Walk into any youth sporting event and you’ll hear plenty of coaching advice from the stands.

“Don’t let your kid lift weights. It’ll stunt their growth.”

“They’re only 10. They just need to play more.”

“They’re practicing five days a week—they don’t need strength training.”

“They’ll get faster as they get older.”

“Heavy lifting is dangerous.”

The problem isn’t that parents care too much. It’s that most of the advice being passed around is 20-30 years behind what the research actually says.

As someone who has spent years coaching youth athletes—from first-time seven-year-olds who can barely coordinate a bodyweight squat to high school athletes chasing college scholarships—I can tell you this:

The biggest thing holding most young athletes back isn’t a lack of talent.

It’s misinformation.

Every year I meet parents who waited too long because they believed one of these myths. Meanwhile, the athletes who were exposed to quality coaching early are stronger, faster, healthier, more confident, and often having much more fun playing their sport.

Let’s clear up the five biggest myths about youth sports performance training once and for all.

Myth #1: Strength Training Stunts Growth

This is probably the most persistent myth in youth sports.

It’s also one of the easiest to disprove.

The fear comes from the idea that lifting weights damages growth plates, causing children to stop growing. Decades ago, before qualified supervision and proper programming became common, isolated injuries occurred because kids were unsupervised, using poor technique, or treating the weight room like a playground.

Modern research paints an entirely different picture.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and the American College of Sports Medicine all support appropriately supervised resistance training for children and adolescents. None of these organizations has found evidence that properly designed strength training stunts growth or damages healthy growth plates.

In fact, the opposite is often true.

Strength training improves bone health, strengthens connective tissue, improves movement quality, and helps build the foundation for lifelong physical activity.

Notice something important.

The recommendation isn’t “go let your 11-year-old max out on deadlifts.”

The recommendation is supervised, age-appropriate resistance training.

Those are two completely different things.

For younger athletes, strength training often means:

Learning how to squat correctly
Landing safely from jumps
Controlling body position
Carrying medicine balls
Using resistance bands
Mastering push-ups, rows, lunges, and planks
Gradually progressing external resistance when technique allows

Strength isn’t about how much weight is on the bar.

It’s about learning how to control your body.

The earlier athletes learn quality movement, the better their athletic ceiling becomes.

Myth #2: Kids Should Just Play Sports—They Don’t Need Strength Training

I actually agree with half of this statement.

Kids absolutely should play.

They should run.

Jump.

Climb.

Throw.

Sprint.

Compete.

The problem is that today’s youth sports environment looks nothing like it did 30 years ago.

Kids spend more time sitting.

More time on screens.

More time specializing in one sport.

Less free play.

Less unstructured movement.

Less overall athletic development.

Many young athletes become incredibly skilled at their sport while simultaneously lacking the strength, coordination, balance, mobility, and power needed to maximize those skills.

Being good at soccer isn’t the same thing as being athletic.

Playing baseball doesn’t automatically improve sprint mechanics.

Playing basketball doesn’t guarantee strength.

Sport develops skill.

Youth sports performance training develops the athlete.

That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics encourages resistance training not only for competitive athletes but for all children as a way to improve muscular fitness, physical literacy, injury resistance, and overall health.

Think about it this way.

Practice teaches an athlete what to do.

Performance training helps their body actually do it.

A faster first step.

Higher jump.

Harder shot.

Greater balance.

Better deceleration.

Improved change of direction.

These aren’t separate from sport.

They’re the physical qualities that allow athletes to express their skills.

Myth #3: More Practices and More Games Automatically Make Better Athletes

This one surprises parents.

Many assume that if their child practices six days a week, they don’t need performance training.

Actually, that’s often when they need it most.

Sport practices primarily develop technical and tactical skills.

Performance training develops the engine.

Imagine trying to make a race car faster by only teaching the driver.

Eventually, the driver isn’t the limiting factor anymore.

The engine is.

Youth athletes experience the exact same thing.

After a certain point, additional practices provide diminishing returns if the athlete lacks strength, power, coordination, or speed.

Even worse, repetitive sport-specific loading without balanced physical development increases overuse injury risk.

Research consistently shows that properly supervised resistance training can reduce sports-related injuries while improving performance.

That’s why elite athletes at every level continue training in-season.

They don’t stop building the engine just because they’re racing.

Performance training fills the gaps that sport leaves behind.

That’s how athletes stay healthy while continuing to improve throughout the season.

Myth #4: Speed Can’t Be Taught

I hear this one all the time.

“You’re either fast or you’re not.”

If that were true, there would be no reason for Olympic sprinters to have coaches.

Speed absolutely has a genetic component.

But genetics determine potential—not outcome.

Most young athletes have never actually been taught how to sprint.

They haven’t learned:

Proper acceleration angles
Force application
Arm mechanics
Front-side mechanics
Efficient ground contact
Projection
Deceleration
Change of direction

They’re simply told:

“Run faster.”

That’s like telling someone to “throw harder” without teaching mechanics.

Research consistently demonstrates that resistance training, plyometric training, sprint training, and neuromuscular training improve sprint speed, jumping ability, and overall athletic performance in youth athletes when appropriately programmed.

We see this every single training cycle.

At Full-Stride Performance, our athletes average approximately:

0.30-second improvement in the 20-yard dash
3-inch increase in vertical jump
19-inch improvement in standing triple jump
6-inch increase in standing broad jump
0.45-second improvement in the 5-10-5 Pro Agility Shuttle

Those aren’t magic.

They’re the result of improving movement efficiency, strength, power, coordination, and technique.

Fast athletes aren’t simply born.

They’re developed.

Myth #5: The Goal Is to Lift Heavy Weights

This might be the biggest misunderstanding of all.

Parents often picture youth sports performance training as kids trying to squat 400 pounds.

That’s not performance training.

That’s social media.

A quality youth performance program isn’t trying to create young powerlifters.

It’s trying to create resilient athletes.

The weight itself is simply one tool.

Depending on the athlete’s age and experience, training may include:

Medicine balls.

Jumps.

Sprint drills.

Landing mechanics.

Bodyweight strength.

Single-leg stability.

Balance.

Core control.

Mobility.

Light external resistance.

Eventually, yes, heavier lifting can become appropriate for older, technically proficient athletes.

But only after they’ve earned it.

The priority is always movement quality.

The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that strength gains in children occur primarily through improvements in the nervous system—not because kids suddenly develop huge muscles. In younger athletes, better coordination, motor unit recruitment, and movement efficiency explain most of the improvements in strength and performance.

In other words…

The goal isn’t to make your child look stronger.

It’s to make them perform better.

The Bigger Problem Parents Don’t Realize

Here’s what concerns me most.

Parents often ask:

“When should my child start strength training?”

I think that’s the wrong question.

A better question is:

“When should my child start learning how to move well?”

Movement competency begins long before barbells.

If a seven-year-old learns how to squat, hinge, brace, jump, land, skip, sprint, and change direction correctly, they’re building athletic qualities that will serve them for decades.

Those athletes don’t just become better competitors.

They become healthier adults.

The research increasingly points toward something coaches have observed for years:

Children who develop broad athletic foundations become more resilient, move better, suffer fewer overuse injuries, and remain physically active longer.

That’s a much bigger win than shaving a tenth of a second off a sprint.

Final Thoughts

Youth sports have changed dramatically.

Competition starts earlier.

Specialization happens younger.

Schedules are busier.

Pressure is higher.

Unfortunately, many of the myths surrounding youth performance training haven’t changed with the science.

The evidence is clear.

Properly supervised, age-appropriate youth sports performance training is not dangerous.

It doesn’t stunt growth.

It doesn’t make kids bulky.

It doesn’t replace sport practice.

Instead, it makes young athletes stronger, faster, more coordinated, more resilient, more confident, and better prepared to enjoy the sports they love.

As coaches, our job isn’t simply to help athletes perform better next weekend.

It’s to help them build bodies that will serve them for the next 50 years.

Because the greatest outcome isn’t earning a scholarship or winning a championship.

It’s creating healthy, confident young people who develop a lifelong love of movement.

And that’s something every parent can get behind.

The Top 5 Biggest Myths About Youth Sports Performance Training (And Why They’re Holding Athletes Back)