Age based competition where adolescents are commonly pitted to compete against others of the same age can no longer be seen as an "all`s equal". Recent contentions have raised questions about age based relevance for participation in sport and training. These contentions are based on the co-existing age, growth and maturation variations. Age measured by time (years or months) or chronological age (CA) based training has tremendous limitations. CA is a poor indicator of the physiological and growth changes in adolescents (10-18 years as defined by the World Health Organization). This makes CA based training and competition systems ineffective. As Istvan Balyi famously put it "adolescence is not only a time of great growth potential but is also a time of great sensitivity and risk". A deeper understanding is therefore required to effectively plan safe training systems that complement adolescent`s functional capabilities. This paper details a review of adolescent growth and maturation assessment indicators, associated injuries and outlines effective strength training structures
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