Early Sport Specialization for youth athletes
By: Kane Blucas
Throughout the previous generations, competition amongst all athletic sports have changed dramatically. Ranging from improvement in exercise science which has changed the way athletes train, competing year-round, and youth athletes specializing in a sport at a young age. When it comes to youth athletes participating in sports, a world of benefits can be provided to them. Such as, promoting leadership skills, self-esteem, and creating bonding friendships amongst teammates which could last a lifetime. However, with early sport specialization becoming more common amongst young athletes, we start to see unfortunate consequences occur such as athletes becoming burnout, and suffering debilitating injuries that can have a serious impact on the athlete’s performance.
Certain children develop faster than others regarding mental maturity and motor skills. When I talk about mental maturity, certain children develop the mindset that they are there to achieve certain goals and will stop at nothing to get them done, while other children are worried about just having fun. Motor skills are referring to the athlete’s ability to be in control of their body. Depending on where he/she stands, these two factors can help the youth athlete learn the sport-specific skills that require strength and speed.
At any age when you are determined to achieve a goal, motivation and interest are two important factors which help drive your success, especially in the athletic setting. Another key factor to help a child succeed is knowledge of the sport. When the child obtains knowledge of the sport, it makes it easier for him/her to remember important points necessary for the performance of motor skill potentially.1 A Certain example that could apply to this statement are when an athletes is running, he/she must maintain high knees when picking the leg up and to maintain an aggressive arm swing to be able to run faster than their opponent. If the child does not want to learn the require skills to excel in a certain sport, motivation and interest will cease to exist.
A person’s body can continue to grow roughly until their twenties. As a child grows, their body is constantly undergoing changes in their bodyweight, height, and muscle mass which provides additional stress to joints and connective tissues.1 “In young athletes, growth cartilage is present at the growth plate as well as the musculotendinous insertion”.1 Growth cartilage is susceptible to stress due to constant microtraumas. Injuries that are common amongst young baseball players are little league elbow and little league shoulder. These injuries all occur from overuse and can apply to any player regardless of their position. Other consequences that could arise are Osgood-Schlatter disease and Sever’s disease. Osgood-Schlatter disease occurs in the knee where the kneecap attaches to the shinbone. This can occur in youth athletes due to excessive running and jumping. Sever’s disease is a type of bone injury that occurs in the growth plate in the back of the heel where the Achilles tendon attaches and becomes inflamed which causes pain. Anytime an athlete plays a sport, they run the risk of sustaining and injury. However, this does not mean take the athlete out of the sport all together. Adequate recovery is necessary to help minimize the risk of injury. Some athletes choose to take a few weeks off all together to give their mind and body a break. Other athletes can engage in the form of active recovery. Active recovery can range anywhere from riding a stationary bike at a low intensity for ten to fifteen minutes a day, going for a light swim, or go for a walk in the park. Strength and conditioning is a fantastic tool for athletes to utilize for not only increasing performance but protecting certain areas of their body that are more susceptible to overuse injuries due to the repetitive motions in their sport.
When youth athletes specialize in a sport at a young age, they run the risk of burning out quicker than others who diversify. To an athlete, burnout can happen due to the repetitive psychological and physiological demands which ruins the sport for the athlete taking the enjoyment away from it which can decrease athletic performance and increase the risk of injury. When the athlete notices a significant decrease in performance and is getting injured frequently, this can drive the athlete to withdrawal from the sport and has the potential to cause psychological damage down the road such as depression.
Sports diversification can expose children to a wide variety of sports which can help focus the children on playing rather than practicing. Through this method, this can help the child establish a general love for the sport which can allow structured practice to follow. It is believed that through sports diversification, children may develop their cognitive and physical abilities faster due to the crossover effect from playing different sports. For example, “instead of only developing hand-eye coordination as it pertains to hitting and throwing in baseball, a child playing baseball and soccer can develop foot-eye coordination, footwork, and running mechanics”.1 A transfer of cognitive skills through different sports can occur, but it is dependent upon the similarities of both sports. If both sports stress movement in similar planes of motion, then the crossover effect will have more of an impact on the athlete’s performance.
“In the United States youth participating in sports has increased from approximately 18 million in 1987 to 60 million in 2008”.1 With seasons becoming longer and parents being persuaded to sign their kids up year-round for a specific sport. This can lead to children becoming more vulnerable to certain injuries and destroying their motivation or interest to keep marching forward to obtain their goals such as becoming a starter for the school’s football team or scoring a certain number of goals in a hockey game. A child’s body is not like an adult; therefore, it must be treated different. I am a firm believer than sport diversification is important for youth athletes to keep sports fun, minimize the risk of injury, and avoid burnout to hopefully change their lives for the better. Not only can sports help a child develop physically and emotionally, but it can also help establish leadership skills, a sense of belonging, promote self-esteem, and create friendships that could last forever.
References
1. Caruso Sr, Thomas H. “Early Sport Specialization Versus Diversification in Youth Athletes.” National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), NSCA, 1 Dec. 2013, www.nsca.com/education/articles/nsca-coach/early-sport-specialization-versus-diversification-in-youth-athletes/.
2. N/A. “Boundless Anatomy and Physiology.” Lumen, 0AD, courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ap/chapter/cartilage/.
3. N/A. “Osgood-Schlatter Disease (Knee Pain) - OrthoInfo - AAOS.” OrthoInfo, 0AD, orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/osgood-schlatter-disease-knee-pain/.
