5 ways yoga can improve performance in youth

It’s hard to imagine rambunctious children easing into downward dog or holding a warrior pose. However, a growing number of fitness professionals recommend yoga for young athletes.
According to Dana Santas, creator and director of Tampa, Florida-based Radius Yoga Conditioning, young athletes can improve performance and reduce injuries by incorporating yoga into their fitness routines.
A yoga trainer for many Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA and college sports teams, Santas developed a yoga program specifically for youth sports.
Could your child Namaste his way to better play? The following are five ways yoga can improve sports performance.

1. Gain more flexibility

Flexibility is one of the biggest benefits of practicing yoga. Increased flexibility reduces tightness in muscles, can help alleviate tension and improves range of motion. The increased range of motion allows young athletes more fluid movement.

2. Increase strength

Relaxation and flexibility are often associated with yoga. However, practicing yoga can also help increase strength and power. Young athletes can use poses such downward dog, the plank, tree, dolphin and dolphin push-up as low-impact alternatives to weight training. Strength training combined with flexibility increases power. More power enhances explosive movement in sports such as baseball, tennis, basketball, soccer and football.

3. Build self-awareness

Ronnie Goff, a registered yoga instructor, beliefs beyond the physical benefits, yoga provides youth athletes with self-confidence through self-awareness. She writes on her Awaken Health Fitness blog, that young athletes learn that “while your performance can be improved, you are whole and perfect just the way you are. In short—it can help make youth sports a lot more fun.”

4. Reduce risk of injury

Nothing derails athletic progress like an injury. Citing the Center for Disease Control, Santas points out that more than half of all pediatric sports injuries are preventable. Yoga, she states, is a good way for young athletes to prevent injuries. By increasing muscle strength and flexibility through yoga, a young athlete can minimize over-use injuries. Yoga can also aid in muscle recovery.

5. Improve control

Young athletes who practice yoga may gain a stronger sense of control. They understand the relationship between mind and body. They also learn how to monitor and manage their body through breathing techniques. By controlling breathing, the young athlete can manage nerves during tense competition or adjust breathing to exert more power.