With Wesley's capturing of his 2nd GM norm in the recently held World Junior Championship, for sure most of the the parents out there who dreams of(till now!) having their dreams lived by their kids thru their chosen sports would more or less believe that starting their kids early will really benefit them.
Agree? disagree? Or would you like to read on? Please read on.
Coaching Kids for Dummies by Rick Wollf
IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. New York
Chapter 2 Determining the Right Age to Begin Sports
When and how does your child start playing sports? Good question. Look at the sports over the long-term in the chronology of your child's development. The early years have certain key developmental characteristics. As your childgets older, these developmental abilities shift. By the time the child reaches junior high school, his priorities about sports have shifted many times...
The Early Years: Ages 1 to 3
By the time most children are 3 and 4, they are discovering that the concept of "play" is a wonderfully self-satisfying activity. Toddlers often repeat an action many times if they can elicit a certain response from a toy or gadget... this repetitive action and response reflects the child's appreciation of mastyering a skill.
Don't overlook these important events in a child's life because these magical moments are the first inklings of the child's mastery of her environment and how her physical actions are causing a pleasurable effect... it by bit more skills are developing until around the age of 4 or 5, the random play activities advance to the first beginnings of group games and sports.
As always, the environment plays a major part in the development of a child's mind and body. If the child sees chessboards and chess pieces, and people playing the game on a regular and frequent basis, it would be easier for the child to grasp basic concepts of the game as compared to a child who never saw a chess board, chess piece or a chess game played by significant others in his life.
During my studies for my Graduate Degree in Special Education, much has been covered about giftedness, multiple intelligences and learning styles but anywhere you look, you will find this simple, age-old proven fact:
"Nature and Nurture is the Key to develop children into a better, highly evolved thinker"
The Learning Phase: Ages 4 to 8
In some communities, kids as young as 4 or 5 are allowed to register and play on local recreational teams. At this age, the children rarely have the cognitive ability to understand the most fundamental strategy or, for that matter, the rules of the sport. Just watch a bunch of 5 year olds play in a soccer game and you quickly observe that very few have any understanding of position, passing stategy , or any special skill level beyond occasionally kicking a ball and running after it.
Well here in the Philippines where basketball is D' number one sports, you have seen kids as young as 4 and 5 playing in an exhibition basketball game during the inter-baranggay championship.
Also, I believe you have seen kids as young as 6 play in the National Age Group Chess Championships and at times winning the 8 and under category (these are the gifted, natural ones). A good chess friend of mine, John Sy of Xavier School said in one of his emails to me:
" It's the experience, not the age"
The two keys for this age group: patience and praise!
Flashes of Athletic Brilliance: Ages 9 to 12
By the time young athletes are 9 and 10, they're starting to exhibit the first real flashes of athletic mastery and ability. They're also beginning to show a cognitive understanding not only of the game, it's rules, and some of it's strategies, but also how those strategies can help them win instead of lose...
The beginnings of fair play
As children reach the age 9 or 10, along with their physical maturationcoomes a strong sense of fair play and playing by the rules. Unlike in the earlier ages, when either they don't know the rules or don't challenge them, at this age they develop a better understanding of the rules, of right or wrong and of fair play.
Interestingly, I've seen coaches teach "tricks" of the tactical trade and this actually impedes the total theoretical understanding of the subject at hand. instead of laying out the foundation for future theory build up, these adult coaches zooms in into the heavy side of the sports, and that is WIN WIN WIN!
Young prodigies of Philippine chess:
1. Gm Nelson Mariano III
2. GM Mark Paragua
3. IM Wesley So
4. NM Jem Garcia
5. Paolo Bersamina
Sports instill discipline, chess teaches life skills! Right age, right sports.
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