ABSTRACT
Growth and maturation characteristics of young athletes are implicit in models of talent identification, selection and development. During pubertal years, male athletes in several sports include proportionally more players who are advanced in biological maturation and proportionally fewer players who are delayed (Malina, 2011). The ability to predict the timing of the adolescent growth spurt is also central to the Long Term Athlete Development model (Balyi et al., 2005), although empirical evidence supporting the model is lacking (Ford et al., 2011). This study evaluates the concordance between maturity classifications (early, on time, late) based on skeletal maturation and a non-invasive method, predicted age at peak height velocity (APHV).
