Introduction: The period of childhood and youth is the period in which person participates in sports the most. Playing sports is beneficial for a child’s physical fitness, social development, and mental health. Today, the impact of sport on children’s health is much more understandable than it used to be, thanks to the research done in that field. That research has led to public debates about the relative benefits and risks to the child, and what that means for the child’s long-term health and well-being. Purpose: By reviewing the literature explore how elite sport impacts child’s growth and bone development, how excessive training affects child’s body, nutritional needs, and self-image as well as how it impacts child’s psychological development. Methods: A review of Slovenian and English literature was performed in the databases PubMed, DiKUL, Google Scholar and Science Direct. Keywords used were: school-aged children, elite sports, growth, injuries, nutrition, burnout, overtraining and self-esteem. The inclusion criteria for the used literature were: the article must relate to the chosen topic, must not be older than 30 years and the text must be fully accessible. Results: The biggest changes occur in the body during childhood and adolescence. Research has shown that children with higher cardiorespiratory capacity have lower percentage of measured body fat. Aerobic exercise has been found to increase concentration and decrease children’s impulsiveness. It has been proved that children who are most frequently injured come from individual sports, are highly specialised in their sport and train more hours per week than what the number of their age is. Children are also more likely to experience burnout. Discussion and conclusion: Sport and recreation should be the fundamental parts of children’s lives. Sport is a medium for children to make new friends, to be physically active and to learn developmental skills in all areas. It takes a lot of hard work and talent to achieve top results in sport. There are not many people who are able to maintain motivation for a long time and endure strenuous trainings that do not always bring desired results. The goal is to discover individuals who are capable of that and provide them with the right conditions for development. Children’s participation in elite sports is ultimately the judgement of each individual. Some parents will not opt for it because the risk of injury is too great, while others will judge that the benefits outweigh all the risks.
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