When Hormones Score First: Understanding Biological Maturation in Youth Sport

(a follow-up to “Age Fraud in Sports: When a Quick Win Becomes a Long-Term Loss")

updated September 21, 2026

Your body hasn’t forgotten how to play

You’ve made this move hundreds of times.

Catch the ball. One step. Change of direction. Go.

Except now your foot lands slightly farther than you expected. The ball stays behind for half a second, and the defender you used to beat is still right there.

Next time, you focus harder.

Still doesn’t work.

Your coach tells you to pay attention.

You are paying attention.

And then the question appears: What’s happening to me?

Maybe you’ve grown a few centimetres in a short period of time. Maybe you’re stronger. Maybe you’re faster. Maybe the jersey that fitted perfectly in September now looks like it belongs to a different kid.

Because, in a way, it does.

Your body is changing.

And sometimes your game needs a little time to catch up.

It doesn’t mean you’ve forgotten how to play.

Puberty doesn’t change just one thing

We sometimes talk about puberty as if someone flips a switch.

Child.

Click.

Teenager.

The body doesn’t work like that.

Height can change quickly. Arms and legs change proportions. Body mass changes. Strength starts developing. Mobility may feel different. Speed, power and endurance don’t all improve at exactly the same time.

Some things accelerate.

Others need longer.

And there is no single timetable that works for everyone.

Two athletes of the same age can be going through very different stages, even if the same birth year appears on the team sheet.

More importantly, things don’t even develop perfectly in sync inside the same body.

The legs might get there first.

Strength may follow.

Movement control has to adjust.

And somewhere in the middle of all that change, the athlete is still expected to play a game.

Puberty has a remarkable talent for renovating the house without checking whether the owner has a tournament this weekend.

Stronger. And sometimes, for a while, less precise.

This is where things can feel strange.

An athlete can become faster, stronger or more explosive while some movements temporarily become less consistent.

It doesn’t happen to everyone.

And there is no rule saying that every teenager who grows quickly automatically becomes awkward.

But there are periods when the body changes quickly enough that movement has to adjust with it.

Imagine you’ve spent years shooting a basketball with roughly the same body.

Same arm length.

Roughly the same strength.

Same relationship with the floor.

Your brain has repeated that movement thousands of times.

Then your body starts changing.

Your arm is a little longer. You’re producing more force. Your body position is slightly different.

The shot that used to land perfectly may suddenly go long.

Not because you forgot your technique overnight.

The system performing that technique has changed.

The same thing can happen during a change of direction, a landing, a kick, a tackle or the first few steps of a sprint.

Sometimes the athlete simply says: “I feel weird.”

That is actually a pretty good description.

The body isn’t broken.

It may just be learning its new dimensions.

Your brain is developing too

Puberty doesn’t happen only from the neck down.

The brain continues developing throughout adolescence as well.

Attention, working memory, impulse control, processing speed and the ability to handle several pieces of information at once continue to evolve.

That matters enormously in sport.

Because an athlete doesn’t just have to run.

They have to see.

Recognise.

Anticipate.

Choose.

And then execute.

Sometimes all of that happens in a fraction of a second.

Think about a point guard.

They receive the ball.

One defender closes them down.

A second defender is preparing to help.

One teammate cuts toward the basket.

Another is open in the corner.

The coach is shouting something from the sideline.

Eight seconds are left on the shot clock.

The brain has to sort through all of that and send the body a decision.

That system becomes more capable throughout adolescence.

But brain development doesn’t happen in a perfectly straight line either, and different cognitive abilities don’t mature at exactly the same time.

Being physically more mature - or simply older - doesn’t automatically make someone a more talented athlete.

Experience matters.

Training matters.

The number of game situations an athlete has already seen matters.

Biological development is part of the story.

It isn’t the whole story.

When a strange phase starts feeling like a verdict

The problem doesn’t necessarily begin when a movement stops working.

Sometimes it begins with the explanation we give it.

The athlete misses two shots.

Loses the ball.

Arrives late to a play.

At the next practice, it happens again.

And the reasonable question: “What changed?”

can quickly become: “What’s wrong with me?”

This is where the adults around the athlete matter too.

“You’re not concentrating.”

“You’ve gone backwards.”

“You looked quicker last year.”

“You need to work harder.”

Sometimes those things may be true.

But before reaching that conclusion, it is worth looking at the athlete standing in front of us.

Have they grown?

Have their proportions changed?

Does the movement itself look different?

Do they simply need time to find their balance in a changing body?

For a teenager, a few months of less fluent performance can feel enormous.

Especially when the teammate beside them looks as though someone has just installed every available upgrade.

And this is exactly where a normal period of adjustment can start feeding a fear of mistakes.

One poor execution stops being just one poor execution.

It starts feeling like evidence that: “I’m not as good anymore.”

That is why a period of adaptation should not immediately become a verdict on talent, discipline or potential.

Sometimes we are not watching regression.

We are watching development while the building work is still happening.

And yes, building work tends to leave a little dust behind.

We don’t stop playing. We adapt.

If an athlete is going through a period of rapid physical change, the answer is not to wait around until puberty is “over”.

They keep training.

They keep learning.

They keep repeating movements.

Strength can be developed.

Movement control can be trained.

Mobility can be worked on.

Technique can be recalibrated.

Sometimes we simply need to change the question.

Not: “Why can’t you do exactly what you did six months ago?”

But: “What does the body you have now need?”

That also means remembering that exhausting an athlete does not automatically help them adapt better.

Being Tired Is Not Progress.

And during a period when the body is already changing quickly, the difference between simply adding load and actually developing the athlete matters even more.

For the athlete, adapting may mean understanding that a less fluent period does not erase all the work that came before it.

For the coach, it may mean noticing growth and body changes before blaming everything on concentration or effort.

For the parent, it may mean not constantly comparing today’s child with teammates - or with last year’s version of the same child.

For all three, it may mean a little more curiosity and a little less panic.

This is not an invitation to make excuses.

“I’m going through puberty” should not become the sporting equivalent of “the dog ate my homework.”

It is context.

And good context helps us train more intelligently.

Same age doesn’t mean same stage

Look at a team of 13-year-olds and the differences can sometimes be enormous.

One still looks very much like a child.

Another already looks like a teenager.

Both may be exactly the age shown on their documents.

And this is where an important distinction matters.

There are situations where an athlete’s age is deliberately changed so they can compete in a younger category. That is a completely different issue, which we explored separately in Age Fraud in Sports: When a Quick Win Becomes a Long-Term Loss.

But a child looking much more physically mature than another child is not, by itself, evidence that anyone has falsified anything.

The timing and pace of biological maturation vary from one young person to another.

That is why comparisons can become misleading very quickly.

“Look how strong he is.”

“Look how fast she is.”

“Look how easily they finish through contact.”

It may be talent.

It may be training.

It may be experience.

And biological maturation may be part of it too.

Most of the time, the answer is some combination of all four.

What we cannot do is look at an adolescent’s body and assume we are already seeing the athlete they will be five years from now.

That is a different conversation.

And an important one.

For now, it is enough to understand that teenagers do not all develop according to the same schedule.

Apparently, even nature struggles to make every U14 division perfectly balanced.

The game can come back. It just comes back in a different body.

Back to the athlete from the beginning.

Same ball.

Same change of direction.

Except after a while, the foot lands where it needs to.

The ball comes with it.

The movement starts feeling natural again.

Maybe not exactly like before.

Maybe even better.

Because the athlete isn’t exactly the same either.

They’ve grown.

They’ve gained strength.

They’ve completed hundreds more repetitions.

Their brain has added more experience.

And gradually, the game has adapted to the body.

Athlete development does not look like a straight line drawn with a ruler.

Sometimes it rises.

Sometimes it stays flat.

Sometimes it looks as though it has taken a step backwards just before a new version of the movement appears.

So when an adolescent athlete’s body starts changing, perhaps the most useful question is not: “Why can’t they play exactly like they used to?”

But: “How do we help them learn to play with the athlete they are becoming?”

The body hasn’t forgotten the game.

Sometimes it just needs a little time to learn it again.

Frequently Asked Questions About Puberty and Athletic Performance

1. Can puberty affect athletic performance in teenagers?

Yes. During puberty, the body can change quickly, and strength, speed, mobility, coordination and movement control do not always develop at the same pace.

An athlete may become stronger or faster while some movements temporarily feel less precise or less natural. That does not automatically mean they are regressing or losing their ability.

In many cases, the body simply needs time and continued training to adapt to new proportions, changes in strength and a different way of moving.

2. Why can teenagers seem less coordinated during a growth spurt?

Rapid growth can change limb length, body proportions, balance and the way an athlete controls movement.

The brain and body have to keep adjusting to one another. A movement learned with the body an athlete had a few months ago may need small adjustments once that body has changed.

However, not every teenager goes through an obvious “awkward” phase. For some athletes the change is noticeable; for others it is barely visible. That is why it is more useful to observe the individual athlete than to assume puberty affects everyone in the same way.

3. How can parents and coaches support an athlete going through puberty?

The first step is not to turn a less fluent period into an immediate judgment about talent, effort or concentration.

The athlete should keep training, but technique, mobility, strength, movement control and training load may sometimes need to be adapted to the body they have now, rather than the body they had six months ago.

A better question for parents and coaches is not only: “Why can’t they do what they used to do?”

but also: “What has changed, and what do they need now?”

Puberty is not a break from development. It is one of the periods when development needs the most attention and the fewest rushed conclusions.

Versiune RO.

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