PHYSIOLOGICAL AND NEUROMOTOR ASPECTS OF THE ATHLETE CHILD: A VIEW OF THE SPORT SCIENCE

Abstract

The knowledge about the athlete child, in process of growth and development is extremely important to the sport coach, aiming a better planning and training balance, fitted to the needs and limits of the child. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the main physiological and neuromotor aspects of the athlete child involved in the competitive practice. This is a literature review, and the search was made for original papers in specialized journals, articles and published abstracts in scientific events, and data base available at State University of Londrina, Paraná, such as SPORT DISCO, LILACS, BIREME, PORTAL DA CAPES, SCIELO and MEDLINE. It were analyzed the variables involving the aerobic and anaerobic exercise, strength, flexibility and balance, emphasized in most of the sports. The results indicated that the variables behavior can make the difference aiming the best sport performance, and furthermore the genetic, experience and specific training. The sport coach should observe the specificity of the practiced sport, and intervene respecting the limits and capacities of the sport child being aware of the great variability presented in this age range, in function of the growth and developmental changes. It is possible to have a better organization of the training identifying these characteristics more precisely, and maximizing the athlete child performance.