The long-term development of athletes represents a complex puzzle that needs to be solved to allow athletes to get qualifications while allowing them to reach their highest potential level of performance in adulthood. The importance of structured and age-appropriate training cannot be underestimated, as it lays the foundation for further performance, lifelong healthy habits, and a strong work ethic. Structured and age-appropriate training allows for the right timing of physical, physiological, and technical improvements through the correct development of strength, endurance, and skill acquisition, also guaranteeing the consciousness of crucial values such as teamwork, perseverance, and goal-setting. Coaches and trainers in youth sports must strive to balance pushing young athletes to reach their full potential and ensuring that training remains enjoyable and fosters a love for the sport. Moreover, age-appropriate training programs consider the unique physiological and psychological characteristics of young athletes, promoting proper growth and minimising the risk of injuries.

Within this Research Topic, we would like to stimulate research in the field of youth sports at the sub-elite and elite levels, focusing on the impact of existing differences in several areas, such as biological development phases, sex and the specificity of the discipline. This Research Topic should include articles that answer questions like: Which are the more appropriate intensity, volume and method to improve a specific quality at a particular age or biological maturation? What is the role of sex in developing conditional characteristics, motor control and skill acquisition? Which training strategies could be implemented across different disciplines to promote multisport athletes’ development?

To address these aims, we are glad to receive any scientific contribution focusing on one, but not only, of the following topics and involving male and female youth athletes:

- Team and individual sports
- Neuromuscular training and its effect on youth performance
- Endurance training and its effect on youth performance
- Technical training and its effect on youth performance
- Coaching and Skill acquisition
- Sex differences in youth athletes
- Injuries and Return To Play in youth athletes
- Training load monitoring in youth athletes
- Role of biological maturation on youth performance
- Biological development monitoring
- Strategies of talent development and its effect on youth and adult performance.

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Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

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