Preparing for sports scholorship

[Parsley1234]

Son is going for sports award at minor school. He is in the firsts cricket and football, seconds for rugby, swims 3 X week for a team and plays in the firsts for a good local cricket team. He does sport every day at school at least 2 hours with extra swimming for 5 hours over the week with more cricket in summer. Despite all this sport his fitness is not great his bleep test was poor how can I help to get him fitter and drop a few lbs as well.

What are the criteria for sports scholars? At my DD's 'minor' school at least county level in one sport and first team in another is required and several current scholarship holders are on Olympic development squads.

Has your DS been put forward by his currrent school? Have you spoken to the new school about their expectations? Some schools expect sports scholars to be playing at county level/already involved in elite development squads. Others may be less demanding.
One of our DCs (first team player in all sports but not in county/development structures) did the sports scholarship assessment for his senior school, but we were clear from the outset that they would be unlikely to get an award. They thoroughly enjoyed the day and said that the coaches had told them it had been a good opportunity to see them all play before team selections in the Autumn term.
Child was not disappointed because expectations had been managed.
Sports scholarships at 11 and 13 plus are usually not worth much. The big ones come in at 16+ when the big boarding schools take on the academy players.

Have spoken to school and they have asked to see him. I have explained he is in the firsts for all 3 disciplines although not county level they still want to see him. I wouldn't be putting him forward but have been asked to so regarding fitness how can I help him improve ?

If you want him to improve bleep test performance then practice bleep tests!

Is your DS currently at a prep? (I'm guessing yes, because of the number of the fixture-playing sports).

If so, what does the current head of boys' games recommend?

Yes, it is possible to win sports scholarships as a good all-rounder. School teams only really count if the school's standard is known (it's an area where preps do have an advantage). The school reference, combined with club references usually matter a great deal.

When is the assessment day?

As most are around now, there may not be time to do anything. But you might have different admissions dates.

Hello another newt we have a year to prepare. His prep is very well regarded and his cricket and swimming references will be excellent and re bleep test yes I could practice that if I knew what to do - off to google.

Parlsey - you can download apps for the bleep test. I would recommend interval training as a good way to train for the bleep test.
Try doing short intense intervalls with slow pauses in-between. I am sure you can find different apps for this as well.
Interval training should build both his speed and stamina over short distances which bleep tests in essence are.

Another area that is often neglected in prep-schools is general fitness, core strength and balance. Might be worth looking into this as well as I know some schools will look at things like push ups, pull ups, situps etc.

Good luck!

Thank you ears ! Is interval same as hiit ? Thank you so much for your reply fealing a bit stressed lol X

HIIT I believe, is more a workout (fitness) than just the running (for the blip), and I dont have much experience with this.

A typical interval run can start with 5 minutes of warm up (slow jog), then intervalls of 1 to 2 minute sprints followed by walk or slow jog for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Start with 5-10 repetitions and slowly increase. This can then be built up to longer periods of the sprints (build from 1 to 2 minutes). Finish with a 5 minute cool down (slow jog/walk).

I am not a fitness trainer, I am just speaking from own experience, so always good to check with experts etc. if it is OK to do for your DS. I personally love doing it together with my own DS.

Personally I dont think weights are a good idea for young bodies, and in fitness I prefer using own body weight as resistance. There are some really good apps out there for this too - like the 7 minute work out etc.
I hope it is of some help and good luck! You are well ahead, so try not to stress.

That's oodles of time!

These tests are a way of assessing general fitness, so anything /everything that will work on general conditioning will be good preparation.

Does his current prep run any extra sessions for potential scholars? If so, you may find that they include those sorts of things. At age 10 or so, you need to be a bit careful about how much running he does, but it's not a bad thing to add some running training (see if his school does cross country?)

Core strength improves performance in just about everything. Dance, yoga and Pilates are all good for that.

The other thing to bear in mind is attitude. Although elite (teen!) performers sometimes seem to get away with murder, at this age/stage, they are looking for the good sports who co-operate, who follow instruction and respond to coaching.

Thank you newt and ears so very much ! I feal like I'm letting him down - stupid I know xxx

Letting him down because I'm a single mum and his dad isn't really on side with this award which we need for a better chance of a bursary - the school are good but a lot is going to be on my own management. I will speak to the school as well thank you xx

I will speak to school re that dancing and re swimming it's only just kicked in as In it's not a battle to get him there moaning so maybe his fitness will improve with the amount he is doing . Thank you for replying

OP

What's his resting heart rate and recovery time? AFAIK that's a basic but good indicator for cardiac fitness and might give you an idea of his potential.

Blue smarties how do I measure that ? Sounds complicated but if explained I can do that thank you