Strength & Conditioning, part 1: understanding your child's maturation status

Introduction

Simply, strength and conditioning (S&C) is about preparing the body physically to perform in sport. In the past, it was mainly thought of as something for elite adult athletes. But today, we know that the right kind of S&C can make a meaningful difference for youth athletes - helping them build good movement skills, stay injury-free, and enjoy their sport for longer. However, children aren't just "mini adults" and their training should be tailored to meet them "where they're at" developmentally, since each stage of growth is closely linked to a young person's health, confidence, and even how they take part in sport and exercise. For parents and carers, it can be tricky to know where to start and what to do. In this two-part article, and accompanying video presentation, we’ll unpack how a child's development influences their experiences in sport and how you can match their stage of development to their S&C training needs - making it easier for you to cut through the noise with clear, practical tips you can actually use.

Maturation status

Before the big teenage growth spurt, children experience steady but important growth where their bodies are especially receptive to learning how to move. In the years leading up to adolescence, children are developing the fundamental movement skills (like running, jumping, and balancing) that will become the foundation for more complex sports skills later on. This is a golden window to encourage variety, play, and enjoyment. Early exposure to a wide range of activities builds coordination, confidence, and body awareness, making the transition through later stages of growth smoother.

As children move through primary school and into their teenage years, they’ll hit a growth spurt, but not always in a smooth or balanced way. It can be an awkward (and sometimes uncomfortable) stage. Bones often grow first, with muscles and tendons playing catch-up. Meanwhile, the brain has the tricky job of figuring out how to control these new, longer, heavier limbs. No wonder kids can sometimes look a little clumsy during this phase - it’s their bodies trying to recalibrate.

If your child suddenly looks a bit uncoordinated or complains of aches during a growth spurt, don’t panic - it’s completely normal. Their body is simply adjusting to its new size. Encouraging regular movement, stretching, and patience can make this stage easier (for both of you!)

Technically speaking, the adolescent growth spurt is when a child grows at their fastest rate - often shooting up 8-10 cm in a single year. Scientists call this stage peak height velocity (PHV). For most girls, PHV arrives around age 12, and for most boys around age 14, though it can vary by as much as five years. That’s why some children shoot up earlier than their classmates, often showing more obvious signs of maturity (we all remember that kid in Year 7 who already had a beard!). These individuals are known as early maturers. On the other hand, late maturers might be smaller or less physically developed than their peers for several years, but catch up as they reach full maturity.

Whenever it happens, the months around PHV can feel like a whirlwind of change. Height can seem to double overnight, shoes suddenly don’t fit, joints may ache, and you might notice your child appearing a little less coordinated than usual. It’s all part of their body adjusting to its new size and shape. Understanding where your child is in relation to their PHV is an excellent starting point for choosing the type of physical training, support, and expectations that are most appropriate for them.

How can, and why should, parents track maturation?

Ever marked your child’s height on the kitchen wall or doorframe? It feels like a fun family ritual, but those pencil lines are much more than a nostalgic tradition. In fact, keeping an eye on things like height are used by sport science professionals as a useful piece of information to help guide what type of physical training is best suited to young athletes, according to their stage of development. With a little more information – such as their sitting height, body mass, parents’ heights, and date of birth – you can build a clearer picture of your child’s maturation status. This includes where they currently sit in relation to PHV, their predicted adult height, and their biological age (an estimate of how physically mature a child is compared to peers of the same chronological age). You can do this right now using our maturation status widget.

Monitoring a child's can help you select what type of physical training is best suited to them, according to their stage of development.

So why is this important?

1. To protect your child’s health. 

Rapid and uneven growth can leave cartilage and tendons vulnerable. A recent review in youth sport showed that overuse related “growing-pains”, such as Osgood–Schlatter (front of knee) and Sever’s disease (back of heel), are most likely to appear during the growth spurt. On the other hand, muscle strain and ligament injuries tend to rise much later, likely because training and competition tends to become more intense once PHV is over. Identifying where the young athlete is in relation to PHV lets parents and coaches adjust training before niggles evolve into longer-term problems.

2. To support your child’s confidence and motivation. 

A rapid growth spurt can be challenging for a young athlete when it happens earlier than their peers. One week they’re the smooth, skilful player everyone admires, the next they feel like Bambi on ice. Add the neck strain of constantly looking down at their less developed friends, and it’s easy to see why this stage can feel quite awkward for some. Without context, it's easy for a young person to internalise this frustration, believing they've lost their talent or are no longer "good" at their sport. For later maturers, they may have similar frustrations, but for opposite reasons. They may feel overshadowed by physically stronger peers and wonder if they will ever catch up. Either way, reassurance that everyone's development curve is simply different can be powerful, because it helps young people understand that growth is not a race and that skills and confidence will return once their bodies settle.

3. To focus on your child’s long-term development

It is also about embracing the long-term development of your child, not just short-term wins. Children whose size and strength mature earlier than their peers often stand out and are more likely to be picked by coaches, or have greater success in a talent ID programme. This is known as selection bias, and it can give the “early bloomers” a significant advantage. However, the “late bloomer” underdogs can often overtake their early-maturing peers later in life once the playing field levels. No matter how quickly or slowly this process happens, by recording growth and interpreting results through a maturation status lens, parents and coaches can keep faith with both early and late bloomers, manage selection bias, and help their child build the foundations needed for adult sport and exercise.

4. To pick the right S&C focus at the right time

Knowing where your child sits relative to PHV helps you match training to what their body is ready for, and this is the focus of Part 2 of this article series.. In simple terms, this information gives a guide to which type of S&C activities will be most beneficial at different stages of growth. Before the growth spurt, the focus is on fun and building broad movement skills. During the growth spurt, the priority is to keep variety and protect growing tissues. After the growth spurt, the body is generally better prepared to take on more structured and demanding training. This stage‑based approach, aligned with long‑term athlete development models, builds competence and confidence without overloading growing tissues.

Conclusion

Understanding maturation is about more than growth charts – it’s about seeing the bigger picture of your child’s health, confidence, enjoyment in sport, and readiness for different types of training. By keeping track of changes and supporting them through each stage, you give them the best chance to benefit from age‑appropriate S&C while thriving both now and in the future.

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll show you how to monitor and interpret your child’s maturation status in a clear, parent‑friendly way. We’ll also outline how this information links directly to S&C, giving you guidance on what type of activities are best suited at different stages of growth. This will help you support your child’s development with confidence and set them up for long‑term enjoyment in sport and activity.