Is it normal for kids to get clumsy during a growth spurt?

Yes. During the growth spurt the limbs lengthen quickly and the brain's map of the body lags behind, so coordination, balance and timing temporarily dip — sometimes called adolescent awkwardness. It's normal and temporary, and it passes as the body and brain re-sync. It isn't a loss of ability or a sign your child has stopped trying.

Should my child train harder to get past the clumsiness?

No. A recent growth spurt lowers training capacity and raises injury risk, partly because new bone laid down under load takes several weeks to harden. Pushing harder through the spurt is when injuries like Osgood-Schlatter cluster. Ease the total load a little, keep skill work, and protect sleep instead.

How do I know if my child is in their growth spurt?

Measure standing height every three months or so from about age nine — you'll see the growth rate climb as PHV begins. Coaches also use methods that predict adult height to estimate how far through the spurt a child is. A simpler starting point: ask whether they've had their major growth spurt yet, then read their training in that light.

Guides · Growth & Development

Why has my child suddenly got clumsy after a growth spurt — and should they keep training hard?

By Marian Pitel, S&C coach·Published 13 June 2026·5 min read

Short answer

It's normal, and it passes. During a growth spurt the limbs lengthen fast and the brain's map of the body lags behind, so coordination and balance dip for a while. Don't push harder to fix it. A growth spurt also lowers your child's training capacity and raises injury risk, so this is the moment to ease the load, protect sleep, and keep skill work — not pile on.

The clumsiness is real, normal — and temporary

If your normally well-coordinated child has suddenly started tripping, mistiming and looking awkward, you're not imagining it. It tends to show up during the growth spurt — peak height velocity, or PHV, which lands around age 11 in girls and around 13 in boys, give or take a couple of years either way.

Here's what's happening. The limbs lengthen fast, and the brain's "map" of where the body is hasn't caught up yet. Coordination, balance and timing temporarily dip — this is what's sometimes called adolescent awkwardness. It isn't a loss of talent or effort. It's a re-sync problem, and it passes as the body and brain catch up to each other.

Why this is exactly the wrong time to train harder

The instinct, especially with a driven child, is to drill the clumsiness away — more reps, more sessions, push through it. I'd urge you not to. A recent growth spurt is one of the things that depresses training capacity, alongside poor sleep and poor nutrition. So the same training load that was fine three months ago is genuinely riskier mid-spurt.

There's a mechanical reason underneath it. New bone laid down under load takes several weeks to harden. Load a child hard through the spurt and you raise injury risk — this is exactly when growth-plate injuries like Osgood-Schlatter cluster. So the answer to "should they keep training hard?" is no, not right now.

When a parent asks me why their child's gone clumsy, my first question back is: has your child had their growth spurt yet? It changes everything about how you read their training.

What to do instead

So don't push harder to fix the clumsiness — that's the one move I'd avoid. The body is busy; give it room. In practice:

Pull the volume back a little. Not stop — just ease off the total load through the spurt.
Keep skill and movement-quality work. Coordination still develops; you're protecting it, not abandoning it.
Protect sleep. It's one of the levers that sets training capacity, and it matters most right now.

The rule of thumb I hold to: a growth spurt is a signal to ease load, not add it.

The growth spurt is trackable, not a mystery

Here's the part that gives parents back some control: you don't have to guess where your child is. The growth spurt is trackable.

Standing height measured every three months or so, from about age nine, flags the onset of PHV — you can literally see the rate of growth climb. In my own practice I use the Khamis-Roche method, which uses a child's height and weight plus the parents' heights to predict their adult height. When a child reaches roughly 92–93% of their predicted adult height, they're in the thick of the spurt — exactly when I'd ease the load.

This is also why coaches talk about bio-banding: grouping and training children by biological age rather than chronological age, because two thirteen-year-olds can be at completely different points in this process. The conversation starter I'd give any parent is simple: has your child had their growth spurt yet? Once you know roughly where they are, you read everything about their training differently.

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This guide is for understanding and decisions at home — it isn't a diagnosis. If your child has persistent pain, especially around a joint, see a doctor or physiotherapist.