Good article on Ondre Pipkins

Submitted by Gobluegr on
Scout has a free article chronicling Ondre's development as a football player and his relationship with his dad (a big reason he came to Michigan). When talking about when Ondre's potential when he was younger, his dad said "He was about 6’0. 270. He hit this one kid doing a tackling drill and coach took him out of the tackling drill because he was just leveling 9th graders. At that point, I knew he had the potential to be anything he wants if he keeps his grades up." But the best part of the article is when his dad said this "He benched pressed 80-lbs at six years old on a stationary weight machine" http://michigan.scout.com/2/1098884.html

74polSKA

August 24th, 2011 at 2:06 PM ^

Dad's are always doing stuff that make other people say WTF.  My dad let me use power tools when I was 5 and I still have all my appendages.  He was probably watching his dad work out and wanted a try.  According to the article, the fact that his dad was active in his life has had a huge positive impact on Ondre.  I'm happy for Ondre and his dad and I hope he has a great career at Michigan.

profitgoblue

August 24th, 2011 at 2:31 PM ^

That's a good point - someone can always question another's parenting skills.  I always operated under the impression that weighlifting is not good for kids (see Magnus's mention below) but it clearly did not stunt Pipkins's growth!

FWIW, I let my son (age 3) use screwdrivers and pliers so I'm not one to judge - he's HEAVILY supervised, of course, but still . . .

 

Magnus

August 24th, 2011 at 2:16 PM ^

I'm not a doctor, but generally I think weight training is frowned upon with children that young.  They don't have the chemical makeup to build muscle very easily, and the weightlifting could cause structural damage that can stunt growth and healthy development.

Wolverine MD

August 24th, 2011 at 2:36 PM ^

You're right that is usually it's frowned upon to start lifting that early. Howeva, growth stunting/injury mostly due to the lack of good fundamentals (and then lifting too much with bad form). When done correctly, it can actually be beneficial to start young. But paramount to that is proper supervision. 

fat_wilhelm

August 24th, 2011 at 2:47 PM ^

Many people do frown upon it, but for no good reason. Conventional wisdom says it's dangerous, but by and large, that's a bunch of crap.  I've not seen a single study that links weight training and growth plate injuries in children, which tend to be of the acute variety. On the contrary, weight training can be of great benefit  to children. It's true that the hormonal structure required to build muscle is not all there at a young age, but neuromuscular adaptations and positive effects on bone density are just a couple of things that can aid in a child's physical and athletic development.

Here's a half-decent article on the subject:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-weight…

 

*edit: Well said WolverineMD... you beat me to the punch.

switch26

August 24th, 2011 at 3:35 PM ^

you should tell that to the little hercules kid that was constantly on tv.. granted his father kind of pushed lifting on him at such a young age, but he still wanted to do it.

 

Wasn't he benching like 200 lbs by age 9 or 10?

Don

August 24th, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^

was having Ondre engage in real weight training. It's just as likely he had Ondre plop down on the bench to see what he could do. Regardless, whatever lifting Ondre did didn't appear to stunt his physical development.

I'll be really surprised if Ondre isn't starting by the end of his true freshman year.