LONG-TERM ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT FOR MULTIDIRECTIONAL SPEED

Throughout childhood and adolescence, age, growth, and maturation interact with one another to provide a unique challenge for practitioners working in youth strength and conditioning. This chapter aims to explain the changes in multidirectional speed performance experienced by youth athletes as they grow and develop. The kinetic and kinematic components of multidirectional speed performance are discussed, as well as the adaptations that occur throughout maturation that underpin the changes in multidirectional speed. This provides practitioners with the evidence-based knowledge to inform the physical and technical training that they may use across the long-term development of youth athletes. The importance of differential training approaches to developing multidirectional speed at different stages of age and maturation are outlined, along with developmental framework that supports practitioners in developing effective programmes with their youth athletes.