ABSTRACT
The concept of training youth athletes is not novel; however, since the turn of the millennium, there has been a significant increase in interest surrounding the efficacy of various training approaches on the holistic development of both children and adolescents. Despite this growing interest, practitioners should remember that youth athletes are a unique population and that their exposure to sports training and strength and conditioning programmes will coincide with normal growth and maturity-related changes in a range of physical, physiological and psychosocial qualities. Understanding key principles of paediatric exercise science and growth and maturation is therefore important to support long-term athletic development of youths. This chapter aims to introduce the key concepts of long-term athletic development related to the youth rugby player, including growth and maturation, physical development, injury risk, training load management and psychosocial development.
