Some parents want their children to be prodigies, and feel that this will get them a leg up on their competition by specializing in one sport early. Instead of early specialization in one sport, it's better for the youngster to learn lots of different sports in their pre-pubscent years. Here is a link on the topic: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130423172601.htm
Rather than just paddling all the time, children should be encouraged to learn a variety of sports and movements. If they have a base of lots of different sports, new movements will come easier.
Some people misinterpret this to mean that the child should have a large base of aerobic, cyclical training, such as going for long distance bike rides or runs every day. However, the movements are very limited, rather than being multi-faceted. Running and biking are great exercise and good for kids, but if they are done exclusively for long periods, the child might be missing out on other movements, such as in sports like basketball, soccer, tennis or gymnastics, where the movements are varied.
Learning a variety of movements is important because then a child can later pick up new movements more easily. And some of the play should be free play or play with other children so that the child can experiment with movement, and not always be told what to do. However, instruction in proper technique in sports is important, but there should also be a fun aspect to sports.
Children should be exposed to a variety of sports and play sports they enjoy, but doing just one sport year-round intensively can wait until after the child reaches puberty around 14 or 15. Doing multiple sports helps also with injury prevention. Just using one set of muscles exclusively does not develop the opposing muscles and can lead to muscle imbalances, and therefore injury.
And children need to have fun and play. Most children are mainly interested in sport for fun, not for some long-distant goal. If the coach or parent and the child have different goals, this may create some conflict and make it less fun for the child. The child does not need to have any adult pressure to win.
Every "failure" is in fact a learning experience and everyone should keep this in mind. Mistakes are just opportunities to learn to do better next time.
One of the most important aspects of youth sports is friendship. The coach should facilitate a good group atmosphere, so the athletes will want to come to practice. If the child has to leave his friends to come to practice, he won't be motivated. But if he knows he will see his friends when he comes to train, he will want to come every time. So, while individual practices are good for learning technique, group workouts are necessary for motivation.
Anyhow, young children paddling is great, but don't forget to have them do a dozen other sports also, so they become athletes, not just boaters and so they enjoy a variety of activities. Sports should be fun, especially for children.
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