Physical Growth and Development Article

as found on USA SWIMMING

UNDERSTANDING YOUR PHYSICAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Did you know?

Athletes follow a predictable pattern of physical growth but the rate at which you go through this growth varies by individual.

Consider…

• You typically grow about 2.5 in/yr and gain about 5 lb/yr.
• Your growth spurt occurs during puberty/adolescence.
• This means that someone the same age as you can vary by as much as 5 biological years, meaning with two 11-year-old swimmers, one may be 10 and the other 15, biologically.

What can you do?

Be aware of your growth cycle so you understand what is happening to your body as you develop.

Did you know?

Performance can be influenced by rate of maturity, which is out of your control! Some young athletes, therefore, may have a performance advantage over others.

Consider… 

• If you are an early maturer, you may have a physical size advantage and may perform better than late maturers. Early maturers experience more early success due to a physical growth advantage and not necessarily enhanced skills or abilities.
• If you are a late maturer, you may experience frustration because of being physically "behind" someone that’s the same age as you.
• Late maturers often catch up to or exceed the performance of early maturers by the mid-teen years, but only if you stay in the sport. Some athletes drop out because of a lack of early performance success.
• Early maturers can maintain early gains by develop good technique and take on new challenges.

What can you do?

Early maturers keep success in perspective as late maturers will often catch up. All athletes are encouraged to recognize individual improvement and avoid comparing athletic performances.

Did you know?

Gender differences in physical growth and in the timing of the growth spurt contribute to the overall difference in the height and body shapes of females and males.

Consider… 

• Girls reach peak growth spurts around age 12 and boys around age 14.
• Hormonal differences in males and females cause body composition changes in adolescence, changes which are out of your control but which may impact performance (positively and negatively).

What can you do?

Understand gender differences and make sure you understand the basics of the developmental process. Allow time to get comfortable (physically and emotionally) with changes in your body. It’s normal and YOU ARE normal! It take time to adapt to growth changes so expect it to take some time for you to be able to take advantage of changes.

How Your Training Changes as You Progress

Knowing what to expect through different phases of your training as you progress through the sport can help you understand how your training should be structured for optimal performance in each phase and as you move from one stage to the next. When you’re very young (age 6-14) athletes are in what we call the generalized phase. In this phase, coaches are trying to build base fitness and endurance while focusing on proper technical development of strokes, starts and turns. This pre-pubescent and pubescent stage of growth and development is the aerobic and technical foundation for more intense and specialized work in the next phase.
During the generalized phase, especially for the younger athletes (6-10 years) structured play, games, establishment of rules, how practices are structured, and gaining more experience at swim meets are some of the major focuses. From age 11-14 swimmers may hit their growth spurt if they are going through puberty. This is when you may see changes in your body and when you may even feel more clumsy or uncomfortable in your own skin. You may seem sudden performance gains or just the opposite: a plateau or even see a decline. It’s especially important in this phase of training that you focus on technical development, off-events, or even other sports to enhance athleticism outside of the pool.

The second phase of training is Specialization. By the time you get to this phase you may be on the tail end of puberty or have entered adolescence. In this phase, you can start to work at higher intensities and put in higher quality workouts, if you have a strong aerobic base. You really begin to refine race strategy and take more responsibility for your own training. Because you may be more physically developed you may even begin a structured dryland program. This is also the point where athletes choose one sport to focus on and will put more time into that sport.

The final phase of training will hopefully take you to the end of a very successful and satisfying career and where the fully mature as an athlete. Athletes in this phase are really ready to put on more muscle mass, train at top end speeds with the balance of recovery, and also realize the importance of other training factors such as sleep, nutrition and psychology. Athletes in this phase are expected to be highly motivated and take an active role in planning their training.

Although these phases are generalizations you can often see characteristics overlap into different phases. Depending on the rate of your own growth and development, you may see some characteristics occur either or earlier or later. What’s important is to know the progression that usually occurs and to be able to apply it to your swimming.