Sport development / LTAD product architecture
One core. One validated development pack for every sport.
The proposal preserves the existing seven-stage, multivariable LTAD core instead of creating a second age-only engine. Tennis- and football-specific pathway, load and competition data live in versioned Sport Packs; the same decision serves web, mobile, coach tools and reports.
Primary architecture decision
The core LTAD stage and the sport-specific pathway stage are separate concepts. A Sport Pack does not recalculate the core stage; it enriches it with sport context.
7
canonical stages
2
first sport packs
2
approval gates
1
decision service
Proposal date: 20 July 2026
01 · Decision lens
Choose a decision lens
See what the same proposal means for each stakeholder.
Executive
Turns one-sport content into a reusable, auditable platform capability.
Success: sport number three can be added without changing the core contract.
Tennis + football as the joint schema test
One engine shared by web, mobile and B2B
Pack-based, incremental sport expansion
02 · Architecture
Proposed product architecture
One decision chain, four delivery surfaces and a governed scientific publishing flow.
Core inputs
Child context
- Age + experience
- Physical literacy
- Maturation + consistency
- Competition + motivation
- Health clearance + goal
Canonical seven-stage LTAD engine
Core stage decision
- Seven stages
- Multivariable rationale
- Confidence + red flags
Versioned Sport Pack
Sport pathway overlay
- Published version
- Load + competition
- Equipment + pathways
- Source provenance
Single decision service
Product outputs
- Web pathway + planner
- Mobile + offline snapshot
- Coach/club workspace
- LTAD PDF + audit trail
Do not use a five-stage bridge as the source of truth. The sport pathway may expose its own federation labels, but it must return beside—not overwrite—the canonical seven-stage decision.
03 · Canonical staging
Keep all seven stages
Age is only one input. Stage is determined from experience, physical literacy, maturation, consistency, competition experience, motivation, health clearance and goal.
Select a stage for detail
04 · Train to Train
Maturation-aware load and capacity
Decision inputs
Product output
Periodised load, recovery and multi-sport balance
Safety boundary
Load and injury monitoring during growth spurts
04 · Sport Pack
A Sport Pack is a published scientific product, not a content file
Tennis and football use the same contract; competition format, equipment, pathway splits and federation fields extend by sport.
Tennis · first pack
Competition model
Tournament + singles/doubles match load + annual peaks
Sport-specific adaptation
Ball compression, court, racquet, 5Cs, performance/participation pathways
Source policy
Current Tennis Canada WPDP + ITF; 2009 PDF for historical comparison
Shared data contract
Independent female/male age bands; no inferred fixed offset
Age + maturation + experience + skill + motivation + health + goal criteria
Sport hours, total physical load and nested multi-sport share
Competition, recovery, rest weeks and load warnings
Performance, participation, open and para/adaptive pathways
Source row, evidence grade, country, validity date and limitation
Model version, board decisions and publication state
05 · Product parity
Web and mobile use the same scientific core
The mobile app does not carry a duplicate engine. It uses a validated offline snapshot of the published pack version and syncs idempotently when connectivity returns.
Deep review and professional workspace
No separate browser rule engine; the service response includes rationale.
Sport pathway and source trail
Training–competition–recovery planner
Coach/club squad view
Scientific and Field Board approval desk
Versioned PDF report and audit trail
06 · Phase 0–7
Delivery roadmap
Dependencies move from safety to data contract, engine, then product surfaces.
Phase 0
Scientific baseline and P0 safety
Unsafe ranking is removed and the current source matrix is locked.
Replace “most suitable athlete” ranking with support/readiness needs
Validate 2009 tennis figures line by line against current sources
Separate high-performance and general-participation pathways
Exit gate
Scientific Board-approved source and terminology decision
07 · Governance
Publishing is not a code deployment
Every pack version carries sources, limitations and localisation notes through a Scientific Board gate, then a separate Field Board gate.
Draft pack
Sources, data rows, limitations and Turkish notes are prepared.
Scientific Board
Reviews evidence fit, safety, population and numeric values.
Field Board
A separate actor validates feasibility, language, workload and local calendar.
Published version
Carries immutable identity, validity date, decision trail and rollback point.
Web + mobile delivery
API and mobile snapshot bind to the same publication identity.
Non-negotiable scientific and ethical boundaries
Children are not ranked
Growth, maturation or nutrition data never produces a “most suitable athlete” list; it reveals support needs.
Federation numbers are not prescriptions
High-performance ranges are never shown as general-child targets; pathway, age and source context are mandatory.
Current sources take priority
Historical ideas such as 10,000 hours or 3:1 never become rules without a validation label.
Publishing is separate from deployment
A code deployment cannot activate a draft science pack; two board decisions are required.
Offline safety
A stale or unverified snapshot cannot produce high-risk guidance; the user sees its version status.
Turkish localisation is visible
Canadian/English competition calendars are never silently copied; local notes and sources are explicit.
Primary sources to validate before production
Sport for Life · Long-Term Development 3.0
Current general LTAD/LTD framework
Open sourceTennis Canada · Whole Player Development Pathway
Seven stages, multiple pathways and 5C context
Open sourceITF · Coach Education Programme
Coach education and international delivery context
Open sourceThe 2009 tennis PDF is a historical candidate source, not a standalone production standard.
Outcome
What success looks like
Not one-off tennis screens, but a sport-development platform that survives sport number two, gives the same decision on web and mobile, and exposes an auditable source and board trail.