Over the past decade, youth football in Australia has become more structured and more ambitious. However, is this coming at a cost to key findings in research around long-term athlete development?
This was initially discussed at length more broadly in an earlier article. The greater increase in structure is particularly evident through the increasing number of clubs, programs and formalised pathways in NSW. Specifically in this state, the Junior Development Leagues (JDL) serves as the first formal step in the representative pathway. This commences at U9s for boys and U10s for girls, although the former is ostensibly a mixed pathway where female players can train alongside male players. JDL is designed by Football NSW to be a player’s introduction to high-level football: training frequency is mandated to be 3 sessions a week, and a minimum of 36 weeks a year by the Club Standards and Benchmarking Framework.
Accordingly, conversations about “pathways” now happen when players are seven or eight years of age. In my previous role overseeing one such JDL program at NWS Spirit FC, I regularly received emails and enquiries about how to “get players into the pathway”, and to a lesser but still significant extent, “how to help my child become professional”.
The question of this article is not whether JDL on its own is positive or negative, but, rather whether this system of selecting players for representative football at these ages, and the structure of these programs, is aligned with what we know about long-term athlete development. Central to that discussion is a distinction between early specialisation and early engagement.
Defining the terms
Early specialisation is typically defined in academic research as intensive, year-round training in a single sport, often before the age of twelve, combined with limited participation in other sports (a list of references is provided at the end of the article).
Early engagement, by contrast, involves consistent involvement in one primary sport while maintaining exposure to other activities, informal play and periods of rest.
It is important to highlight that these are general definitions, and early specialisation is difficult to define precisely. The FIFA Training Centre recently summarised research showing that the proportion of early specialisers varies depending on the definition used and the performance level examined. However, it is also important to note that of the samples provided within the cited presentation/research, very few of them were elite athletes who specialised before the age of twelve. Even by eighteen, only around half of the researched athletes included could be classified as specialists.
As FIFA point out, this challenges the assumption that early, intensive commitment is a prerequisite for elite performance. However, the article rightfully indicates that at the same time, football may display earlier patterns of focused training than some other sports, which means sport-specific context matters.
Across sports, certain trends appear to be consistent. Early, intensive specialisation, particularly before puberty, is associated with increased rates of overuse injury, psychological burnout and dropout. Jayanthi et al. (2013; 2015) suggests that young athletes who specialise early are significantly more likely to experience serious overuse injuries compared to those who diversify their participation. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2016) has similarly cautioned against year-round single-sport training in childhood, highlighting elevated physical and psychosocial risk.
The mechanisms are relatively clear. Repetitive movement patterns without sufficient variation appear to increase stress on muscular and bone tissue. Additionally, high training loads placed on immature musculoskeletal systems can elevate short and long-term injury risk. Furthermore, when identity becomes strongly tied to one sport at a young age, motivation can shift from intrinsic enjoyment to external performance outcomes, which research has linked to higher burnout and withdrawal rates.
By contrast, Côté’s Developmental Model of Sport Participation (1999; 2007) proposes that early sampling, followed by later specialisation during adolescence, can provide a more sustainable pathway. Reviews of elite athlete development pathways, including systematic work by Güllich (2014; 2017), suggest that many high performers engage in diversified sport experiences during childhood before gradually increasing sport-specific volume in their mid-teenage years.
Diversified early engagement does not appear to reduce the likelihood of eventual high performance, but it is consistently associated with longer participation and broader athletic development, which is a very positive outcome when one considers the low likelihood of becoming a professional footballer.
Further research
A study examining the developmental histories of elite youth footballers across multiple European nations provides useful context here. Hornig, Aust and Güllich (2016) found that during childhood, annual hours were broadly balanced between structured football practice (approximately 185 hours) and informal football play (approximately 186 hours), while competition exposure was considerably lower (around 29 hours).
Similarly, Ford et al. (2009), in their work on the early engagement hypothesis, reported that high-level players accumulated substantial amounts of football-specific play alongside structured training during their formative years. The implication is not that competition or early entry into JDL lacks importance, but that both practice and play appear to contribute meaningfully to long-term development, particularly when exposure increases progressively, rather than intensively, in early childhood.
To give a specific example of play, this can be when a child meets with friends at a local park to play a game, or when they practice in the backyard (such as juggling). Again, in my experience, I have observed a decline in play, for a variety of reasons. To give a quick snapshot here (as this topic could be its own article!) the rise of technology in children’s lives, a decline/lack of available physical environments to play in, and an increasing professionalisation of junior/youth football that discourages kids from viewing ‘training’ (i.e. practice) as something they can complete in their own time and pursue for their own pleasure.
This balance between practice and play, and exposing junior players to increases in both progressively, becomes more difficult to maintain when a JDL program shifts towards year-round participation at a young age.
The reality of JDL
In principle, the structure of the Junior Development Leagues can sit within an early engagement model. As prescribed by Football NSW, three sessions per week across a defined season from October to August, with space for other sports and a genuine off-season, probably aligns slightly better to the principles of early engagement, than it does to early specialisation.
In practice, however, the landscape is more complicated.
In my experience, it was increasingly common for JDL players to be encouraged, or in some alarming cases, required, to attend additional football sessions at private academies on top of the JDL program’s three regular sessions. Concerningly, many of these academies appeared to be closely linked to technical directors or senior staff within clubs. It has to be said that this creates a blurred line and a potential conflict of interest. The governance of this space is beginning to be addressed through the aforementioned Football NSW Club Standards, but the practical effect remains that some players were training well beyond the advertised three sessions per week, which certainly goes against the principles of early specialisation, and perhaps ‘undoes’ the purpose of JDL.
Additionally, many private academies and 1-on-1 coaches are advertising services under the guise that “additional technical training” was required to “progress through the pathway”. The core concept of getting kids to play more football/sport is not, in itself a bad thing, and this article is not to say all private academies/1-on-1 coaching is by nature, bad, but it is important to state that coaches have a responsibility to be aware of the research around early specialisation versus early engagement, and to be considerate of these in their marketing to players and parents.
Alongside this, there appears to be a growing cultural shift in which JDL players are subtly discouraged from participating in other sports. As per the above, on its own, this may not be malicious. Rather, it may reflect a lack of exposure within coach education to long-term athlete development research, maturation science and multi-sport evidence. Nevertheless, the outcome is the same for players: football begins to crowd out other movement experiences at increasingly younger ages.
The season structure also contributes to this complicated landscape. While the formal prescribed calendar is notionally October to August, the reality is often different. Lengthy retention processes, followed by extended trial periods, can stretch the football year well beyond these dates. Players who wish to be considered for selection are frequently advised to remain available for trial windows, which are not clearly defined. In many cases, these processes are excessively prolonged as clubs seek to recruit from one another, creating drawn-out uncertainty across the system. What this does can take away the opportunity for ‘trialling’ players to participate in other sports, as they focus on ensuring a position in a JDL squad for the following year.
The practical consequence is that children remain in a holding pattern for football across much of the year. Other sports become difficult to commit to because trial dates are vague. As a consequence and reality, the theoretical nine-month season has quietly become eleven or twelve months.
The issue, therefore, is not the JDL program in isolation. It is how the surrounding practices, and a lack of education on these topics, extend the volume of football, and reduce the opportunity to broaden participation beyond what the formal structure suggests.
“Football is a unique sport, though”
In my experience specifically in soccer/football, a common argument against the bulk of early specialisation research is that football is different to other sports. This is particularly common in Australia where the comparison is often made to AFL, rugby league and rugby union. In many arguments, these sports are dismissed as lacking the “technical requirements” that football has. However, it is important to not be simplistic in this discussion, or to bring it down to the level of “code wars” which is often done to negative effect in this country.
Speaking generally, it would be simplistic to argue that all early focused training is harmful. Football is a complex sport with technical and tactical demands that does require deliberate practice. At some stage, increased specificity and volume are necessary for those pursuing high performance. However, in this article, as stated in the beginning, the question is not whether players should eventually specialise, but rather: when and how, and does JDL allow for this?
To put it plainly: if JDL programs are structured within clear seasonal boundaries, include deliberate rest periods, encourage multi-sport participation and integrate physical literacy, they can function as early engagement environments. However, if the above does not occur, JDL risks becoming an early specialisation environment.
The responsibility, therefore, sits not only with parents making these choices for their children, but also with clubs.
Most pertinently, calendar design should reflect long-term development principles. If recovery is valued and appropriate for young people, it must be built into the year. At my former club, NWS Spirit FC, we deliberately structured the training year to include a clear three-month break, looked to provide weeks off training during school holidays, and integrated multi-sport and physical literacy components into the week-to-week training.
Our rationale was that the environment was focused on long-term development, but in reality, the response was mixed. Some families welcomed it; others were concerned about “falling behind” other clubs and other players. That tension, and the nature of these conversations, in my opinion reflected the broader ecosystem, and the onus being put on players & parents to specialise, rather than embracing the principles of long-term athlete development.’
To make change, education is important. Parents should be provided with information & research around maturation, long-term athlete development, and the realistic probabilities of professionalisation for their child. This is not only the responsibility of clubs, but also of governing bodies such as Football NSW and Football Australia. It is not just parents who require this education; it is also necessary for coaches, and there is positive work being done with a JDL-specific coaching course launched by Football NSW in 2025.
End notes
Long-term athlete development principles are not anti-performance, but they are concerned with appropriate sequencing, and lifelong participation. They suggest that development should broaden before it narrows, and that early environments should emphasise enjoyment, adaptability and progressive exposure to a more specialised pathway.
For football, the practical challenge is ensuring that early representative programs like JDL remain aligned with these principles. If the pathway narrows too early, it risks reducing both participation and long-term potential.
The central consideration should not be whether a player is “ahead”, or “on the right pathway”, at nine years of age. It should be whether they are in an environment that cares about building a healthy, robust individual capable of sustaining engagement in the game over time.
References
American Academy of Pediatrics 2016, ‘Sports specialization and intensive training in young athletes’, Pediatrics, vol. 138, no. 3, e20162148, viewed via DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2148
Cobley, S, Till, K, O’Hara, J, Cooke, C & Chapman, C 2014, ‘Variable and changing trajectories in youth athlete development: the importance of maturation and relative age’, Sports Medicine, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 1–16, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0126-9
Côté, J 1999, ‘The influence of the family in the development of talent in sport’, The Sport Psychologist, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 395–417, https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.13.4.395
Côté, J, Baker, J & Abernethy, B 2007, ‘Practice and play in the development of sport expertise’, in G Tenenbaum & RC Eklund (eds), Handbook of sport psychology, 3rd edn, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, pp. 184–202, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118270011.ch19
Ford, PR, Ward, P, Hodges, NJ & Williams, AM 2009, ‘The role of deliberate practice and play in career progression in sport: the early engagement hypothesis’, High Ability Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 65–75, https://doi.org/10.1080/13598130902860721
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Güllich, A 2017, ‘International medallists’ and non-medallists’ developmental sport activities – a matched-pairs analysis’, Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 35, no. 23, pp. 2281–2288, https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1265662
Hornig, M, Aust, F & Güllich, A 2016, ‘Practice and play in the development of German top-level professional football players’, European Journal of Sport Science, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 96–105, https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2014.982204
Jayanthi, N, Pinkham, C, Dugas, L, Patrick, B & LaBella, C 2013, ‘Sports specialization in young athletes: evidence-based recommendations’, Sports Health, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 251–257, https://doi.org/10.1177/1941738112464626
Jayanthi, N, LaBella, C, Fischer, D, Pasulka, J & Dugas, L 2015, ‘Sports-specialized intensive training and the risk of injury in young athletes: a clinical case-control study’, American Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 794–801, https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546514567298
Mosher, A, Helsen, WF & Baker, J 2023, ‘Proportions of early specialisers vary according to methods and skill level’, FIFA Training Centre Research Brief, viewed at https://www.fifatrainingcentre.com/en/community/research-brief/talent-pathways/mosher-proportions-of-early-specialisers-varies-according-to-methods-and-skill-level.php
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