Marcus Agnew: Summer break crucial for young sports people

Marcus Agnew.

With another big year kicking off, it has been great to get in some serious R&R. With the increasingly busy lives we all seem to have these days, the summer break is more important than ever.

The constant routines and activities of life all builds up, and the pressures can gradually accumulate without us really noticing.

Work, family lives, school, sports, and the constant connection to the internet all adds up, and it is easy to lose sight of what normal life should look like.

We all know parents can battle with extra stresses toward the end of year and through Christmas – but it's important to recognise the same can apply to kids as well.

We shouldn't feel the need to engage kids in all sorts of summer activities to keep them busy, sometimes it is a necessity for babysitting purposes, but otherwise let them slow down and come up with their own fun.

Being bored can be a good thing – yes being bored, almost a lost concept these days. It is pretty hard for some kids to actually get bored, usually a device is nearby – and if there is the merest inkling of them wondering what to do, a phone can be looked at in an instant, checking their online status or start playing a game.

Being bored forces them to come up with something, develop some creativity to entertain themselves, rather than having it all laid on for them. Hopefully a great chance to get out and about, explore the mighty outdoors. Do something different, have a change from the norm.

The school schedules are full-on during the year, and we are about to crack into another one soon. Before we know it, the old routines will be locked in again, with all sorts of extra school sports and activities.

So use the long summer days to get out and off the beaten track. A bit of hiking and exploring the forest can be more than just good fun and mental freshening. If you did want to toughen up the young ones and prepare them for a sport season, then the great Kiwi outdoors can be perfect for that too and is a big reason why we have always punched above our weight on the international scene.

The determination and grit required of a kid to get through a decent hike would ironically have a greater impact on the child's sporting development, than attending yet another sport practice session.

The older school athletes will still need to maintain some semi structured training, but the young ones just need to get out. The farm kids get to do it naturally, but the townies have to make it happen.

As well as the physical gains, the outdoors are massive for the mental health. And for that rather than charging through the forest like it's a race, we might even try the Japanese practice of "forest bathing" - where they slow right down and soak up the forest, preferably in bare feet. Difficult to slow down with racing kids, but maybe give it a go.

Either way, continue to enjoy the summer season, and keep that balance with time out and outdoors going as long as possible.

• Marcus Agnew is the health and sport development manager at Hawke's Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust and is also a lecturer in sports science at EIT.