Monitoring Growth in LTAD
Posted by David Leman on October 19, 2011
Many of you might know that me and some colleagues went overseas to Ottawa, Canada last winter to the Canada Sport 4 Life summit. It was very interesting and I met some of the people behind the LTAD model.
The invitation for this years summit was sent out last night and I stumbled in on the Canadiansportforlife webpage where they have a great blog. Below you can find an extract from the blog entry “Monitoring Growth in LTAD”:
In order to track growth, coaches need to collect data on a longitudinal basis. Measurements should be done quarterly – every three months – and standing height (stature), sitting height and arms span should be measured. By these measurements coaches can identify what part of the body is growing faster; legs are usually first, arms are second, and the trunk is third.
By measuring standing height and sitting height the tempo of growth of the legs and the trunk can be identified, which yields important information to the coach. During the growth spurt the centre of gravity is rapidly changing and it has a negative effect on skills and often on speed (acceleration, deceleration, change of direction) and other capacities.
