V 12 N. 35 Children Running: Can v. Should - Russ Ebbets

 Our previous post dealt a bit with an incident of a six year old child running a marathon.  It inspired Russ Ebbets to send us this piece he wrote recently.  

Children Running: Can v. Should

by Russ Ebbets

The World Records for distance running from the mile to the marathon for 10-year-olds is a graveyard of talent. Those poor guys and girls never do much past that point. Unfortunately, this is a story repeated again and again and again.

Right off – I have strong opinions on this subject. I was a pretty good child runner. I mention this not to brag but to frame my argument. I started running “officially” as a 12-year-old in the New York Road Runners Club back in the days when an event drew 30-40 runners. I remember the unique and famous Fred Lebow being there. He was just unique back then. I was undefeated in the 12 and under ranks. You can look it up if you want. 

I always beat the same kid. He was 10 or 11 years old and came up to my hip. Even though I always won he seemed to get all the “atta boy’s,” it was David v. Goliath and I was Goliath.

I remember talking a number of times with the kid’s father. He was a husky guy, maybe 5’9”, about 180 pounds and ran in the adult races. He was enthusiastic about his running but never beat anybody. I remember thinking how somebody could know so much and not be so good. I was learning about adults. 

I had no coach. The father used to tell me how hard he trained his son. I distinctly remember one workout he said they did – 8x 880 in under 2:40 wearing a 20-pound weight vest. The kid didn’t weigh 100 pounds. This probably explained his height. 

My training seemed to consist of bike rides, some extended walk-jogs and sprint races at practice to see who was fastest. I felt a little guilty winning the races without “really” training.

All I ever heard about was how great this kid was going to be yet week in and week out I beat him like a drum. He had a little brother and I beat him too. Goliath had no mercy. 

In high school I ran a 4:30 mile as a 15-year old and eventually got down to 4:24. Things stalled out there, but I was still running well at ages 30-31. Although the accomplishments never quite caught the hopes, I have much to be thankful for. 

When I was coaching I used to get calls 2-3x per year with the voice asking me to coach their son or daughter. The one-sided conversation would go on for five or 10 minutes with the parent rambling on about all the races their kid had won, this 5k, that 10k, town champ, gold medals and on and on. When they stopped to catch their breath, I’d jump in.

“How old is your child?”

“Ten,” or eleven or younger. 

My advice was always the same. “Buy them a soccer ball, put them in the backyard and call me when they are 15.”

There was silence while I gave the parent my two cents. Kids aren’t meant to run long distance. Develop their other skills. It is too early to specialize. It wasn’t what they wanted to hear. The conversation soon ended, sometimes politely, sometimes with a, “What do you know!”

I know. I was there. 

I also know my freshman teams won three league championships in four years. We would have gone four for four but my first year my #3 guy missed the bus the day of the championships. More importantly the teams I left behind by senior year were both the top ranked high school programs in New York State and the Shen team won it all.

Success in the athletic arena hinges on the organization of a “system,” talent identification and talent development. It is easy to succeed with the “Box of Rats Method” where all you do is train everybody hard and eventually the top rat emerges. One great rat and a lot of dead rats. The challenge of good coaching is to save the other rats. 

Talent identification may be the easiest step. High school recruiting is limited to in-house efforts. I went for numbers. I needed 10 freshmen for cross country. If you had a pulse and could fog a mirror you qualified. I had confidence in my development plan. 

The Development Plan – One of the greatest fears of a freshman is – can I do this?

My first words to my freshman teams were, “You will be champions.” My practices started the end of doubt. I segregated the frosh and gave them things they could do. We did “destination runs” – run to that tree and back, run to that pole and back, for about two weeks. We rested between runs. We counted heartbeats. I got a clue who had the “engines.” After 6-8 of these destination runs, we walked and did push-ups and sit-ups. That was practice until the first race. Oftentimes we ran the first race never having run the full distance. We were usually top five. You can develop from there. 

After about two weeks the frosh would start to feel comfortable with it all. They could see they were getting better, a rank order was starting to form and both the quality and quantity of their workload created a momentum on the team that generated enthusiasm. They were developing faith in their abilities – I can do this. A coach can do a lot with a little faith. 

This is all well and good you might say but what do you do with a 10-year old? The best program I have seen is the one championed by the British, the “Five Star Award Scheme.” It set the events up with point values and at competitions athletes had to compete in three events. If they hit the pre-determined point values, they won a merit badge. The charts were progressive, could be used for various age groups and promoted goal directed behaviors. Incidentally the charts could also be used to identify talent and develop it through an organized system. 

Some other points to ponder:

Multilateral development – let kids try many different sports and activities. Up to the age of early specialization, 14 or 15, kids should be exposed to many different physical activities. It helps them in their socialization process, emotional development and problem-solving skills. 

Teach fundamentals – I once had a friend who was a great hockey player. He had a friend who as a child was trained as a figure skater, his family would not let him play hockey. As a child he was ridiculed for figure skating. When his parents finally let him play hockey, he became a great hockey player too. He could skate better than anyone on the ice, in fact he could skate circles around them.  Movement fundamentals.

The ability of skip is a skill that transfers to many sports and events. Use of baton drills and relays keeps practice fun. Use of hops, skips and jumps makes practice fun. Kids like to do fun stuff. 

Train for short distances 400/800m – Short distances prize speed. That is what racing should be about. Shorter races develop tactical sense and decision-making skills in the heat of the battle. Longer endurance runs foster a “grind it out” attitude, obstinance and compulsion – not necessarily the most attractive attributes for a 10-year old.

Attend events – and not just competitions. Have your youngsters watch the warm-ups and training sessions of better athletes. How does work get done? How do good people act? Carefully pick your role models. 

Foster learning – What is the most important thing you learned today? Don’t badger the kid with a cross examination but create some introspection. How can they apply that knowledge to the future?

Arrested development – The skeleton of a child is not developed until the late teen years and for some people full growth and development doesn’t stop until the early 20’s. Excessive exercise or repetitive motion activities can negatively affect the growth of a child. Throwing too many curve balls as a little league pitcher is a prime example. They even have an orthopedic condition called “Little League Elbow.”

The very nature of distance running is that of a repetitive motion activity. A thousand steps per mile, mile after mile on a hard surface hitting the ground at 4-7x body weight could potentially damage the growth plates of a child. Nationally they have stopped keeping long distance records for little kids.

There is also the issue of growth. Although I have never seen any studies on this point, intuitively it makes sense to me. If a child trains to excess the energy that the body would use to grow and develop is shunted towards training or competitive efforts. High school rules that allow runners to compete in four events per competition several times a week are short sighted and irresponsible. You can quote me. 

Childhood should be a time of exploration and discovery. This includes the introduction to many different activities both social and athletic. Early participation and early success can be both a blessing and a curse. 

The entry to high school closely mirrors the recommended age for introduction of serious competitive efforts. A generalized introduction to shorter distance running at that time can begin. At this point the chance of debilitating growth plate injury are lessened. The comradery of being on a true team offers the chances of participation and decreases the chances of burnout. 

A crying, terrified three-year old with a full diaper makes for a lousy competitor. While the parents might get a laugh at the histrionics I wonder if this develops a psychic association of “new” always being “bad.”  I can’t v. I can.

Once I graduated from the 12 and under class I never heard of the kid in the 20# weight vest again. His road to obscurity was paved with great workouts. The childhood superstars pushed from the start never seem to make it. 

Russ Ebbets Biographical Information

Dr. Russ Ebbets has a lifelong involvement in sport as an athlete, coach, administrator and healthcare provider. He had been a Lead Instructor and Level 3 Coach in the USATF Coaching Education Program since 1983. He has lectured at Level 1,2,3 Schools, authored the curriculum for the Level 2 Youth endurance, biomechanics and race walk. He has spoken  at the High Performance Summits on Improving Distance Running in America on two occasions. 

Since 1999 he has edited Track Coach, the technical journal for USATF. He has lectured nationally, in Scandinavia, the Caribbean and at the Olympic Training Centers in Colorado Springs and Lake Placid on health and sport related topics. Additionally he has presented at the FICS World Conference on Sport and Training Theory and had a poster presentation at the 2014 WFC Conference on The Athletic Triage Model. He has served as the US National Team Chiropractor to three IAAF World Championships. 

On two occasions Dr. Ebbets traveled to the Soviet Union to study athletic development and track and field at the Soviet Institute of Sport and Physical Culture. His first master’s thesis was on the Olympic Development Programs of the Eastern Bloc countries. His second thesis was a seminar project at Ithaca College where he studied the impact of emergency medicine, athletic training and chiropractic care services at the Syracuse Festival of Races, one of America’s top distance runs. That project laid the foundation of the Athletic Triage Model that has been used throughout the Northeast to deliver on-site sports health care. In December 2020 he earned a third master’s degree in Exercise Science from SUNY-Cortland. His thesis was on how spinal manipulation aids endurance efforts by changing the body’s biomechanical efficiency and physiology.

He is the author of two novels, a trail guide to the Adirondack 46 High Peaks and his 2019 A Runner’s Guide was a finalist for the Track and Field Writers of America Book of the Year Contest.

Dr Ebbets founded the nationally recognized sports outreach program at NY Chiropractic College that has provided complimentary care at 250+ events (2000-2015) including the Millrose Games, the National Scholastic Indoor Championships and Freihofer’s Run For Women treating some 15,000 patients. He is currently in private practice in Union Springs, NY on the northern end of Cayuga Lake. His is involved with a number of community projects including serving as a regional officer for the Lions Clubs and as president of the Niagara Association of USA Track & Field.