Is A Warm-Up Really Necessary?

The idea of the warm up is to prepare the human body for vigorous exercise, raise the heart rate and reduce the risk of injury. When you are in environment full of coaches you can't help but eaves drop into the conversations as they are often so passionate. This particular debate was about the question whether a warm up is necessary for young children. This debate was inspired by a quote in the The Elevating Athletics resource stating:

''At younger ages, the importance of and need for a warm up is less and little time should be devoted to warming up and cooling down.''

The topic of warming up has sparked much discussion among academics and researchers. Notably regarding static versus dynamic stretches as part of the warm up session. It seems that a majority of coaches insist on having a warm-up at the beginning of a session because the current evidence is significantly in support of this practice. The above quote suggests that as we get older warm ups are more needed. This makes perfect sense due to the fact that our muscles become more rigid as we age. This increases the possibility of injury as the muscles have not been warmed up properly.

With that said I have rarely come across a young child aged between 5 to 7 years (the age group which this quote was referring to) who have injured themselves because they have pulled a muscle in the class. The most common injuries for children in this age group are a result of collision, falling, tripping, injuries for previous exertions or something of this nature. Furthermore, kids take part in vigorous exercise during play time in schools and seem to cope fine. In many schools children sprinting out to the playground at 100 miles an hour when the bell goes and competitive matches of football are a familiar scene.

So is a Warm Up necessary for young children? How do prepare your kids?