Long-Term Athletic Development

Long-term athletic development provides a framework to cultivate healthy, athletic, and resilient children and adolescents who may – or may not – participate in competitive sports. When empirical research findings are combined with coaching experience, training programs for youth populations can be evidence-informed, developmentally appropriate, and stimulating to ensure long-term engagement. However, due to growth and maturation, programming for children and adolescents is a challenging – yet interesting – process requiring nuance. The broad purpose of this chapter is to explore the concept and benefits of long-term athletic development, and to examine how growth, maturation, and training interact to influence the training response of youth at different stages of maturity. The chapter will feature practical insights throughout. Additionally, a case study is provided to show how our understanding of pediatric physiology and training science can be merged to develop effective training programs that ascribe to the central pillars of long-term athletic development.