What Happened to my Daughter’s Skills?:
Growth Spurts and the Loss of Coordination

By Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS

Your daughter has always been one of the best players on every hockey team she has played on.

She has always been a ‘natural’ at every sport she has tried and seems to possess all the skills necessary to excel at any one of those sports.

She has also always been one of the smallest players.

Then, almost out of the blue, she grows six inches in what seems like a matter of weeks.

She goes from being one of the smallest kids in school to being one of the biggest.

Unfortunately, it seems that what your daughter has gained in height, she seems to have lost in coordination.

The onset of puberty signals the gradual transition from childhood to adulthood.  Periods of rapid physical growth can have dramatic effects on a young athlete’s previously mastered movement patterns. Just because your daughter has grown substantially, it does not mean that her body is immediately ready to sustain ‘adult’ workloads.  Nor is she ready to learn new complex movement patterns or coordination skills.

Despite the fact that your daughter ‘sprouts up’ in a matter of weeks, becoming well acquainted with her new body can take months.  A young hockey player going through a growth spurt will need to change the mechanics of her skating, shooting and passing in order to accommodate for her new-found size.  This change takes time.  This length of this period of readjustment varies from player to player, but in any case, leads to a decreased level of control over movements that once seemed effortless.

The crucial period for developing coordination is between the ages of 10-13.  Up until the age of thirteen, the nervous system is quite ‘plastic’ and movement patterns are not yet completely ingrained in the body, which gives players a tremendous opportunity to develop new coordination skills. Ultimately, this means that young players around this age are able to learn new skills relatively easily with proper repeated practice.

It therefore seems paradoxical that this ‘sensitive period’ for coordination coincides with the timing of growth spurts for most young athletes.  Despite the fact that this pre-pubertal stage presents an opportune time to learn new skills, once the growth spurt begins, young athletes must expend tremendous amounts of energy and effort trying to adapt to their new bodies.

When working with young female players who have recently undergone growth spurts, coaches and parents should:

1)    Focus on skills that have been previously mastered.

Give the body time to adapt to massive changes while increasing the player’s level of confidence in her abilities. This is not a good time to greatly increase the complexity of drills or the intensity of practices.

2)    Be patient.

Avoid becoming frustrated with your young players.

Rest assured, they are likely more frustrated than you are.

3)    Begin focusing on developing your player’s strength & power levels.

The period immediately after the onset of puberty is a critical period in the development of strength and power.  Instead of focusing on building new coordination skills, start introducing exercises and drills that will build player’s strength and power.

Although it may seem counterintuitive to want to ‘slow down’ a player’s learning of new skills at such a critical point in their athletic development, an approach that refocuses on mastering the basics will better serve your players in the long run. 

© Total Female Hockey 2008

Kim McCullough, YCS, MSc, is a Athletic Development Specialist and founder of Total Female Hockey. In addition to training and coaching girls at all levels of hockey, from novice to the National team, Kim has also played at the highest level of women’s hockey in the world for the last decade. Kim’s female player development website features a state-of-the-art Complete Off-Season Training Program and her blog gives the coaches and parents of aspiring young players access to the most up-to-date tips and advice on how to help their players take their game to the next level. To learn more about female-specific player development, get your Free Report: The #1 Mistake Female Players Make in the Off-Season at http://www.totalfemalehockey.com