my team never has to be encouraged to train her hardest. To her, it’s fun to be fast! Another 10-year-old boy doesn’t care so much about his ranking in a race; he just wants to feel like he’s a part of the team and knows what he’s doing on the course. Both of these types of athletes should be welcome on every developmental team. The challenge for


Photo by Eric Bakke


running around in the parking lot pushing their bikes. Skills we as adults take for granted don’t necessarily come easily for children. We then learn how to mount our bikes, taking 10–15 minutes practicing different types of mounts, where the pedals are set, how fast they should be going, etc. I set up cones to mark the mount and dismount lines and the


training, which varies by age and race distance. As the season progresses, we start to add speed work on both the bike and run and incorporate several brick or swim-to-run workouts.


At the end of every practice, we gather to do one fun activity together as a team, such as


youth coaches is to figure out how to meet the needs of both these athletes and run an organized practice to teach the required skills and physically train the team members.


Training – How do you start? Each season, the coach must develop a plan for every practice, to include instruction of a triathlon-specific skill, as well as specific conditioning in all three disciplines. Our developmental team, made of younger and beginning athletes, will meet two afternoons or evenings a week and at each practice I will pick at least one “focus” skill. We spend 30-40 minutes with our warm-up, team talk, active stretching and then drills and specific skill practice for our area of focus. We then move onto the conditioning phase of our workout for approximately 25-45 minutes. i try to include at least one fun game or relay at the end of each practice to give the kids something to look forward to.


What does it look like? in the first few weeks, discuss the basics of triathlon and work on beginning skills for each sport. For our “bike-focused practice,” athletes learn how to run with their bikes by


kids practice the specific skill several times. We then may move on to turning around a cone or cornering and talk about the best line into and out of a corner. I am amazed that my athletes as young as age 7 are able to master many of the skills adult triathletes have never thought about!


on “run-focus days” we spend 30 minutes working on proper running form and then doing several running drills to include high knees, butt kickers, bounding, arm swing drills, etc.


on “open-water swim” days we learn how to enter the water using high knee running and the dolphin dives. We talk about the best way to sight a course, turn around a buoy, start in open water, etc. I am amazed that even my youngest, most inexperienced athletes are thrilled to learn and practice new skills.


after our skill session, we take a 5-minute water and rest break, then we break up into several pace groups and the kids will complete an assigned workout with one of the parents with each group. In the beginning of the season we focus on slow endurance


water tag if we are at the beach, inner-tube relays or freeze tag. This helps to motivate the kids to stay focused during our “work” phase of practice. We end every practice with a review of upcoming training and races and perform our team cheer, which was made up by our young athletes.


Watching “my kids” race is as enjoyable and rewarding to me as completing my own Ironman 70.3 in record time. I highly encourage every coach to give youths a tri!


Karen Quilty is a mother of three and mentor to more than 35 youth triathletes. Quilty is a life-long athlete, certified USA Level I coach, USA Cycling Level III, Road Runners Club of America certified coach and a head coach and team director to Tampa Bay Tri-Sports. Beginning in early 2010, Quilty has served as the IronKids Teams Division Coordinator, which allows her to interact with youth triathlon teams across the country. To register for one of 12 IronKids events in the U.S., visit www.IronKids.com. To get involved with the IronKids Teams Division or to contact Quilty with coaching questions, please e-mail IronKids.Teams@IronKids.com.


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