Growth and Maturation in Youth Sport Education Modules
eLearning modules introducing Growth and Maturation in Youth Sport
About the Modules
This three-module resource has been designed for youth athletes and their parents, coaches, performance support practitioners and sports administrators who support them. It introduces key growth and maturation concepts, explains how physical development can influence sporting experiences and performance, and provides practical information to help apply this knowledge in youth sport environments.
Please note: Each module takes about 20 minutes to complete. These modules will not store your progress if you exit before completing. However, when you return to the module you can select a start point from anywhere in the left-hand menu. The module content includes videos, written content and knowledge tests.
Unit 1: Introduction to Basic Terms and Concepts
This unit will explain key concepts relating to growth, maturation and youth athletic performance, it will also explain two types of participation and selection bias.
Unit 2: How Maturational Growth Affects Youth Sport Performance
This unit explores how maturational growth affects various aspects of youth athletic capability and performance; and how individual maturational growth trajectories lead to potentially substantial differences within youth sport age groups.
Unit 3: Growth and Maturation affects youth sport performance and engagement
Understand practical recommendations and strategies which consider growth and maturation in youth athletes, including recommendations related to growth measurement tracking, general training recommendations according to growth and maturation stages.
More information about the modules
We acknowledge individual athlete requirements vary depending on age, sport, gender, impairment, and training history. Consequently, these modules are a valuable educational tool, but the advice is general and should not be relied on solely. The module design is inclusive for Olympic and Paralympic high-performance pathway athletes.
Acknowledgements
These modules are an initiative of the Australian High-Performance Sport System, developed in partnership with subject matter experts from the University of Sydney. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) acknowledges the University of Sydney’s contribution to developing the course content. This work was led by Professor Stephen Cobley and Dr Shaun Abbott, with support from Dr Sera Dogramaci, Angelique Telisman, Matthew Taweel and Jayden Leeder.
AIS Performance Pathways and Programs contributed to refining and presenting the content through the work of Simon Rogers PhD, Nicola Bullock PhD, Graham Turner PhD and Rachel Hunt.
Special thanks also to staff from the Australian Sports Commission and Paralympics Australia for their contributions and support.
Other education modules
To access other AIS education modules, return to the Performance Pathways Education Modules home page