STRUCTURED YOUTH TRAINING LOAD GUIDELINES
Why?
It is now common that talented football players train with multiple separate groups, for example: national teams, NTC / club, TSP, school, private academies, and so on. Each group may focus on a specific area or aim relating to football; however, communication and alignment of training content can be challenging. This may impact on optimal physical and mental loading over a day, week, month, or season / year. Additionally, the impact on growth and maturation of under-17-year-olds may affect the capacity of and recovery from playing or training at times (again both physically and mentally) and may affect each player differently. Over the recent years, we have observed challenges regarding players’ “readiness”, including an increase in load-related injuries impacting player availability for international games. Therefore, the guidelines and information in this document were formulated as recommendations to support player development, performance and health.
Guidelines
- Take two days off structured football training per 7-day week, with one of those days being a complete rest day (no other sports). Ideally, one of the “off football” days is during the week with no more than 3 training days in a row. Strength & athletic development training can be performed on these days.
- Make time for training adaption & recovery - Ideally, aim for at least 24hrs recovery between each football session.
- Participate in some form of strength training at least 2-3x per week. These sessions can be completed at home, or on the field pre- or post-training, and do not need to be gym-based. Strength training includes bodyweight exercises, “prehab exercises”, Pilates, gymnastics etc. The Football Australia Perform+ is a good program for all players.
- During stressful periods (e.g., school exams, moving house), consider reducing overall training loads. For example, you could take one ‘usual’ training session off during a ‘high stress’ week.
- Schedule at least one month off structured football training each year. This time can be used for athletic & strength development including multi-sport participation. If playing another sport during this time, we recommend choosing a sport that is completely different in movement styles. For example – swimming, cycling, cricket.
Tournaments / Camps
During a period of congested training or games (for example National Team Camps, Emerging Matildas Championships), when it is not possible to follow the guidelines above, it is important to schedule rest days before and after. At least 2 days rest before and after these periods are recommended.
Athlete-Centred Communication
You are the common thread linking everyone in your network together (e.g., schoolteachers, club coaches, medical staff, national team staff etc.), and therefore, it is your responsibility to provide the connection point for communication between these environments. Importantly, keeping everyone informed about your schedule, training load, and any injuries helps ensure you are managed properly and can perform at your best.
Supporting information
For more information, please explore the links below:
Australian Institute of Sport Position Statement on Sport Specialisation in Youth Athletes
Australian Institute of Sport Position Statement on Training Load
References
Australian Institute of Sport. (2019). Sport specialisation in young athletes: Position statement. https://www.ais.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/716747/Sport-Specialisation-in-Young-Athletes-Position-Statement.pdf
Australian Institute of Sport. (2021). Training load in relation to loading and unloading phases of training (Version 2). https://www.ais.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/734363/Considerations-of-training-load-in-relation-to.pdf
Bank, N., Hecht, C., Karimi, A., El-Abtah, M., Huang, L., & Mistovich, R. J. (2022). Raising the young athlete: Training and injury prevention strategies. Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.55275/jposna-2022-0037
Emmet, D., Roberts, J., & Yao, K. V. (2022). Update on preventing overuse injuries in youth athletes. Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports, 10(3), 248-256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40141-022-00362-7
Gleason, B. (2021). Periodization and programming for team sports. In D. French & L. Torres-Ronda (Eds.), NSCA's essentials of sport science. Human Kinetics.
Jayanthi, N., Schley, S., Cumming, S. P., Myer, G. D., Saffel, H., Hartwig, T., & Gabbett, T. J. (2022). Developmental training model for the sport specialized youth athlete: A dynamic strategy for individualizing load-response during maturation. Sports Health, 14(1), 142-153. https://doi.org/10.1177/19417381211056088
Murray, A. (2017). Managing the training load in adolescent athletes. Int J Sports Physiol Perform, 12(Suppl 2), S242-S249. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2016-0334