Sports specialization, including year-round sport-specific training, participation on multiple teams in the same sport and focused participation in a single sport, is increasing in preadolescent children around the world, but leads to long-term problems, argue the authors of a recent editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.[1].
Sport specialization in youth, suggests A. Mehrfan Mostafavifar, MD of the Department of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and his colleagues:
Delayed sports specialization provides enhanced opportunities for youth development, says Mostafavifar:
At a recent Aspen Institute round-table entitled "Early Positive Experiences: What is Age-Appropriate?" held as part of its Sports & Society Program's Project Play [1] initiative,[2] Dr. Neeru Jayanthi, an orthopedist at Loyola University (Chicago), said that early specialization in one sport is one of the strongest predictors of injury: "We followed about 1,200 kids, all young athletes, and ... we found a highly significant risk of injury and also serious overuse injuries that would keep kids out for one to six months based on participation levels, and that was independent [of] hours devoted to the sport per week. So the fact that you specialized, that alone increased (injury) risk. The odds of that happening are anywhere from 70 percent to 93 percent greater" than with child athletes who do not specialize," he said.
1. Mostafavifar AM, Best TM, Myer GD. Early sport specialisation, does it lead to long term problems? Br J Sports Med. 2013;47:1060-1061.
2. Tom Farrey. Roundtable Summary. "Early Positive Experiences: What is Age-Appropriate?" September 4, 2013. Aspen Institute.
Links:
[1] http://www.aspenprojectplay.org/
[2] https://mail.momsteam.com/successful-parenting/early-specialization-in-youth-sports-supported-by-myths-and-competitive-culture-not-facts
[3] https://mail.momsteam.com/successful-parenting/delay-sport-specialization-until-late-adolescence-experts-say
[4] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/general-health-safety/injury-prevention/injury-risk-product-athletes-age-degree-sport-
[5] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/muscles-joints-bones/knee/acl-injury-epidemic-early-specialization-year-round-play-may-be-linked
[6] https://mail.momsteam.com/team-of-experts/overuse-injuries-an-unfortunate-by-product-of-youth-sports-boom
[7] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/general-safety/injury-prevention/overuse-injuries-youth-sports-competitive-culture
[8] https://mail.momsteam.com/5-7/kids-who-play-multiple-sports-early-more-coordinated-physically-fit-study-finds
[9] https://mail.momsteam.com/successful-parenting/parents-need-to-resist-pressure-from-coaches-for-early-specialization