Q&A
The questions parents, athletes and coaches ask us most — and our answers, without the padding.
Specialised development requires a specific order of goals. When a stage is skipped, it leaves deficits that are very difficult to correct later — and often impossible.
- The goals for each age are set by learning capacity and the maturation of the nervous system.
- The principle of individuality requires training to match biological, motor and mental development.
- Between ages 12 and 16, biological and chronological age can differ by up to four years; load follows the biological one.
- Order of priority: coordination abilities, then technique, then physical abilities.
Three: physical fitness, technical skill and psychological readiness. A training stimulus produces adaptation — but when load exceeds the capacity to recover, overtraining syndrome appears.
- Endurance and aerobic capacity
- Strength and speed
- Muscular endurance
- Neuromuscular coordination
- Flexibility and joint mobility
- Body composition
Not with certainty. Body type matters in some sports, but adolescent growth changes it in ways that cannot be forecast. Genetics explain between 30% and 85% of cardiac, muscular and fat-distribution traits, and 70–80% of the response to endurance training — but environment determines whether any of it is expressed.
Motor development is a lifelong process shaped by three factors: the task itself, the child's biology and the environment. Roughly 90–95% of final brain mass is formed by the age of six, which is why we recommend systematic, varied exercise from early childhood — rather than early specialisation in a single sport.
Motor development unfolds in distinct stages, each with its own characteristics:
- Reflex movements — 0 to 1 year
- Elemental movements — 1 to 2 years
- Fundamental movement patterns — 2 to 7 years, across initial, basic and mature sub-stages
- Sporting activities — from age 8: transitional 8–10, specific motor skills 11–13, specialisation 14–18
Because the nervous system matures earlier than the other systems. Coordination abilities develop first, and assessment reveals both the athlete's level and the effectiveness of the training.
- Health-related traits: endurance, strength, flexibility, body composition
- Performance traits: agility, balance, coordination, reaction time, maximum strength, speed
- Goals: aerobic capacity, strength, functional flexibility, motor skills
