Why Coordination and Speed Are the Most Important Training Contents in Childhood
Before puberty, champions are not made, but the foundations for future success are. During this stage, the primary training goal should not be training volume or competition results, but rather the development of movement competence, coordination, and speed.
Coordination Is the Foundation of All Future Performance Factors
Between the ages of five and ten, children are particularly effective at learning to control their balance, differentiate movements, develop rhythm, combine movement patterns, and respond to external stimuli. These abilities later determine virtually every skill required in inline speed skating.
The development of motor competence during childhood has a significant impact on future athletic performance. Children with high levels of motor competence tend to achieve better sporting results, maintain higher levels of physical activity, and experience more successful long-term athletic development. Coordinative abilities provide the foundation for acquiring complex sport-specific techniques later in an athlete’s career.
Performance Improvements Before Puberty Are Primarily Neural
Before puberty, children lack the hormonal conditions necessary for significant muscle hypertrophy. Nevertheless, they are capable of substantial performance improvements because the nervous system adapts. Motor units are recruited more efficiently, intermuscular coordination improves, movement control becomes more precise, and children learn to move at higher speeds. Speed performance depends largely on neural and coordinative abilities.
Scientific literature therefore describes performance improvements during childhood primarily as the result of neural and coordinative adaptations. Coaches who focus predominantly on training volume before puberty fail to fully utilize the most important developmental potential of this age group.
Speed Can Be Trained Before Puberty Begins
The meta-analysis conducted by Moran et al. demonstrates that sprint training is effective in children and adolescents. While the largest training effects occur during and after the adolescent growth spurt, improvements at younger ages are already driven by technical and neural adaptations.
In practice, this means that future speed is not primarily developed through strength endurance training or increased training volume. Instead, coaches should focus on efficient movement patterns, high movement frequencies, and rapid reactions. One of the most effective ways to develop these qualities is through repeated short sprint efforts embedded in constantly changing sprint-based games, preferably without skates.
Early Specialization Offers No Long-Term Advantages
Modern youth sport research increasingly shows that a broad motor skill education is more successful in the long term than early specialization focused on training volume and competition results. The review by Van Hooren & De Ste Croix concludes that there is no scientific basis for rigid “windows of opportunity.” However, there is strong evidence supporting the continuous development of motor abilities throughout childhood and adolescence.
The authors explicitly recommend developing motor skills continuously and in an age-appropriate manner rather than attempting to exploit supposed “golden windows” of trainability.
What Conclusions Should Coaches and Decision-Makers Draw?
Between the age of five and the onset of puberty, the nervous system is particularly receptive to coordinative learning processes. During this period, performance improvements arise primarily from neural adaptations rather than muscle growth. Consequently, coordination, movement competence, reaction ability, and speed should occupy a central role in youth training programs. A broad coordinative foundation supports the later development of technique, speed, strength, and sport-specific excellence. This perspective is strongly supported by current reviews and expert statements in sport science.
Coaches prepare their young athletes for upcoming competitions. A competition day typically consists of several different events. The disciplines included in these competitions directly influence and shape the training content delivered within clubs. Therefore, it is not only grassroots coaches who determine which skills should be developed at a certain age. Sporting federations also play a crucial role by selecting and prescribing age-appropriate disciplines that guide the long-term development of young inline speed skaters.
When competitions for younger age groups emphasize coordination, speed, reaction ability, movement variety, and technical skills, clubs receive a powerful incentive to align their training with sport science recommendations. If, however, endurance-oriented or competition-driven events dominate at an early age, important opportunities for coordinative development may be neglected. Competition design therefore becomes a key instrument for shaping athlete development and ultimately influences the overall quality of a federation’s long-term development system.
Those who define the competition disciplines indirectly define the training content. Those who define the training content influence the long-term development of their athletes.
References
Van Hooren & De Ste Croix (2020): Sensitive Periods to Train General Motor Abilities in Children and Adolescents: Do They Exist?
Key Finding: No strong evidence exists for universal “windows of opportunity”, but substantial evidence supports the continuous trainability of motor abilities throughout childhood.
BASES Expert Statement on Trainability during Childhood and Adolescence
Key Finding: Children can achieve significant training adaptations before puberty; evidence for rigid sensitive periods is weak.
Moran et al. (2016): Variation in Responses to Sprint Training in Male Youth Athletes: A Meta-analysis
Key Finding: Sprint training significantly improves speed performance in young athletes, with adaptations occurring throughout the entire developmental pathway.
Faude, Ledergerber & Donath (2026): Development and Trainability of Neuromuscular Performance Across Childhood and Adolescence
Key Finding: Neuromuscular training effectively and sustainably improves strength, coordination, balance, and speed during childhood.
