5 signs Your young Athlete is Ready for Performace Training
Performance training represents a significant step up from basic skill development. While skill training focuses on sport-specific techniques, performance training addresses the physical attributes that make those skills more effective: speed, strength, agility, and power. But how do you know when your young athlete is ready to make this transition?
They’ve hit the Age & Development Threshold
Generally, professionals say performance training could begin around age 12 or later. Before this age, children's bodies are still developing in ways that make high-intensity conditioning less effective and potentially risky. Their growth plates are still forming, and their nervous systems are still maturing.
Once athletes reach their pre-teen and teenage years, their bodies can handle more structured strength and conditioning work. They've developed enough coordination and awareness to execute more complex movements with proper form, which is essential for injury prevention.
2. basic movements are solid
Before adding speed and resistance to movements, it’s important that they have the foundational movements down. Your child should be able to demonstrate proper form in basic movements like jumping and landing with control, running efficiently, and sports-specific movements.
If they're still struggling with these fundamentals, continued skill training and movement practice will serve them better than jumping into performance work.
3. They’re COMMITTED to their sport
Performance training is not easy, so it requires dedication. Sessions are physically demanding and results are not instant, they come from consistent effort over time. Athletes who are ready for this level typically train multiple times per week and regularly compete in their sport.
Look for signs of commitment like practicing between training sessions, setting goals for improvement, a willingness to work through challenges, and that they’re starting to understand that progress takes time and effort.
4. They have athletic goals
Athletes ready for performance training usually have clear objectives. Maybe they want to make varsity, compete at the club level, or prepare to shine on their high school team. They understand that physical development will help them achieve these goals.
This goal-oriented mindset helps them stay motivated through challenging workouts and provides clear metrics for measuring progress.
5. They understand the connection between Physical and Sport PERFORMANCE
Maturing athletes recognize that getting stronger, faster, and more explosive will directly improve their game. They can answer the question: "How will this workout make me better at my sport?"
This understanding transforms performance training from an obligation into an opportunity (as much as it can for any teenager). Athletes with this perspective approach conditioning with the same enthusiasm they bring to skill work.
What PERFORMANCE training looks like
Our performance programs for youth athletes include strength training, speed and agility drills that enhance quickness, plyometric exercises to develop power, conditioning work to build endurance, and mobility and flexibility training to prevent injury.
The training is intense but always age-appropriate and correlated to sports improvement.
Making the transition
If your athlete checks these boxes, they're probably ready to add performance training to their development plan. Athletes continue skill training while adding performance work, creating a comprehensive approach that develops both technique and physical capability.
The combination is powerful and athletes who excel at both typically see dramatic improvements in their sport and develop the confidence that comes with knowing they're physically prepared for competition.
