There is a strange stage in junior sport where a kid who has always looked completely comfortable suddenly looks like they have borrowed somebody else’s arms and legs.
Six months ago they were quick, balanced and confident.
Now their feet seem enormous. Their shorts are too short. Their boots bought three months ago apparently “hurt”. They trip over things they never used to trip over. And movements that once looked automatic suddenly look awkward.
As a parent, it can be surprisingly hard to watch.
Because when a child has been good at something for a while, you get used to seeing them move a certain way. Then they grow. Sometimes very quickly.
And for a little while, their body seems to arrive before the rest of them catches up.
Junior sport does not pause while they grow
The frustrating part is that junior sport does not pause while this happens. Trials still happen. Teams still get picked. Coaches still need players in positions. Other kids might suddenly look quicker, stronger or more coordinated.
And the child who has always felt capable can start wondering what happened.
Parents wonder too.
Did they lose confidence? Are they not trying? Have the other kids caught up? Should they train more?
Sometimes the answer is much less dramatic.
They are growing.
Junior athletes are not little professional athletes travelling neatly along an upward performance graph. They are kids. Their bodies change. Their interests change. Their confidence changes. They have weeks where everything clicks and weeks where absolutely nothing does.
Sometimes they shoot up. Sometimes everyone else shoots up first.
Sometimes the kid who looked physically dominant at 11 looks completely average at 13. And sometimes the kid nobody particularly noticed at 12 suddenly looks like a completely different athlete at 15.
That is part of what makes junior sport so difficult to predict. It is also why one season rarely tells the whole story.
Not every rough patch needs fixing
For parents, the difficult bit is resisting the urge to turn every rough patch into a problem that needs fixing.
A kid having an awkward few months does not necessarily need another academy, another private session or another conversation about “working harder”.
Sometimes they need time.
They need to get used to themselves again. They need to work out where their feet are. They need to realise that being temporarily awkward does not mean they have suddenly become a bad athlete.
And sometimes they need adults around them who do not panic when their performance dips.
Because kids notice that.
They notice when every mistake suddenly becomes a conversation. They notice when we compare how they are playing now with how they played last year. They notice when we start looking worried from the sideline.
Junior sport already gives them plenty to think about. They do not need to carry our panic as well.
It just means remembering that growth is messy.
A growing child can look different from one month to the next. Their game might look different too.
That does not mean they are going backwards.
Sometimes their body has simply changed faster than their game.
And the game needs a little time to catch up.