Are There Sensitive Periods for Skill Development in Male Adolescent Basketball Players?

ABSTRACT Purpose Although spurts in physical capacities during adolescence are well-known, little is known about the existence of such spurts in sport-specific skill development, especially during the period of rapid growth in stature. Our aims were to examine the timing, intensity, and sequence of basketball-specific skill spurts aligned with biological years from peak height velocity (PHV) rather than chronological age. We then defined putative sensitive periods (windows of optimal development) for each skill aligned to the adolescent growth spurt. Methods Altogether, 160 adolescent male basketballers, aged 11–15 years, were tested bi-annually over three consecutive years. The years from attainment of PHV were estimated and six skill tests were aligned to each year from PHV in 3-month intervals. Skill velocities were estimated using a non-smooth polynomial model. Results Maximal gains in slalom dribble occurred 12 months prior to PHV attainment (intensity = 0.18 m·s −1 ·year −1 ), whereas in speed shot shooting (intensity = 9.91 pts·year −1 ), passing (intensity = 19.13 pts·year −1 ), and slalom sprint (intensity = 0.19 m·s −1 ·year −1 ) these skill spurts were attained 6 months prior to PHV attainment. The mean gains in control dribble (intensity = 0.10 m·s −1 ·year −1 ) and defensive movement (intensity = 0.12 m·s −1 ·year −1 ) peaks coincided with attainment of PHV. We identified different sized windows for optimal development for each skill. Conclusions Peak spurts in skill development, for most basketball skills, were attained at the same time as PHV. The multiple peaks observed within the defined windows of optimal development suggest that there is room for skill improvement even if gains might be greater earlier rather than later in practice. Our findings highlight the need to make coaches aware of where their players are relative to the attainment of PHV since different skills appear to develop differently relative to PHV. Such knowledge may help in designing more relevant training regimes that incorporate the athlete’s current growth status so that skill development can be maximized.