Train to Train
Ages 12-16 in Males & 11-15 in Females
The ages that define this stage for boys and girls are based on the onset and end of the growth spurt, which are generally ages 11 to 15 for girls and 12 to 16 for boys. At this stage, they are ready to consolidate their basic sport-specific skills and tactics. These youths may play to win and do their best, but they still need to focus more time on skill training and physical development over competition. This approach is critical to the development of top performers and maintaining activity in the long-term, so parents should check with their national organization to ensure their child’s program has the correct training-to-competition ratio.
Training to Train To-Do List
- Make aerobic training a priority after the onset of PHV while maintaining or further developing levels of skill, speed, strength, and flexibility.
- Emphasize flexibility training given the rapid growth of bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles.
- Consider the 2 windows of accelerated adaptation to strength training for females: the first occurs immediately after PHV and the second begins with the onset of menarche. For males, there is 1 window and it begins 12 to 18 months after PHV.
Note that both aerobic and strength trainability are dependent on the maturation levels of the athlete. For this reason, the timing of training emphasis differs depending on whether athletes are early, average, or late maturers.
- Learn to cope with the physical and mental challenges of competition.
- Introduce athletes with a disability to sport-specific equipment such as wheelchairs and athletic prostheses. For all athletes, the use of body-size and skill-level appropriate equipment remains important.
- Optimize training and competition ratios and follow a 60:40 per cent training to competition ratio. Too much competition wastes valuable training time and conversely, not enough inhibits the practice of technical/tactical and decision-making skills. Use talent identification to help athletes focus on 2 sports. Utilize single and double periodization as the optimal framework of preparation. Train athletes in daily competitive situations in the form of practice matches or competitive games and drills.
The Learn to Train and Training to Train stages are the most important stages of athletic preparation. During these stages, we make or break an athlete!