Performance in all forms of motor activity related to sport performance improves progressively during the course of the childhood years as a consequence of normal growth and development. Whether (a) sport training can accelerate and ultimately enhance this biological development and (b) the existence of certain ages when training might prove to be more effective in improving performance, particularly early in childhood, remains uncertain. Physiological adaptations to endurance training in prepubertal children (improvements in maximal oxygen uptake) are dampened compared with adults, but enhancements of strength following resistance training are equally effective at all ages. The extent that intensive training regimens characteristic of early sport specialization in children can trigger physiological and performance adaptations may therefore depend on the form of exercise involved. Clearly, additional research is needed to enhance the understanding of the physiological responses to intensive sport training in prepubertal individuals.
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Kara K. Palmer, Danielle Harkavy, Sarah M. Rock, and Leah E. Robinson
start of the intervention. Though the reason for such low motor skills at the pretest is unknown, it is plausible that home and school environments may have been a driving factor for these low scores. Children at this age have similar biological development. Gender is not a predictor of muscle mass at
Jamie Salter, Mark B.A. De Ste Croix, Jonathan D. Hughes, Matthew Weston, and Christopher Towlson
findings are consistent with adult populations, where large (>10%) and sudden fluctuations in training load can amplify injury risk. 13 , 14 This highlights the importance of quantifying training load to mitigate injury risk, 15 particularly during periods of accelerated biological development. 1
Adam D.G. Baxter-Jones
are tall for their age and others are small for their age, an understanding of how children grow is required. Growth refers to measurable changes in size, physique, and body composition, whereas biological development, a term used interchangeably with biological maturation, refers to progress toward
Christina A. Geithner, Claire E. Molenaar, Tommy Henriksson, Anncristine Fjellman-Wiklund, and Kajsa Gilenstam
addition, Smith et al. ( 2018 ) recommended more research to “examine female sport contexts where minimal samples and data are available” (p. 1,474) to “help establish a better understanding of how growth and biological development interacts with sport development systems” (p. 1,474), thereby impacting
Ruben Vist Hagen, Håvard Lorås, Hermundur Sigmundsson, and Monika Haga
accounts of causality. Second, individual constraints outside the psychological domain need to be examined in relation to academic achievement in PE (e.g., lower secondary school represents a time in pupils’ lives where maturity and biological development differ substantially between individuals). Also, as
