Arising from a three-day workshop on Long Term Athlete Development Model (LTAD) which was organised by the University of Ibadan, Faculty of Education Continuing Education Coordinating Unit and facilitated by a very good friend in the person of Dr. Olufemi Adegbesan, one cannot agree less with the various postulations of invited speakers on the need for there to be the adoption of the LTAD Model in Nigeria
The Long term Athlete Development Model (LTADM) is based on the physical, mental, emotional, and cognitive development of children and adolescents. Each stage reflects a different point in athlete development, it ensures physical literacy upon which excellence can be built. LTADM consists of a specific and well-planned practice, training, competition and recovery regime which will ensure optimum development throughout an athlete’s career. Ultimately, sustained success comes from training and performing well over the long-term rather than winning in the short-term.
There is no short-cut to success in athletics preparation. Overemphasising competition in the early phases of training will always cause shortcomings in athletic abilities later in an athlete’s career. LTADM has an impact on the entire sport continuum, including participants, parents, coaches, schools, clubs, community recreation programmes, sport organisations, national sport organisations (NSOs), sport science specialists and several government ministries and departments.
Long-term athlete development model (LTADM) is an acceptable way of producing world-class athletes for any nation that is serious with athletes’ development. Moreover the development of an athlete is not the responsibility of a single cell, it is a collective responsibility of principal actors, and by this I mean it is the duty of Sport Managers to see to the implementation of Long-term athlete development.
It is expedient to mention that this type of training module must be properly conceptualised and understood by the operators, otherwise known as managers. The reason for the managers of sport to be brought up to speed on the planning of long-term athlete development model will help in the eventual and successful implementation of the model
We also need to note, that there is the need for the various critical periods during the training of the athletes to be properly considered so as to achieve the desired result at such stages. Most importantly the model is designed on an interdependent basis as such the role of the manager which is comparable to that of the midwife is very important if the objective of the LTADM is to be achieved.
A system that encourages the fire-brigade approach to sport training and preparation will not take us as a country anywhere, hence, we need to introduce this concept into our sport training because we have, over the years, failed in the area of adequately preparing our athletes in the long-term for great successes at international competitions.
There is a range of factors that leads to international sporting success. Classifying these factors is a complicated task. Performances in top-level sports are a combination of genetic qualities and the environmental and physical circumstances in which people live (Seppänen,1981).
Genetic qualities can explain differences between men and women, between young and old people, between tall and small people and even between races. They cannot however explain why Norwegians are more active skiers than Italians and why African-Americans perform better in athletics than people from Nigeria or Mozambique.
(1) MACRO-level: the social and cultural context in which people live: economic welfare, population, geographic and climatic variation, degree of urbanisation, political system, and cultural system.
(2) MESO-level: sports policies and politics. This is the level where well-considered sports policies may influence long-term performance.
(3) MICRO-level: the individual athletes (genetic qualities) and their close environment (e.g. parents, friends, coaches). At the micro-level some factors can be controlled (such as training techniques or tactics) and others cannot be controlled (such as genetics).
More importantly is the integration of the LTAD Model into the tertiary institutions. According to one of the presenters, Dr. Sanusi Mohammed, by integrating the principles of LTAD in tertiary institutions, we will thus ensure, that professionals who understand LTAD programmes meet the developmental needs and abilities of sport participants in each stage of LTAD. Thus we will be bridging the observed disconnect between theory and practice that has alluded to the current state of our sports retarded development, because we have people who are not adequately prepared to meet with the contemporary challenges of our time as it relates to athletes’ identification, training and evaluation.
For Nigeria to become one of the great sporting nations of the world, we need to, as a matter of urgent national importance, call for the integration of LTAD Model into sport, physical and health education curriculum in our various tertiary institutions.
While I agree with the above, I also feel that sport administrators have a lot to do because the success or failure on the part of sport administrators to do their job properly and dispassionately without any fear or favour will determine the extent to which the LTAD Model will be implemented.
Let’s not forget who the sport administrators are because their role as facilitators and formulators of plans and policies that serve as guidelines in the execution of programmes that are sports-oriented cannot be underestimated if we must forge ahead.
I need to mention, however, that surprisingly, the Lagos State Government again showed some character in the advancement of sport by sponsoring over fifty (50) of their coaches to this workshop while other states’ sports ministries failed to match this great feat. I hope they will seize the opportunity of the next workshop to train their respective coaches who are actually the executors of LTAD Model.
