ABSTRACT
Growth and maturation are central processes in long-term participation of children and youth in competitive sports. Growth involves quantitative changes in body size with implications on proportionality, shape and composition. This chapter presents an overview of the key terms related to growth, maturation and development in youth soccer. Skeletal age and secondary sex characteristics (pubic hair, genitals and testicular volume) are probably the most common used indicators of biological maturation. Age at peak height velocity is probably the most used somatic milestone. Annual gains in stature are manually plotted or fitted using mathematical curve procedures. The adolescent growth spurt impacts athletic performance, and many myths persist within soccer coaches, particularly those at grassroots levels regarding the adolescent growth spurt and its impact on performance. The impact of the growth spurt is, in part, due to changes in the body composition.
