This was the question posed this past week by a parent, and it’s a good one. Firstly, it sits within our training ideals that physical activity for children should be fun, which is often achieved through gamification (turning the activities into games). Importantly, manipulation of the rules/ conditions of these games can encourage particular movement skills and techniques to occur.
Second, the question provides an opportunity to quickly address what “core strength” is. The core, as we’ve come to term it, most simply represents all muscle groups from neck to knee. In turn, strength of the core is the ability to produce, withstand, and transfer forces from the lower body to the upper body.
So back to the question regarding building “core strength” into fun games. The easiest way to achieve this is through crawling based tag games, such as Stuck in the Mud and Bulldog. The crawling condition engages muscles of the core, and develops strength and coordination of upper and lower limbs. Another important feature that the game invites movement exploration and limited instructional information from coaches.
Try these as part of warm-ups or to add movement challenges within the main body of sessions with children and adolescents. Different conditions and rules to maintain the element of challenge and, of course, to keep it fun!
Let us know how you get on in our comments section.
Thanks, Mark