Besides the obvious benefit of enjoying a healthy and active lifestyle, we take a deeper look into the advantages of getting youngsters involved in triathlon.
Tomorrow’s champions start training today. Dr Ander Erricson came up with the theory that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything. Although there are many who disagree with this theory, they all agree that practicing your sport is vital to success. The younger children start, the more time they have to spend on honing their skills. This puts young adults who have trained in a sport for a large part of their childhood at a distinct advantage to those that take on a sport as an adult for the first time.
Quality family time. Triathlon is something the whole family can get involved in. A triathlon requires that three disciplines are completed and most races provide the option to enter as a team or individual. This would therefore allow family members to divide the workload between themselves and focus on one or two discipline(s) only, knowing that the rest will be covered by another family member. This is a great way to encourage bonding and teamwork.
Strategic thinking. Unlike many singular disciplined events where the focus is to complete the said discipline in the quickest time possible, triathlon requires a participant to pace and place themselves efficiently so as to complete all three disciplines. This requires having a strategy. Learning and practicing strategies as a child will certainly benefit the future adult in tasks that require planning and organisation.
Patience. Being an endurance sport, a young triathlete needs to be prepared to think long-term. This is both in terms of an actual race as well as in terms of seeing their own progress and development in the sport. Technique plays a big role in being successful and it takes patience to master a swim stroke or a fast transition. We live in a world of instant gratification where many results can be obtained through pushing a button. In triathlon, there are no short cuts. Time needs to be invested to achieve results.
Discipline and commitment. There is no hiding in triathlon. If you want to succeed you have to commit to training and be disciplined to learn the rules and techniques.
It’s fun! This is the most important reason why children should try competing in a triathlon. There is a sense of achievement in participating in a fairly daunting sport. It’s a great way to meet likeminded friends and develop a healthy sense of competition.
How to get involved. Both SuperTRI and Starfish offer Triathlon specific training to children. For more details, visit www.supertriuae.com or www.starfishsports.com.
