September 3, 2020 – Thirteen participants from 10 National Federations of Belize have registered to participate in a Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Webinar Series offered by PanAm Sports, in partnership with Sport for Life (Canada), the global leader in Quality Sport and Physical Literacy education.

Participating federations of Belize are: Belize Sailing Association, Belize National Cricket Association, Rugby Belize, Belize Softball Federation, Belize Canoe Association, Belize Body Building & Fitness Federation, Belize Tennis Association, Belize National Triathlon Federation, Belize Athletics Association and Belize Volleyball Association.

Sports leaders in the region and the world have found that many children and young people are dropping out of sports at an early age, resulting in a reduced talent pool for high performance teams. More importantly, an increasing percentage of the population is leading a sedentary lifestyle, which can lead to many health problems and a reduced quality of life.

Some of the reasons include:

1. The lack of adequate programs designed to make sport fun and engaging
2. Early specialization leading to burnout and injuries, which result in many children leaving the sport
3. Inadequate teaching of the fundamentals of movement and physical activity at the appropriate age
4. Poorly designed competition formats that force children to compete with the same rules as adults, resulting in frustration and desertion from organized sport

In an effort to address these concerns, Panam Sports reached an agreement with Sport for Life to share their knowledge and programs with the NOCs through a new Webinar educational series on Zoom and the Panam Sports Channel. It is an eight-week seminar that commenced on September 2. The course includes evaluations and certificates for all participants upon conclusion. Each NOC was offered a limited number of spaces free of charge. The information was shared with each National Federation of Belize, and the BOCGA received the names for onward submission to Panam Sports. Participants were recommended and endorsed by their federations as active members who will use their knowledge in the development of sport.

The BOCGA looks forward to positive feedback from the Belize participants, and is grateful to Panam Sports for this unique opportunity.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

Long-Term Development (LTAD) Webinar Series

Sport for Life (Canada) is the global leader in Quality Sport and Physical Literacy education. The 8-week online webinar series is about Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD), the underlying connective concept behind every healthy performing sport system across the globe. LTAD forms the basis for progressive stage-based development of participants from their introduction to sport, to recreational and high performance levels and on to ultimately staying active for life. It connects the multiple sectors responsible for the provision of sport opportunities, outlines key considerations in creating pathways and frameworks of athlete and system development, and enables the creation of policies that improve the quality of sport.

This LTAD series, presented by world class experts in sport and physical activity, will combine online education, e-learning and practical examples from guest speakers to provide each student the following:

• The Athlete Development model and why it is absolutely crucial to modern sport
• The Key Factors of LTAD – including specialization, age, physical literacy, competition, periodization
• The 7 stages of Athlete Development – the flow, connections and key considerations
• Quality Sport – LTAD in action, “Good programs, place and people” (case studies and examples from successful sports)
• Training and Competition – the keys to successfully aligning competition structures, training & multisport Games
• Physical Literacy – the competence, confidence & motivation to be active for life
• Coaching and National Sport Systems – their central roles in healthy sport systems
• Interdependence – how LTAD and Physical Literacy work together – case studies in NSOs and NOCs

This exciting series will present cutting-edge knowledge, practical information and real life examples to engage participants from every aspect of sport – from NOCs to club and school coaches, NSO leaders, government officials and the like. Participants will progress through an LTAD curriculum workbook and address Homework between weekly sessions that will be reviewed and discussed. As well, two exams will be staged to ensure the knowledge is understood and absorbed. Successful graduates of the LTAD program will receive an accredited Certificate of Completion/Achievement.

Key Outcomes

At the end of this series, participants will:

• Have improved understanding of Long-Term Athlete Development
• Understand how to connect Long-Term Athlete Development stage objectives to actual program delivery from club, school to national and international levels
• Understand philosophy of multi (sectors – organizations) partner engagement
• Have developed a rationale for how an LTAD Framework can support and enrich a National Sport Policy
• Have developed a rationale for how an LTAD Framework with Physical Literacy can underpin and enrich a quality Physical Education Curriculum
• Understand how to develop successful sport-specific LTAD/ADM Frameworks

Why governments, NOCs, sport organizations and coaches need to address Physical Literacy and Long-Term Athlete Development

• To change national sport, health and education cultures by moving from one to three key outcomes. (Governments/NOCs)
• To increase participation and excellence through an inclusive athlete (participant) development pathway. (Organizations)
• To improve the quality of sport through the application of stage based development and ten key factors. (Coaches)

For more information on the Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association, please contact any of our Executives.