My goal for this article to help parents find better insight on the “Why” behind adolescent strength training and activity. I want to share the experiences that I had as a young athlete to you. I want you to put yourself into the shoes of your child. Try to imagine what their goals, dreams and ambitions are when it comes to playing sports or more simply, being successful in life. Theres more to it than sports.

When I was a young kid, I played three sports; hockey, lacrosse, and baseball. Growing up on the North Shore of Massachusetts, hockey was one of the main sports that adolescent boys grew up playing. The Boston Bruins were on almost every night from September to March and there was nothing better than eating dinner and watching them. Spending the first two Mondays in February at the “Fleet Center” for the BeanPot was nothing but routine for myself and my friends. Dreaming of sprinting onto the ice for the BeanPot in front of 17 thousand people was a dream that many chased and few accomplished. I was fortunate enough to start skating at an early age; 2 years old to be exact. Every Saturday morning my parents would dress me in my hockey gear while I sat on the couch and watched Saturday morning cartoons. A glazed donut and a chocolate milk were the only things that I cared about at the time. This Saturday morning routine blossomed into becoming a pretty good hockey player for my age level. Fast forwarding 12 years later, I was now heading into my first year playing for one of the best AAA youth hockey teams in the country. There were kids on the team that we’re bigger, faster and stronger than me. I thought to myself “They must have just hit their growth spurts sooner, mine will come.” Although I wasn’t necessarily wrong when it came to hitting their growth spurt at an early age, I was wrong about one thing. I never realized that they may have been training outside of the rink. Have I lifted a weight? No. Had I ever timed how fast I could run? Only when my buddy would challenge me to a race on the playground. Had I ever did a pushup? Only when we messed up a drill or were late to practice. At the time, training for sports was something that never really existed. There were very few strength and conditioning facilities. Rather than looking for a gym, my dad always told me “Go downstairs and start working out.” So that is exactly what I did. Monday through Friday I would go downstairs in my basement and start stick handling, shoot pucks, do pushups, sit ups and jump on a dusty folding chair that leaned against my basement wall. Slowly but surely, I began to feel better on the ice. I began to beat kids to loose pucks. I even began to win battles in corners and occasionally make a big hit to make my buddies go crazy. Something began to click. I realized that I now have a choice. A choice to be better at something.  As I continued my basement ritual, I saw a trend in the other sports that I played as well. I began throwing the ball harder with more velocity in baseball when I pitched. Running down the field in lacrosse was a breeze. Slowly, I was morphing my body to be resilient to the demands of the sports that I played. I was obsessed with it. One Christmas, my parents bought me a home gym set. It was a makeshift power rack with a bench, barbell, and a pulley system. To this day, my dad still says it was the best purchase he ever bought me. Over time,  I started to collect various pieces of equipment and my little basement downstairs started to look like a legitimate place to train. Little did I know, I was forming good habits away from any playing surface. I was starting to pay attention to my body. Eating right and eliminating junk food was a priority to me. I started to drink protein shakes and put on size. Spending less time playing video games and more time playing wiffle ball or flag football with my buddies was on the top of my list as well. Staying active helped me to become more coordinated with other areas of movement that I was blind to. Staying active also helped clear my mind and showed me there are other ways to have fun outside of the living room and playstation.

In my opinion, kids nowadays don’t get it. They don’t understand how important it is to go outside and just play. Now; video games, Instagram and Snapchat are far more important than any pickup basketball games. I believe that parents don’t get it either. They won’t let their kids be kids. Getting parents to buy into movement, strength training and overall activity is where the problem will be fixed. Educating parents on the importance of physical education is so crucial to their child’s longterm athletic and social development. Get your child to take part in sports. Have them play more than one sport.  Should they focus on a specific sport? Absolutely! Giving a child a goal in something is far more important than not having one. Do they want to play a high school sport? College sport? Professional? Let them dream and listen to what they want. Get them out of the house and out of their comfort zone. Have them make new friends that will influence them to join new social crowds. Have them play for different coaches so they get to experience how different some coaching strategies can be from one another. This may sound bias, but get them into a strength and conditioning or training facility. Show them the importance of physical health and wellness. Have them compete. Have them fail. Show them how to learn from their failures. Although the dream for me of running onto the ice the first two Mondays in February for the BeanPot, or playing for the Boston Bruins was not accomplished, my parents gave me something to strive for. No matter what their goal is,  push them to go after it. Push them to Dream Big.