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Seven Reasons Against Specializing In A Single Sport And Travel Team Play At Early Age

The trend towards early specialization and an increasingly professionalized approach to youth sports is not supported by hard scientific evidence about youth talent development. Instead it appears to be driven by folklore, myths and half-truths, a herd mentality, the ever-burgeoning youth sports industry, and by adults more intent on winning than acting in the best long-term interests of children. 

There are seven reasons why specializing early and playing on travel or select teams at an early age (before grade six) is a bad idea:

  1. It interferes with healthy child develoment;

  2. It  doesn't guarantee future athletic success;

  3. It hurts, rather than helps, skill development;

  4. It is elitist;

  5. It leads to overuse injuries;

  6. It promotes adult values and interests, not those of childrenl; and

  7. It increases the chances that the child will suffer burnout and quit sports.

 
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Brooke, I wholeheartedly

Submitted by John Dee on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 19:41.

Brooke, I wholeheartedly agree, specialization in one sport is a terrible idea for young athletes. Unfortunately, the recently ended Olympic goes against that thought. Nightly, we saw Olympic athletes from around the world, especially in gymnastics and swimming who've done that sport since they were 3 or 4 years old. For most it's the only sport they've ever done. I especially take offense to gymnastics. Most of the gymnists belong to academies where they train hours upon hours, some even moving (without) their families.
You tell me how it could be positive for a 10 year old kid to move away from their family and practice gymnastics for 10 hours a day? Even an Olympic gold medal isn't worth the negative impact is has on a young person.