What does Canada Basketball's long-term development model say about youth athletes?

Canada Basketball bases its approach on the Canadian Sport for Life "Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity 3.0" framework, which supports growth, maturation and development, trainability and sport system alignment. Its goals are to support physical literacy, strive for excellence and empower people to be active for life; its four principles are quality, optimal programming, inclusion and collaboration, with optimal programming described as participant centred and developmentally appropriate.

Canada Basketball describes its own Long-Term Development model as athlete-centred and coach-driven: a training, competition and recovery framework focused on growth, maturation and physical and mental development, aiming to develop competitive pathways that are developmentally appropriate.

For coaching, the coach education stages are matched to ages: Learn to Train (ages 8-12), Train to Train (ages 12-16) and Train to Compete (ages 15-22). Canada Basketball says these ages are guidelines only.

Sources: https://www.basketball.ca/en/development/ltad and https://www.basketball.ca/en/development/coaches