Principle of Individualization

The Principle of Individualization in Sports Training This principle dictates that sports training should be adjusted according to the age, gender, rate of progress, and previous skill development of the individual. The goal of individualization is to capitalize on the strengths while minimizing existing skill deficiencies. Individualization is one of eight key training principles for fitness and sports training: 1. Principle of Specificity suggests that your body will make adjustments according to the type of training you perform and in the very same muscles that you exercise. 2. The Principle of Overload implies that you must continually increase training loads as your body adapts over time. 3. The Principle of Recovery assets that you must get adequate rest between workouts in order to recuperate. 4. The Principle of Reversibility refers to the loss of fitness that results after you stop training. In time, you will revert back to your pre-training condition. 5. The Principle of Variation implies that you should consistently change aspects of your workouts. 6. The Principle of Transfer suggests that workout activities can improve the performance of other skills with common elements, such as sport skills, work tasks, or other exercises. 7. The Principle of Individualization suggests that fitness training programs should be adjusted for personal differences, such as abilities, skills, gender, experience, motivation, past injuries, and physical condition. 8. The Principle of Balance is a broad concept that operates at different levels of healthy living. It suggests that you must maintain the right mix of exercise, diet, and healthy behaviors.

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Modifications to a basic training plan can consist of adjustments that are made for individual skill differences such as physical size, weight, medical conditions, injuries, motivational, emotion, and mental level. It is essential that coaches and/or trainers invest the time and attention to develop a personalized training plan for each athlete. This will accelerate the progress of the athlete's training. Applying the Principle of Individualization The goal of every coach and parent is to provide each child with the attention that makes them feel special, The

following are offered as suggestions:

Establish Clear and Precise Individual Goals. Goals for team results can be personalized for each individual's skills and their position/role on the team. Pre and Post Tests. It is essential to administer a pre test to establish baseline measurements that can be compared at intervals to determine what changes have occured. It is only by the evaluation of the individual's progress that the results can be quantitatived. In addition to fitness and skill testing, health related tests can provide implications for how to adjust training. Optimize Shortcomings. An athlete's weaknesses can prove to be as decisive as their strengths. Athletes with low motivation need to have specific goals established. Their practices need to be monitored and verbal rewards to compliment their hard work and progress. Some individuals will process information and acquire skills more slowly compared to others on a team. To reduce the frustration, provide the learner with a mentor who can provide positive feedback on a regular basis. Gender Differences. Coaches and trainers generally are sensitive to physical as well as cultural differences; however, athletes can make uncomplimentary comments about the individual weight, and body proportions. Women naturally have wider hips, a lower center of gravity, and carry more fat in these areas than do men. Training needs to be adjusted for any physical differences. Encouragement and training support must be perceived and in actuality be equal for both genders. Positive-negative-positive. When offering feedback, reinforce the good points while pointing out areas that still require improvement. Positive reinforcement is especially helpful when an athlete has difficulties on a given day or as part of a pattern.

Competitive Youth Sports. School, parents, and community must cooperate to provide children with competitive sports and recreational opportunities to prepare them for life fitness activities. Positive early experiences can instill a lifetime of healthy habits. Children need to participate in an environment where positive approval, nonjudgmental acceptance, and emotional encouragement exists for everyone, not just the winners. Senior Athletes. Older adults frequently lack the opportunities to properly train and they also may have unrealistic expectations of their abilities. Coaches are generally far more realistic than the adult athletes who believe their abilities far exceed their body's ability perform to the standards the adult has established for themselves. These individuals can be very frustrated due to their lack of flexibility, posture problems, and orthopedic related foot and knee problems. Most adults prefer to be in control in making decisions in developing a training program. However, they frequently will place the blame on being unsuccessful on external causes - the judges/officals and eventually they change their coach.

According to Simoneau and Bouchard (1998), athletes may have different biomotor abilities (strength, speed, endurance and co-ordination) due to genetic variance in physio- logical make-up. Research data from 4 studies provided enough evidence for Simoneau and Bouchard to conclude that the considerable variation between athletes in anaerobic performance can, to a large extent, be attributed to genetic factors.

Biological and chronological age have a very important bearing on determining the optimal training loads. A preadolescent and adolescent can be further divided into prepubertal, pubertal and postpubertal stages. In each stage a young athlete can be expected to display have different physiological characteristics which requires adjustments in training loads must be carefully considered with respect of the athlete's background. It is important that coaches recognise that biological age is more relevant for planning training loads than is chronological age

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PDF Socalizing the Knowledge Transfer Problem A central issue in acquiring knowledge is its appropriate transfer beyond the contexts and contents of first acquisition. In contrast to dominant "common elements" transfer theory, an inrerpretive perspective is developed, according to which "appropriate transfer" is a concept socioculturally rather than objectively defined. PDF Cognitive Skill Acquisition Review of research conducted in the past ten years on cognitive skill acquisition. It covers the initial stages of acquiring a single principle or rule, the initial stages of acquiring a collection of interacting pieces of knowledge, and the final stages of acquiring a skill, wherein practice causes increases in speed and accuracy. PDF EFF Research Principle: A Contextualized Approach Research on the transfer of learning. teachers starts with real-life contexts and is weaved into all stages of every teaching and learning process. Instruction and assessment are aimed directly at the skills and knowledge adults need to perform tasks they have identified as important and meaningful to them. The focus is on the application rather than on the possession of basic skills and knowledge. Specificity of Training Volume 1(2): January, 1996. SPECIFICITY OF TRAINING. This edition of Coaching Science Abstracts reviews articles concerned with the Principle of Specificity. How the Specificity Principle Applies to Sports Training The Specificity Principle applies both to sport fitness training and skill learning, but how to apply it is sometimes misinterpreted.

PDF Specificity of training adaptation Specificity of training adaptation: time for a rethink? John A. Hawley. School of Medical Sciences, RMIT University,. Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia. Specificity | Fitness and Health Nov 28, 2006 ... Specificity states that your training should move from general to highly specific training. It also dictates that in order to improve a particular skill. PDF Focusing on Specificity Training Focusing on Specificity Training .Written by NFPT Staff Writer Friday, 03 February 2012 00:00. The personal trainer will encounter athletes of all stripes.

References:
The Individualization Principle for Sports Training The Individualization Principle dictates that sports training should

be adjusted according to individual needs, such as age, gender, rate of progress, and previous skill development/experience. Performance Coaching: The individualization of training For example, the 'principle of individualization' is one of Bompa's (1999) seven principles of training and the 'principle of individuality' is one of Rushall's seven principles of coaching. Individualization Individualization as an educational principle, therefore, leads to training that is modified or customized to address the needs of individual participants. PDF Principles of Training Theory The basic principles and processes of training, so that they can evaluate training ... about the athlete as an individual, to personalize the most effective training program for an individual. Principles of Sports Training: Developing Course Materials:

Resources:
The following internet links have been gleaned from personal communications combined with information from public institutions and athletic organizations/ associations that have a web presence with information concerning team and individual sports programs:

Principles of Athletic Training:

Principles of Balanced Training The Principle of Individualization The Principle of Overloading The Recovery Principle

The Reversibility Principle Training Specificity Transferring Training The Variation Principle

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