The Introduction of Long Handled Implements with Young Children in Sport

In the recent generations much pressure has been put on children from mostly their parents to be the best. Many parents think that getting their children into a sport as early as possible will be beneficial to them in the future. The fact is though that many children that are seven years of age or younger lack the two components of perceptual motor learning, like spatial awareness and temporal abilities. Body awareness, space awareness, and directional awareness are three elements that a child must master in order to compete effectively in sport. Adding a long handled implement to this equation would be quite ineffective. The child at this age is just not ready for such a task. Obviously they can try to attempt this manipulation of long handled implements, but this could be detrimental. The child could lose interest in the sport because of their inability to perform, it is not that they are not good at the sport it is just that their body is not fully developed. Also you must consider the safety concerns. Children may hurt theme selves or others, not purposely, it is just they have not developed spacial awareness. So in conclusion I would not recommend the use of long handled implements in an environment with young children.