Player Education Hub

• Australian Institute of Sport High Performance (Nutrition and Hydration)  

• Fuelling for Performance
• FFA Nutrition resources
• Nutrition Guide for Your Sport (Soccer)
• AIS Recovery Nutrition Fact Sheet

RESOURCES

• AIS Youth Athletes and Sleep

ONLINE MODULES

Peak height velocity (PHV) is simply the period of time in which an adolescent experiences the fastest upward growth in their stature (i.e. the time when they grow the fastest during their adolescent growth). Females appear to experience the onset of the adolescent growth spurt and PHV earlier than males, though males appear to grow more during this period.

The maturity offset can be used to calculate a child’s age of PHV, which is commonly used by strength and conditioning coaches and sports scientists to adapt their training prescription. Thus, understanding PHV and monitoring your athletes’ maturity offset (age of PHV) is highly encouraged. It is also recommended that the maturity offset be calculated approximately 2-3 times per year.

Bio-banding is the process of grouping athletes based on attributes associated with growth and maturation, rather than chronological age (e.g. under-15s). Advocates of bio-banding believe that restricting the differences associated with maturity variance (e.g. size, strength, and skill) will result in greater equality in training and competition and could help the development of young athletes and reduce their risk of injury.