Pilot Project – A multi-sport approach at Zejtun Corinthians Youth Nursery

This year, Zejtun Corinthians Youth Nursery embarked on a pilot project which saw the introduction of a weekly multi-move session for the Under 9 section.

At this age “children are encouraged to experience a breadth of sporting activities and to avoid specialising early in a single sport” (Lloyd et al. 2015, p. 1448). These multi-move sessions aimed to develop fundamental movement capacities which are elemental for the young athlete “before being exposed to the rigors of repetitious sports specific training” (Lloyd et al. 2015, p. 1455).

Prior starting this project an informative and educational meeting was made with the parents whereby issues and principles surrounding the Long Term Athlete Development model were presented and explained. Moreover parents were encouraged to sign their children into different sports, and today a good number are practicing other disciplines such as basketball, athletics, gymnastics and hockey.

The feedback from both the parents and the children was very positive and encouraging. Through this initiative, Zejtun Corinthians Youth Nursery looks forward into developing this idea with other sections.

This pilot project was spearheaded by Karl Attard who is a Physical Trainer at the Malta Football Association and promising youngster Neil Tabone, who plays with Zejtun Corinthians FC.

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