Build the athlete.
Keep options open.
What the new AIS position statement means for the way you coach young athletes.
Young athletes can learn athletics skills early and take their sport seriously. The important question is whether their growing commitment fits their readiness, interests and life beyond sport.
The Australian Institute of Sport’s 2026 position statement encourages broad experiences in childhood and recognises that a more focused pathway can become appropriate. For coaches, this means developing skill, protecting recovery and reviewing the athlete’s choices as they grow.1
Explore the full AIS guidance. Visit the AIS Sport Specialisation in Youth Athletes hub for the position statement and more details on early specialisation.
Make room for variety
Build movement skills, enjoyment and opportunities to explore.
Follow readiness
Consider the whole athlete, their circumstances and their own wishes.
Manage the whole load
Connect training, competition, growth and recovery across the week and year.
01 · The AIS message
Develop commitment at the athlete’s pace
The statement updates and supersedes the 2019 guidance. Its central message is individualisation: a gradual narrowing of participation can be a healthy part of development when the athlete is ready and the benefits and costs have been considered.1
Value play and exploration
Organised sport and informal activity both count. Leave space for the child to discover what they enjoy.
Understand the choice
Ask who wants a more exclusive commitment and why. Fear of losing selection can look like enthusiasm.
Assess readiness
Consider physical, cognitive, psychological, emotional, social and functional readiness, alongside practical support.
Keep life in balance
Education, friendships, recovery and a sense of identity beyond results belong in the decision.
Build capacity gradually
Match training demands to the athlete’s experience and response. Appropriate challenge still matters.
Make focus reviewable
An athlete can become more specialised, change events or broaden participation again as circumstances change.
What does the evidence say?
For sports where peak performance occurs in adulthood, the AIS reports no supporting evidence that early specialisation improves progression to elite status. Its strongest concerns relate to overuse injury and burnout, particularly alongside repetitive training, continuous competition and inadequate recovery.1
How should a coach use that uncertainty?
Focused training can help an athlete develop specific skills and pursue goals. Broader participation can preserve movement variety, social experiences and choice. The useful coaching task is to consider both the opportunities and the costs for this athlete.
A successful young specialist does not establish that early specialisation is necessary. Equally, varied participation does not guarantee senior success or prevent every injury. Review the actual experience, the total demands and the athlete’s response.
Evidence specific to athletes with disability remains limited. The AIS therefore calls for cautious application informed by each athlete’s functional profile, access and circumstances.1
02 · Define the decision
Starting young is different from narrowing early
Joining Little Athletics, learning a safe throwing action or exploring hurdle rhythm does not automatically mean a child has specialised. The AIS describes early specialisation as intensive training and competition in one sport throughout the year, with limited other activities, before puberty. It distinguishes this from early exposure and sampling.1
Which kind of participation are we discussing?
Select a view to see the distinction.
Learn skills while keeping exploration open
Early exposure is an introduction through play, exploration and appropriately adapted movement. Sampling means repeated participation in different sports or physical activities.
A child tries running games, jumping challenges and age appropriate throws, while enjoying other activities and informal play. A coach can teach good technique within that broad experience.
Coach action: make the experience enjoyable, varied and suited to the child. Technical instruction and exploration can happen together.
Look at what the commitment leaves room for
The AIS describes specialisation as focused participation in one sport for most of the year that limits other sports and activities. It sits on a continuum. Even an athlete who plays two sports may have little room for friendships, school or other interests.
Club training, school athletics, winter cross country and representative competition occupy most of the year. The event names change, but the athlete has little recovery or freedom to explore.
Coach action: ask what the athlete is gaining and giving up, rather than judging the programme by the number of sports listed.
Choosing one event is a separate decision
The statement does not prescribe an age for choosing an athletics event. Applying its principles to event specialisation means asking whether an increasingly narrow focus suits this athlete’s readiness and goals.
A child who currently excels at shot put can receive specialist instruction while still exploring other skills. A junior result need not decide their entire athletics future.
Coach action: use event variety thoughtfully. Sprints, hurdles and long jump offer different skills but can still repeat high speed running and impact demands. Several events alone do not establish broader sampling of sports or activities.
Does the statement say athletes can specialise when they turn 12?
No. It describes early specialisation as occurring before puberty, commonly before 12, and explicitly treats that age as a guide rather than a strict boundary. Readiness varies. An athlete’s birthday, physical size or selection into a squad cannot answer the full question.1
Is more than eight months of athletics automatically too much?
More than eight months in one sport is one element of the definition adopted by the AIS. It is not a universal annual participation limit or an individual injury threshold. Look at intensity, repetition, recovery and the opportunities the commitment restricts. Participating for fewer months does not automatically make a demanding programme appropriate.1
03 · The long athletics pathway
Athletics needs athletes who stay long enough to develop.
Under-18 Olympic medals are exceptionally rare in athletics. A junior athlete's current results should leave room for years of learning, physical development and changing potential.
Under-18 medals: compare the proportions
AIS Table 1 shows the share of all-age medallists who earned their first Olympic or Paralympic medal before 18. All 13 Olympic and Paralympic categories listed in AIS Table 1 appear below, ordered by the published percentage, alongside an independent count for Olympic athletics across Sydney 2000 to Paris 2024.
Source: AIS 2026 statement, Table 1, printed p5, Gracenote data for 2000–2026. The table selects the highest proportions. These are medal-age figures, not evidence of when the athletes specialised. Small denominators, such as skateboarding's nine women, warrant care. Teal athletics rows are calculated independently from Olympedia; the other rows reproduce the AIS table.
4 out of 961 medallists. Just 0.42%.
The separate athletics check spans Sydney 2000 to Paris 2024. It identified Kamila Skolimowska, Rosângela Santos, Timothy Kitum and Quincy Wilson. Two cases involve relays; Wilson ran in the heats, and Santos' bronze was subsequently reallocated.
Fewer than 1 in 200. Of 961 distinct Olympic athletics medallists across these seven Games, only four first medalled before their 18th birthday. This is an exceptionally rare achievement, rather than a development timetable for young athletes.
See the four athletes and verification links
| Athlete | Category / age at competition | First Olympic medal | Verification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kamila Skolimowska | Women / 17 | Sydney 2000, hammer gold | World Athletics |
| Rosângela Santos | Women / 17 | Beijing 2008, 4 × 100 m bronze, subsequently reallocated | Brazilian Olympic Committee |
| Timothy Kitum | Men / 17 | London 2012, 800 m bronze | World Athletics |
| Quincy Wilson | Men / 16 | Paris 2024, 4 × 400 m gold; ran in the heats | Team USA |
None of the four identified U18 first-time Olympic athletics medallists from 2000–2024 represented Australia.
How were the athletics counts calculated?
Scope: Olympic athletics, Sydney 2000 to Paris 2024. The denominator includes 961 distinct medallists of all ages: 463 women and 498 men. Each person counts once across events and Games. Current medal allocations, mixed relays and relay heat medallists are included. World Championships, junior championships, Youth Olympics and Para athletics are excluded.
Calculation: 4 ÷ 961 × 100 = 0.42% overall; women 2 ÷ 463 = 0.43%; men 2 ÷ 498 = 0.40%, rounded to two decimal places.
Sources: all-age athlete lists from Olympedia medal statistics, filtered by athletics, each Olympic edition and athlete gender, then deduplicated by athlete ID. Under-18 cases were checked against Olympedia age records and the sources above. Checked 21 October 2026.
The athletics figures use the same broad measure of distinct medallists, but are an independent calculation. They are not an additional AIS or Gracenote row; detailed database conventions may differ. The AIS table covers 2000–2026; Paris 2024 is the latest Summer Olympic Games within that period.
Coach for the senior athlete they could become
Australian Athletics identifies athletics as a late-specialisation sport in the FIT guidelines. That supports broad foundations followed by progressively more focused training as development and readiness allow.
For a coach, the implication is practical: athletes need sustained opportunities to learn, build capacity and show how their potential develops. Leaving the sport early closes those opportunities. Early results can guide the next coaching task, but cannot settle who will become world class.
Teach skills well, offer useful variety and recognise progress beyond junior medals and rankings.
Coordinate demands, protect recovery and make training enjoyable, accessible and compatible with school, friendships and family life.
Revisit event choices as athletes grow. Support later developers, changing interests and a return after breaks.
The development priority: give athletes good reasons and practical opportunities to stay. Long-term participation creates time for potential to emerge and be developed; it does not guarantee an elite outcome.
Medal age does not reveal specialisation history or prove which pathway caused success. The coaching actions above apply the FIT and AIS development principles alongside the medal-age context.
04 · Development stages
Use the FIT Model to shape the programme, then check the athlete
With the long-term pathway in mind, use the FIT Model to organise learning opportunities. Australian Athletics' junior guidance promotes positive, inclusive experiences and holistic development. The FIT Model supports broad early participation and progressively more focused athletics. Use the AIS statement alongside it to review the athlete's wishes, readiness, support and the trade-offs of greater commitment.
Use the FIT stage descriptions to consider the learning opportunities the programme should provide.
Ask what the athlete wants, what would change and whether the commitment fits their life.
Agree a practical change, coordinate the whole week and set a review date.
This combined process is a coaching application of the two frameworks, not a jointly issued policy or a validated readiness test.
Explore the FIT development stages
The reference ages below come from the January 2025 FIT table. Developmental age can differ from chronological age. The coaching situations are illustrative.
Fundamentals 1
Explore movement
A child loves racing and wants to race every session.
Try this Build short chases, landing challenges and soft-object throws into games. Let the child choose a favourite to revisit.
Check the response Are they enjoying movement, joining in and willing to explore? Keep feedback centred on learning and effort.
Fundamentals 2
Build a broad base
A successful young runner's parent asks for running-only training.
Try this Keep running skill practice alongside jumping, throwing and other activities the child enjoys. Explain the purpose of the wider movement experience.
Check the response What would be lost if the timetable narrowed now? Ask the child what they want to keep.
Introduction to Training
Learn how to train
An athlete wants more technical coaching and still enjoys another sport.
Try this Agree a specific skill focus within a varied athletics programme. Coordinate with the other coach before adding sessions, especially around school competitions.
Check the response Is the athlete learning while maintaining enjoyment, recovery and a manageable calendar?
Training I (general)
Develop event groups
An improving jumper is invited to add several specialist sessions.
Try this Review run, jump and gym demands across every provider. Where appropriate, trial a technical session in place of an existing demand and set a review date.
Check the response Does the athlete want this? Consider growth, experience, school, response and support before increasing commitment.
Training II (specific)
Refine a chosen focus
An athlete wants to prioritise a chosen event for the season.
Try this Agree priorities, the calendar and what will reduce or stop. Preserve suitable general preparation and support around study, work and relationships.
Check the response Discuss health, enjoyment, learning and performance together. Keep the option to revise the commitment.
Stage names, ages and brief emphases: FIT Model, January 2025, Table 1. Examples are coaching applications. Reference ages do not automatically establish readiness for exclusive sport or event training.
How do the frameworks fit together?
The FIT table describes a specialising phase in adolescence and a later investment phase. It also recognises individual development and retains broader participation. Read this alongside the AIS individual-readiness approach: use the stage to inform the conversation, then assess the proposed commitment with the athlete.
Agree exactly what is changing: more technical teaching, a greater athletics commitment and exclusive single-event training are different decisions. Identify what the change replaces and how it will be reviewed.
Apply the training and competition recommendations
Read the full FIT table and notes when planning session duration, frequency, content and competition. Account for school, other sport, recovery and the athlete's response. Keep general physical activity distinct from organised athletics training.
Use the whole-week example in section 06: map actual organised commitments with the athlete and discuss informal activity separately. It is a planning aid, not a FIT compliance calculator or a readiness assessment.
Australian Athletics Junior Athletics Guidelines includes the position statement, FIT training table, stage overview and separate road-distance recommendations. Consult the relevant document for specific participation decisions.
05 · Injury evidence
Protect the years of development ahead
A long pathway needs sustainable participation. Having looked at why athletics needs time, we now turn to the injury evidence: higher specialisation is associated with more overuse injury. Use this finding to review repeated demands and recovery with the athlete.
Higher specialisation was associated with more overuse injury
relative risk of overuse injury in the highly specialised group
Relative risk: 1.81
95% confidence interval: 1.26–2.60
Four studies pooled in a 2018 review. This association does not establish that specialisation caused the injuries or describe an individual athlete's chance of injury.
A 2018 review pooled four studies of young athletes. Higher specialisation was associated with more overuse injury. These are group comparisons, not an athlete's probability of injury.
Read the numbers and their limits
| Comparison | Relative risk | 95% interval |
|---|---|---|
| High vs low | 1.81 | 1.26–2.60 |
| High vs moderate | 1.18 | 1.05–1.33 |
| Moderate vs low | 1.39 | 1.04–1.87 |
One means no difference between groups. The lines show uncertainty in the pooled estimates. These findings do not prove causation or separate every influence of training volume, sport and athlete history. They do not establish an athletics event-selection age.
Bell et al. (2018), systematic review and meta-analysis. Coaching use: ask about repeated exposure, recovery and the athlete's choices before adding more of the same work.
06 · The whole training week
Coach the whole week, and the whole athlete
The practical response is to join up everything the athlete does, then adjust the programme to their response. The example below shows what a coach can miss when counting only their own sessions.
The AIS asks coaches to progress training and competition gradually, schedule rest periods and off seasons, and adapt demands as capacity changes. It also supports appropriate strength training and warns against unnecessary restrictions that limit development.1
See all the demands
- Include club, school, private coaching, other sport and competitions.
- Look at repetition and intensity as well as session length.
- Consider travel, school demands and available recovery alongside physical workload.
- Agree who coordinates changes when another session or event is added.
Adapt what comes next
- Ask about enjoyment, tiredness, soreness and willingness to train.
- Notice changes in coordination, movement quality and recovery.
- Adjust volume, intensity, frequency or task demands when needed.
- Let appropriate healthcare professionals guide injury assessment and return to sport.
You see two sessions. The athlete experiences the whole week.
You coach this athlete for 60 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday. Your plan records two sessions and 120 minutes. Ask about the rest of their week and a much bigger picture appears.
120 minutes
Two athletics sessions with you.
525 minutes
School sport, netball, gym and competition add 405 more minutes. Your sessions account for just 23% of the total.
Illustrative athlete and timetable. Each bar segment represents an activity; bar lengths use the same scale in both views.
- With you
- School sport
- Other sport
- Gym
- Competition
Whole week: 525 minutes across seven days. Counting only your sessions misses 405 minutes — 77% of the athlete's organised sport time.
Ask before you add
- Make one shared calendar: ask the athlete and family about school, other coaches, other sports, gym and competitions.
- Look for repeated demands: school athletics and your session may both involve fast running or jumping. Different activity names can still stress the same tissues.
- Coordinate one change: if school adds a race or another coach adds a session, agree what changes in your programme and who needs to know.
- Check recovery beyond the timetable: discuss travel, sleep, study, informal activity, enjoyment and how the athlete feels.
Minutes show how commitments accumulate. They do not measure intensity, mechanical load or individual readiness. This fictional week is a conversation example, not a recommended schedule or a safe workload threshold.
How should growth change the programme?
The AIS advises regular growth monitoring and appropriate screening of movement competency, strength, mobility and early signs of load related pain. Rapid growth may change coordination and the athlete’s tolerance of training.1
For a coach, that means noticing changes and discussing them with the athlete, family and relevant practitioners. A temporary change in movement quality is a reason to review task demands. Do not assume it reflects poor effort.
Height tracking or a growth estimate does not establish that growth plates have closed. Seek suitably qualified interpretation when maturity or health concerns are influencing a progression decision. Adapt monitoring to the individual, including impairment related needs.
Can young athletes do strength training?
Yes. The AIS supports its introduction when the athlete has sufficient cognitive and developmental readiness, with appropriate technique, supervision and progressive loading. As demands increase, involve suitably qualified and experienced practitioners.1
For athletics, this means teaching suitable movement and strength skills as part of the overall programme. Include that work when reviewing total demands.
Is there one weekly hours limit or progression percentage?
The 2026 statement does not prescribe a universal weekly hours ceiling, an automatic percentage increase or a fixed number of rest days. It asks for regular rest and off seasons, and progression matched to training history, developmental readiness and individual response.1
Two athletes of the same age can respond differently to the same programme. Use the available sport guidance, qualified support and ongoing monitoring rather than treating one formula as clearance.
Make the environment support the message
The AIS also asks sporting organisations to embed these principles in selection, pathways, calendars and coach education. In a club, this might mean coordinating with school coaches, allowing flexibility around other activities and reviewing selection expectations that pressure children into exclusive commitment.1
A reviewable route towards greater focus
Use these decisions as an ongoing conversation. The route can move in either direction; it has no fixed birthday or automatic progression.
Offer varied skills, events, games and accessible activity. Ask what the athlete enjoys and wants to try next.
Coach action
Keep specialist teaching alongside variety. Check that the timetable leaves room for school, friendships and informal activity.
Clarify whose choice it is, what would be gained and what would be given up.
Coach action
Agree a limited trial and review date. Coordinate all providers and preserve an option to change course.
Discuss learning, enjoyment, health, recovery, relationships and performance.
Coach action
Continue, adjust or broaden participation according to the athlete's response. Treat changing direction as a normal coaching decision.
Coaching interpretation of the 2026 AIS position statement; not a validated stage model.
07 · Your event group
What does this mean for my event group?
The principles are shared across athletics. The demands you need to notice will differ. These are practical coaching applications of the statement, rather than event prescriptions issued by the AIS.
Choose your coaching context
Para considerations apply across every event group.
Count the running and jumping you do not supervise
Notice
Sprint sessions, hurdle repetitions, school relays and other sports can combine into a busy week of fast running and jumping.
Coach response
Coordinate the calendar. Retain movement games, varied coordination and progressive technical learning. Treat an added school relay session as part of the week’s demands.
Try this: when a school competition is added, review the planned club session before asking the athlete to complete both unchanged.
Ask: “What else have your legs been asked to do this week?”
Make room between overlapping seasons
Notice
Track, cross country, road and school calendars can create continuous organised endurance participation, even when each season seems manageable alone.
Coach response
Agree priorities across the year and include genuine recovery periods. Review races, training and school sessions together. Keep suitable strength, coordination and varied movement in the programme.
Try this: count a school cross country race when planning the week’s demanding sessions. Swimming or cycling also adds load if simply placed on top.
Ask: “Where does your year allow you to recover from your main training and competition demands?”
Separate learning from accumulating repetitions
Notice
Technical jumps, competition attempts, plyometrics and other sports all contribute to the athlete’s jumping demands. Coordination and tolerance may change during rapid growth.
Coach response
Review approach work, take offs, landings and supplementary exercises together. Adjust repetition and task difficulty to the athlete’s movement competency and current response.
Try this: use appropriate rhythm or approach tasks to teach a skill without making every repetition a full competitive effort.
Ask: “Are extra attempts helping this athlete learn, and how are they responding afterwards?”
Specialist teaching can sit inside broad development
Notice
School throws, club practice, individual coaching and strength work may repeat demands that no one coach sees in full.
Coach response
Teach technique progressively with suitable implements, facilities and supervision. Include varied movement and appropriate strength development. Review throwing and gym demands together.
Try this: discuss an additional school throwing session before also increasing the club’s throwing volume or gym demands.
Ask: “Are we improving skill and capacity, or repeatedly adding more of the same demand?”
An integrated programme needs one overall view
Notice
Several events offer movement variety, but full programmes for each discipline can produce a demanding total. More event names do not guarantee enough recovery.
Coach response
Coordinate technical priorities and physical demands across the whole week. Agree which skills need emphasis and which can receive a smaller dose.
Try this: before adding extra jump practice, look at the existing sprint, hurdle and strength sessions with the other coaches involved.
Ask: “Who is responsible for joining the whole programme together?”
Make choice meaningful and variety accessible
Notice
Equipment, local coaching, classification opportunities and accessible facilities can narrow the available pathway before the athlete has chosen it.
Coach response
Plan around the athlete’s preferences, functional profile and impairment related needs. Adapt movement experiences and monitoring, and seek relevant professional support when needed.
Try this: explore suitable games, skills and recreational activities with the athlete rather than prescribing another club they cannot access. After an acquired impairment, allow time and support to explore options.
Ask: “Is this the pathway you want, or the only one currently available?”
The AIS explicitly includes Para athletes, while noting limited disability specific evidence. Printed pages 4, 6 to 9.
08 · Coaching examples
Different athletes need different responses
These fictional examples apply the AIS decision guidance. They illustrate a discussion process, rather than an age based rule or a medical assessment.
Explore a coaching situation
Consider the athlete’s wishes, readiness and what the decision would change.
“Do I have to give up netball?”
A young sprinter enjoys athletics and netball. A squad offers a place on the condition that they stop netball. They agree because they are worried about falling behind.
“What do you enjoy about each sport? If the squad place were not at risk, what would you choose?”
Reveal a coaching response
Explore the athlete’s wishes without assuming their agreement is freely chosen. Review the actual calendar with the family, ask whether squad expectations can be adapted, and protect enjoyable experiences where feasible.
If pressure is driving the decision, delay or moderate the exclusive commitment. The AIS recommends reviewing expectations and pathway timelines when specialisation is externally driven.
What to review next: the athlete’s sense of choice, the combined demands and whether the squad can support a more flexible plan.
“My club programme is only part of it.”
A distance runner has school cross country, weekend road races and an extra session with another coach alongside the club programme. They report ongoing tiredness and less enjoyment.
“Can we put everything you do in one calendar, including the sessions I do not see?”
Reveal a coaching response
Coordinate with the athlete, family and other coaches. Agree priorities, remove or modify overlapping demands and protect recovery. Review the athlete’s response and seek appropriate healthcare input for pain, persistent fatigue or other health concerns.
Adding another sport would not address the crowded programme. The AIS asks coaches to match demands to capacity and protect wellbeing.
What to review next: recovery, enjoyment and whether everyone involved is working from the same plan.
“I would like to focus more on javelin.”
A Para thrower wants a clearer javelin focus. Accessible alternatives are limited, but they understand the choice and feel able to reconsider. The coach needs to explore readiness and practical support.
“What would this focus give you, what might you miss, and what support would help you manage it?”
Reveal a coaching response
Discuss physical, emotional, social and functional readiness, equipment and access, total demands and the athlete’s own goals. If that assessment supports the decision, introduce the focus gradually and retain suitable movement variety, recovery and social opportunities.
The AIS allows appropriate specialisation to proceed. Age or enthusiasm alone cannot replace the wider assessment.
What to review next: training tolerance, wellbeing, practical barriers and whether the athlete still wants this focus.
Decision principles: AIS recommendations 3 to 6, printed pages 7 and 8.
09 · Athlete conversation
Agree the next step with the athlete
Use these prompts with the athlete and, as appropriate, their parent or carer. Tick a topic once you have discussed it, including any concerns. The remaining prompts form your follow up list.
