ABSTRACT
Young athletes navigate cognitive, social, physical, and environmental changes throughout childhood to adolescence. Thus, youth sport practitioners should be knowledgeable about these changes and engage in developmentally appropriate instruction. In this chapter, a review of key cognitive developments during childhood and adolescence including transition from concrete to abstract thinking, change in the self-perception system, and change in conceptions effort and ability is provided. Important social changes including increasing the importance of peer acceptance and close friendship, learning to take another’s perspective and express empathy, and using different social agents to inform ability beliefs are also discussed. Additionally, key environmental and physical changes are also examined before practical recommendations are provided for working with young athletes across the following developmental stages: early-to-middle childhood, late childhood to early adolescence, and middle-to-late adolescence.
