the age of only seven. Till then he used to play a lot in the street, resulting in a very good base. ”

During training, children are often guided by an employee who is inadequately trained. Well-meaning parents who stand in front of a group in their spare time. So the four sports federations will soon launch a database with not only various motor exercise forms that these volunteers can prepare for their exercise materials, they also provide training courses for trainers and assistants.

Hoofwijk: “We choose not to supply consciously tailored programs, but provide tools that can serve as inspiration. After all, football training is different from volleyball training. We provide trainers with information about the importance of versatile motor development and tips that they can implement in specific exercises for their sport. How can you prevent children from standing for long periods of time during training? How do you build the difficulty level of the exercise material without losing sight of the game format? How do you ensure that your training forms match the children’s perception of the world? Because fun should always come first. ”

Exercise certificate

The project, funded by the money that the sports umbrella organization NOC-NSF is allocated from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, also provides motor training for the youngest youth. In addition to the introduction of ‘APK inspection’ for training forms, says Hoofwijk, the Miffy Exercise Certificate from KNGU should become the new standard for children. In that educational program of the Gymnastics Association, toddlers and preschoolers learn basic skills such as balancing, jumping, swinging, catching and throwing.

“What happens when you offer these exercises on a football field?”, Hoffwijk still wonders. Only time will tell. At least, she hopes. “My motto is to train all the trainers who work with the smallest group of children.

Read also:

Herrenwen’s football talents also hang from the horizontal bar of the APK.

At SC Heerenveen, young players undergo training in gymnastics and rugby to encourage their motor development. It becomes very necessary.