Interactions of Training Load, Nutrition and Psychological Interventions with Growth and Maturation in Youth Sports

Dear Colleagues,

Children and youth with the same chronological age may be very different in terms of maturation status. In fact, growth and maturation is an individual process with huge variation in adolescence. Therefore, for the same chronological age, children and youth may be significantly different in terms of their maturation status. This leads to remarkable variation in adolescents’ physical fitness, psychological profile, or physiological responses to external stressors.

Therefore, biological age should be considered as a factor playing an important role in youth sports and exercise. Talent selection, the implementation of training interventions or adjustments to training stimulus should be managed based on maturation status, more than considering the chronological age.

The training load imposed to youth athletes can be a determinant factor to ensure an individualized and healthy process in the development of youth. Eventually, we hope that the specific concerns regarding the impact on training load will be specifically addressed in a Special Issue, namely the impact of load on the injuries, illness or fitness development of these athletes. Multidisciplinary approaches should be also conducted, namely considering nutrition factors (dietary and supplementation) and psychological interventions that may help youth establish a healthier relationship with exercise.

Despite a good body of knowledge about growth and maturation in sports, there are still some areas that deserve more original research and others that require systematic reviews. Therefore, this Special Issue “Interactions of Training Load, Nutrition and Psychological Interventions with Growth and Maturation in Youth Sports” looks forward to receiving original studies, systematic reviews or meta-analyses that focus on the area of growth and maturation in sports and exercise, nutrition and psychological interventions, particularly considering the following topics: (i) the implications of maturation status for physical, technical and tactical performance in sports; (ii) the implications of maturation for injury and illness in sports; (iii) the role of maturation status in training interventions; (iv) maturation and its relationship with talent selection; (v) maturation and its role in motor learning and motor control; (vi) dietary factors and implications for youth athletes; (vii) the impact of training load on youth; and (viii) psychological interventions in youth sports.

Dr. Filipe Manuel Clemente
Dr. Ana Filipa Silva
Guest Editors

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