Basketball · Issue No. 17
Myth: A Growth Spurt Follows a Predictable Schedule
Week of September 14, 2026
The myth: A kid's current size and speed on the court is a reliable preview of how tall or athletic he'll be in high school.
The reality: Growth doesn't run on a schedule that respects a roster spot, and today's tallest or fastest kid rarely stays that way.
A kid who could reliably hit a mid-range jump shot in the fall suddenly can't find the rim by spring. Parents notice. Coaches notice. And the easy, wrong conclusion is that the kid stopped working hard, or lost his feel for the game, or is regressing for some mysterious reason worth worrying about.
Usually, what actually happened is simpler and far less concerning: he grew. A growth spurt changes a player's limb length, center of gravity, and coordination all at once — often within a matter of weeks — and none of that shows up on a scale the way height does. The shot he'd grooved for his old body doesn't automatically transfer to the new one. Neither does his dribble, his timing on a layup, or his sense of where his own elbow is in space relative to the rim.
This isn't a skill problem. It's a body problem, and it's temporary. Kids who are otherwise coordinated, focused, and putting in the same work they always have will often go through a stretch — sometimes a full season — where their mechanics look worse than they did before the growth spurt, simply because their body is a different shape than it was a few months earlier. The skill is still in there. It just has to be rebuilt for the new frame.
The mistake most coaches and parents make here is treating the dip as a discipline or effort issue and responding with more correction, more drilling, more pressure — exactly when what the kid actually needs is patience and reps to let his new body relearn what his old one already knew. Piling on criticism during this stretch teaches a kid that growing is something to be ashamed of, which is a strange lesson to hand a developing athlete.
The practical takeaway: if a player's mechanics suddenly get worse and there's no other explanation — no change in effort, no injury, nothing else different — check the measuring tape before assuming something's wrong. A recent growth spurt is one of the most common, least talked-about explanations for a temporary backslide, and it fixes itself faster when it's met with patience instead of extra pressure.
From The Real Cost of Youth Basketball.
This piece ran in PPA Pro Issue No. 17, alongside a camp spotlight and trainer pick for every sport. Subscribe free.