An interesting theory...

[The Lion Keeper]

I was speaking to a buddy of mine who's son plays on the same team as mine.
Our boys have about 2 weeks off with no practice during the summer time.
I was feeling anxious about it thinking the boys should always be touching the ball every week and he was saying he doesn't want his son doing anything during this time off. The Reason (here is the reason for the thread)
he theorizes that his son will grow taller given time off. Why you ask?
Our boys practice very very hard for 11 year olds, well any age for that matter (and believe me, I know what hard work is, I've been playing all my life). He thinks that because they practice so hard, their bodies expend
energy repairing itself, ie. muscle strengthening, rather than growing taller.
I know from being into weight lifting, muscles grow during resting/repairing.
Can this be true that the body will prioritize its functions that way and repair their little tired muscles rather than grow taller?
Is there a doctor in the forum?
He uses world class gymnasts as an example. He thinks because they workout 5 days a week, they will remain smaller than if they were just regular kids.
I countered that with this reasoning; you see small gymnasts because genetically smaller gymnasts thrive in the sport compared to bigger ones.
Smaller is better in that sport, the bigger ones wont make it.
Our boys have been playing on this team for over a year now. This is just coincidence but last year my son was one of the taller ones in his grade.
Now, he is starting to look like the taller end of average. Believe me, I'm not buying into his theory but it is making think about it.
Any thoughts?

[CC05]

I guess it would make sense that if you never had time off your muscles wouldn't be able to repair therefore not grow. But with the gymnasts they do have those other 2 days of the week for repair, and obviously there night sleeps. Plus they probably have some really heavy work days and others are really light. So I could see it being a genetic thing and as you said, smaller is better in that sport.

But in any case, they're 11 years old! Let them enjoy the game!

[The Lion Keeper]

These boys certainly do enjoy the game. You practically have to restrain
them for them not to play.
The time for repair is obvious, days off and nights,
but the theory is that time is taken up for more muscle repair and building rather than normal bone and tissue growth, thinking the body can only spend so much energy and do so much in a given time.

[blech]

i'm no doctor, and i didn't even sleep in that hotel in the commercial last night, but i don't buy it. i'm sure taller soccer players like ballack also had very hard training regimens, and professional basketball players surely spent hours pounding their bodies on hard courts when they were kids.

maybe the gymnasts landed on their heads at some point :) but seriously, my inclination is that it's simply a sport that favors smaller athletes, and the taller ones are weeded out because they simply can't compete at the higher levels.

diet, perhaps, might play a role, but exercise. it just doesn't work for me. that said, if these guys are really going that hard year round, i don't know that it would be the worst thing to take some time off so they don't get burnt out and/or have a chance to rest up any little nicks.

slightly off topic since you didn't ask for suggestions, and as a compromise to this dad if your kids want to hang out together (and if they're not burnt out but the dad simply wants him to rest physically), maybe you could devote the time to tactical training, like watching videos of pro teams and breaking down the game or reading tactical books or something. i'm a big proponent of learning about the game from watching the pros play. lock them in a room with old world cup videos for a week and then watch the tricks they're trying to pull off once they're unleashed :)

[Nixon]

hmm im six two good excuse for me to play more :), doubt it makes much of an affect, its kinda a blueprint in your DNA that desides it, depending on how your parents lived wether they had a good supply of food etc it gets imprinted in there DNA apparently that there kids can grow bigger as there is surficient resorces for them, however there are other factors thats only one an environmental factors play a key but francly its only gonna make a small diff if any, if you sat him on a couch all his life hes not gonna grow an some foots can stunt and enhance growth. Best idea is to monitor died make sure you get all the nutrents the body needs, if you stop all the training for too long the body will get out of rythem and youll end up taking in too much food an puttin on weight.
Factor of the mater is the body works in weird ways most of which we'll never understand but likelyhood is if your try to change it itll make it worse.

EDIT: oh yer not to mension how depriving the body from competative sport can cause all sorts of chemical problems in the body leading to depression, acne, obesisty etc its all in the pheramons (cant spell) or somit cant remember guy was tellin me about it when i was injured, basically chemicals that make you happy, get released during most forms of exercise, without em sends you into a downer an can cause side affects in the body. Interestin ******** this hope your taking note ;)

[Irnbru]

hmm im six two good excuse for me to play more :), doubt it makes much of an affect, its kinda a blueprint in your DNA that desides it, depending on how your parents lived wether they had a good supply of food etc it gets imprinted in there DNA apparently that there kids can grow bigger as there is surficient resorces for them, however there are other factors thats only one an environmental factors play a key but francly its only gonna make a small diff if any, if you sat him on a couch all his life hes not gonna grow an some foots can stunt and enhance growth. Best idea is to monitor died make sure you get all the nutrents the body needs, if you stop all the training for too long the body will get out of rythem and youll end up taking in too much food an puttin on weight.
Factor of the mater is the body works in weird ways most of which we'll never understand but likelyhood is if your try to change it itll make it worse.

EDIT: oh yer not to mension how depriving the body from competative sport can cause all sorts of chemical problems in the body leading to depression, acne, obesisty etc its all in the pheramons (cant spell) or somit cant remember guy was tellin me about it when i was injured, basically chemicals that make you happy, get released during most forms of exercise, without em sends you into a downer an can cause side affects in the body. Interestin ******** this hope your taking note ;)

work on your spelling a bit, it took me more than one read-through to make any sense of this

[Nixon]

work on your spelling a bit, it took me more than one read-through to make any sense of this

Heh 1. i was knackered, 2. it was later, 3. unfortunatly i passed that stage of learning a long time ago so i aint gonna get any better mate, oh an 4. i have dyslexia (damn stupid word).

The miricle is you made sense of it :) most people cant do that went im speakin to em

[amdmaxx]

Best indurance (read long distance) runners are small also..
Gymnasts are picked SMALL from the get-go, its not that they dont grow, they are genetically small...
About 11 year olds - their bodies recover in 8-12 hour span, unlike ours - 24-48 hours just to feel leg muscles after the game.. When i was 16-20 I could play basketball for 4 hours, then play soccer for 4, then go out party all night, bring a girl home and still perform..
Today that would be a suicide mission for me... and I am only 29...
And I don't believe that muslces have anything to do with growth of person... as a kid, My parents made me hang on pull up bars to grow taller - no luck, I am 5-8, taller than my parents, but I ain't no basketball player.. :)
If u want to make sure your 11 year old grows properly and gets muscle development do this:
- let him sleep 9-11 hours daily.
- make sure he gets enough protein for muslce recovery (meats, egg whites, tuna, beans, protein shakes)
- make sure he gets enough calcium in the body (dairy products, calcium supplements, fish, etc)
and feed him good carbs 2-3 hours before the games/practive (pasta, etc)

[vanity_soccer13]

When i was 16-20 I could play basketball for 4 hours, then play soccer for 4, then go out party all night, bring a girl home and still perform..
Today that would be a suicide mission for me... and I am only 29...


I found that very amusing.

Maybe I'm only 5'6" because as a child I always played soccer, baseball, and basketball all year round, so I never took many breaks. I dunno though, I think it's genetics.

[The Lion Keeper]

Don't get me wrong, I didn't buy into his theory either, just thought it was
interesting. The body works in weird ways and not fully understood by those that study it, so I don't feel I have the background to fully dismiss any theory. Common sense tells me that the theory is probably not correct but it still made me think about it for a short while. I'm not at all concerned about my son's growth, he's an animal, eats brocollli and everything. I just simply pointed out what is, most likely, a coincidence in the timing of his normal growth. My buddy's son is small for his age, great player though, so I think the dad is over thinking it.

[spartanpele]

Hmmmm...

Let me give you some solid parental advice... go watch the movie, "Searching for Eddie Fisher". Its a story about a child chess playing prodigy. But the bigger lesson is tucked inside the movie dealing with parents who push their kids too hard, and kids who lose the true value of competition.

If you're concerned that your 11 yr old isn't touching the ball enough during the summer....you're probably heading down the road towards player burnout and becoming one of "those parents" that everyone doesn't want to become.

Do your kid and yourself a favor. Take the summer off. Go fishing, go camping, go biking, go swimming. Play another sport, do something different. Your kid is 11, his whole life shouldn't revolve around soccer.

Now from a physiological point of view...the best thing you can do for your child is have him do something different. Cross train, do other sports, (biking, swimming, basketball, etc). That will help his body to grow and mature and help avoid overuse injuries in the process.

If you want to keep your childs brain and body healthy, learn to intermix other activities. He'll thank you in the long run....

[blech]

Hmmmm...

Let me give you some solid parental advice... go watch the movie, "Searching for Eddie Fisher". Its a story about a child chess playing prodigy. But the bigger lesson is tucked inside the movie dealing with parents who push their kids too hard, and kids who lose the true value of competition.

***

the name in the movie title, as well as the name of the former chess champion, is "bobby fischer"
hopefully that makes searching for him easier :)

[spartanpele]

blech....thanks a lot!! LOL!! I started laughing when I reread my own post. Yeah...Eddie is someone completely different.

[NHRef]

I recently read an article on kids sports injuries and there is growing incidence of young kids with injuries due to only playing 1 sport pretty much year round. The two sports they called out specifically: soccer and basketball.

The idea in the article that restricting activity to one sport strengthens only those muscles needed in that sport, at the detriment of others. This results in muscular imbalance in body parts which results in pulls, tears and much worse injuries.

The solution: play multiple sports or at least don't play 1 sport year round, take a break and be a kid, run around with friends etc. gives the "sport centric" muscles time to rest and recover and the change in activities gives the other muscles chance to develop.

[SoccerPro843]

High impact running (flat-footed) may cause this.

[USvsIRELAND]

I recently read an article on kids sports injuries and there is growing incidence of young kids with injuries due to only playing 1 sport pretty much year round. The two sports they called out specifically: soccer and basketball.

The idea in the article that restricting activity to one sport strengthens only those muscles needed in that sport, at the detriment of others. This results in muscular imbalance in body parts which results in pulls, tears and much worse injuries.

The solution: play multiple sports or at least don't play 1 sport year round, take a break and be a kid, run around with friends etc. gives the "sport centric" muscles time to rest and recover and the change in activities gives the other muscles chance to develop.

Thats probably true. I swim + play soccer. Helps my fitness IMO.