Female Adolescent Development: What to be mindful of and how coaches can help

This information is designed to support coaches in understanding ‘what is going on’ for athletes at various stages of the netball player pathway. By increasing our knowledge surrounding growth, maturation, and psychological development we can provide appropriate and informed support to the athletes we work with.

We will introduce the key stages of physical and psychological development and provide practical advice and guidance for coaches along the way. We encourage you to combine the information shared in this document with your knowledge of the individual and lived experiences to guide your practice and decision making.

What do we mean by growth, maturation, and development?

Growth, maturation, and psychological development are complex, interacting processes that impact all athletes within the player pathway. While the timing and tempo of growth, maturation and psychological development varies between individuals, understanding the key stages and landmarks of these processes can help inform our coaching practice.

Growth refers to the increasing size of the body, or its component parts (e.g. muscle, fat, or bone). Generally, growth is a gradual process, however, it is accelerated following the onset of puberty commonly referred to as the adolescent growth spurt. This begins with a rapid increase in height (peak height velocity) and is followed by a significant increase in weight (peak weight velocity) typically 6 to 12 months later.

Maturation is a biological process that can be considered as the journey from childhood towards complete adult form and function. Whilst everyone will eventually reach the same destination, the timing (when it happens) and tempo (the speed at which it occurs) of maturation can vary greatly between individuals.

Development describes the physical and psychological (cognitive, emotional, and social) progress adolescents experience throughout their lives. Of course, these processes cannot be considered in isolation and instead all components of development should be viewed holistically.

Expert Tip:
The adolescent period is not just the teenage years. Our bodies and brains continue to grow and develop into our mid to late 20s, meaning most athletes, even if they look like adults, are still developing.

Make sure planning for success is part of your strategy as athletes at this age are keen to win! Praising positives has more of an impact on learning than criticism (catch them doing it well). However, they will need help developing coping strategies and taking perspective. For example, help athletes combat black and white thinking (i.e. success vs. failure) by helping them see what they do well, alongside clear feedback on areas of improvement and help them take perspective by seeing being successful isn’t just about winning the match, but about trying new things, learning from failure, and sharing that journey with others.

Peers become more important during adolescence and therefore, social events are essential at this stage of development as athletes are keen to build relationships. Encourage social interaction between athletes and build in social activities to help them bond (i.e. team building activities). Athletes will also feel more self-conscious at this age and feel ‘under the spotlight’ both on and off the court, so try to keep things informal sometimes and minimise how much judgement or scrutiny is coming their way.

Two-way, open communication is integral at this stage of development. Athletes are starting to form their own view but will still need guidance to think through complex problems and situations, therefore, it can help tostart including them in some of the decision making. Asking the athlete questions can support them in the development of their own ideas and opinions.

During the early stages of development (childhood and early adolescence), the athlete’s nervous system is developing rapidly and is primed to learn new skills and movement patterns (i.e. catching, passing, running, and jumping etc.). Individuals will benefit greatly from sprinting, changingdirection and other activities that develop their explosive abilities. Races, chase, and evasion games are great examples that can be integrated within warmups on court. As athletes enter puberty (typically between the age of 11 and 13 in girls), increased growth and sex hormones causes several physical changes to occur. Rapid increases in height (the adolescent growth spurt) are trailed by increases in weight and the onset of periods. These changes can be a source of stress for some and being sensitive to this is important. Some athletes may feel self-conscious or embarrassed, which can also be heightened by the individual timing and rate of development between them and their peers. Coaches can help to normalise conversations surrounding female athlete health and offer support to those with concerns. It is common for teenagers to experience more severe menstrual cycle symptoms as their bodies get used to experiencing a new flux of hormones across the cycle.

How might you modify your training practices to emphasise success over failure?

Can you identify any scenarios in which a player may feel ‘under the spotlight’ or particularly self-conscious?

How could you promote and normalise conversations surrounding female athlete health in your environment?

The pre-frontal cortex in the adolescent brain isn’t fully developed yet and it is this part of the brain that is associated with things like regulating emotion and recognising risks. So, adolescents are a bit like a fast car, with poor brakes and will find it harder to manage their emotions/mood and to see the risks in situations. Therefore, providing opportunities for athletes to explore and take risks can be helpful for their growth but remember you’re still the adult, and if things are getting out of hand, you can step in.

Similarly, be prepared for some emotional displays at times: these are not good or bad, they just are. Spend a bit of time being curious with them and help them understand what factors have caused them to feel this way. The more links you can help them make between their experience and their emotions, the better they will be able to regulate their emotions in the future.

There is a lot going on for athletes at this age in their social and personal lives and they have a lot of ‘pulls’ on their time and energy (i.e. exams and friends). Athletes are also more likely to feel pressured by their peers to go along with the group. Therefore, make sure you’re aware of their external pressures but treat them like adults, by helping them make informed decisions.

It is important to make rules simplistic, well defined, and clear at this stage, because athletes have a strong sense of fairness. It can also help to make athletes a part of the decision making. As critical thinking has also developed by this age, allowing athletes to input into their training and making them think for themselves, can help them learn. For example, after execution of a skill, you could ask athletes to rate their performance on a scale from red, amber, to green and highlight what went right and what didn’t go to plan.

Furthermore, the part of the brain associated with empathy isn’t fully developed at this age, and so athletes may struggle to see things from other perspectives and empathise with another person. To support this, you can ask them questions and explain how another person might see a situation differently to them.

Some individuals may experience a loss in coordination, accuracy and balance as their bodies continue to change size and shape. Previously well learnt skills may become disrupted, and athletes may look awkward or clumsy. Coaches can support athletes by providing opportunities to regress and recalibrate skills and movement patterns.

Additionally, explosive abilities such as running, jumping, and changing direction may decline as changes in height and weight outweigh natural increases in strength and power. Appropriate physical training as outlined in the ‘physical development curriculum’ should be encouraged to help to restore previous levels of relative strength and power. We encourage coaches to be patient and supportive with any temporary loses in performance that may occur.

How might you support an athlete who displays erratic and unpredictable emotions during this stage?

Can you identify any strategies to manage the expectations and reassure athletes who experience a dip or plateau in performance following growth?

At this age, athletes are more capable of self-analysis and correcting/refining their skills but as high-performance athletes it easy to be overly self-critical, so make sure you ask them what was ‘good’ in their performance as well as what could be improved.

At this time of life, athletes may have major life decisions to make and increases in self-actualisation and expression mean their interests may change. For example, they may be considering higher education, careers, moving away from home, entering long-term relationships even having children. Therefore, it is important to support your athletes to make informed decisions (e.g. provide professional guidance on careers). If you can, help your athletes weigh up the pros and cons of their decisions. It’s important to enable a sense of balance athletes are people first and need well rounded identities to flourish and succeed in life (help them win deep, not shallow).

As athletes become more independent, clearer on where they want to go, and can see the bigger picture better, they are more likely to ask ‘why’ they are doing certain things in their training. To help with this, explain exactly why you are asking an athlete to do something and give them the opportunity to reflect and ask questions. There is a strong desire/need for athletes at this age to be self-directed and independent.

Therefore, athletes are ready to assume responsibility and accept the consequences of their actions. To help encourage this, emphasise goal setting to give direction and purpose. Furthermore, encourage athletes to take a lead in their training and squad’s performance (i.e. ask them to input into training structure).

During late adolescence growth rates gradually plateau then stop. This is the perfect opportunity to refine and optimize sport specific skills and movement patterns. At this stage, physical development will be influenced less by growth and maturation status, rather directed by the needs of the individual in preparing for the demands of the sport and their position.

How might you encourage athletes to recognise the ‘good’ in their performance?

What opportunities do you have to develop a player’s autonomy and independence in your environment?

How might you support a player to pursue and develop their interests and identity outside of netball?