Should We Avoid Early Sports Specialization?
Why We Should Avoid Specialization in Youth Sports
As a kid I remember my grandma telling me stories about how great an athlete my grandfather was. She told me that he would practice basketball for 2-3 hours per day as a child not stopping until he had went “around the world” making 16 consecutive shots from both inside and outside of the 3-point line. If he missed a shot, then he would start over, regardless of how blue and numb his fingers were from the cold. I still don’t know whether or not this story was exaggerated, but by 10 years old this had inspired me to become fully devoted to my favorite sport, so I quit basketball and soccer to instead play baseball year-round.
I share this story because I think the sentiments will be shared by many of us who either have a child in competitive sports or have a background in it themselves. It would seem that specializing in a sport early would give you a competitive edge on your peers and would make you that much more skilled later down the road. That’s why I chose to play a single sport year round, and I think that’s why many other athletes and parents push for the same thing. The research, however, isn’t in support.
What is Early Sport Specialization (ESS)
Before I explain why, lets briefly get on the same page with a definition for Early Sport Specialization (ESS). Typically ESS refers to year-round (for at least 8 months) intensive training or competition in an organized sport by young athletes (<12 years of age) while excluding all other sports.
“It is a relationship conversation in addition to the risks. What are the pressures surrounding them? Is Specialization really the right thing to do...”
What is the Injury Risk with Early Sports Specialization?
One of the most studied problems with early specialization is increased injury risk compared to peers. The biggest factor contributing to this increased risk was participation in any individual sport for greater than 8 months of the year3. This is especially true in baseball pitchers where pitching for more than 8 months per year was correlated with a 500% increase in risk for Tommy John surgery. (I discuss this and other risk factors for UCL injury in my blog “Minimizing the Risk for UCL Injuries in Throwers”). Across all sports there is an increased injury risk of 1.81 times in highly specialized athletes compared to their multi-sport peers5.
Is There a Risk of Burnout with Early Sports Specialization?
While getting injured might be the quickest way to spoil a season, burnout is a threat that can ruin the sport as a whole for an athlete. Sports should be fun, especially for those who wish to dedicate enough time to it to play in college or professionally. It was heart wrenching to see burnout in college where I had teammates realize that they no longer loved the sport to which they had devoted their entire lives. Talk about an identity crisis! And to make it worse, at that stage many felt trapped by family and coach expectations and by their scholarship.
ESS may actually be one of the factors that can contribute to burnout1,2. For a sport to remain fun, an athlete must remain self-motivated to train and participate. Often when athletes are playing a single sport year-round, they are being pushed by coaches or parents who want to maximize the athlete’s potential. While the intention is good, pushing too hard can take away from this intrinsic motivation. Even in athletes with high intrinsic motivation, a break from a single sport is still beneficial both physically and psychologically.
Athletic Performance when you Specialize Early
While talking about injury risk and burnout may interest researchers and parents, I can say from personal experience that speaking to athletic performance is much more impactful to an athlete who thinks, “that won’t happen to me”.
If ESS gives an athlete a competitive edge due to all the extra training, then it would logically follow that you could look at a lineup of progressively skilled athletes (high school, then college, and then professional), and you would see a greater percentage of athletes who specialized at a young age as you worked your way towards those who are more skilled. This was my assumption growing up, but many studies are showing the exact opposite.
Surveys of high schoolers found 45.2% of athletes engaged in multiple sports, while surveys of Division 1 athletes found that 67.7% were playing multiple sports all the way up until their collegiate careers4. In fact, some of the best athletes in recent history continued playing multiple sports even through college and some played multiple sports professionally. Think about a Bo Jackson, Tony Gwynn, Herschel Walker, Deion Sanders, and so many more. If it were true that in order to become an elite athlete, you would have to quit every other sport to maximize your time training for one, then we would have never even heard the names of these great athletes.
“As a parent with kids in different sports my outlook on this has changed a little. If a child is drawn to a sports and wants to participate it is difficult to say they can’t do that (even if it becomes year round at an early age), but I think encouraging them to continue with other activities and sports as well is really important. ”
So we can see that early specialization might negatively affects performance, but why? Part of the reason has to do with what we discussed earlier ̶ these athletes are staying healthier both physically and psychological, but there is even more going on from a motor learning standpoint. Participating in multiple sports and free play as a child has been proven to lead to acquisition of a greater diversity in motor skills6. It is extremely valuable to have developed this broad base of ability during the child’s growing years (pre-puberty). Athletes’ who only have a narrow set of motor skills can quickly face a dead end as they must adapt to the faster pace and more nuanced skills needed to stay competitive as they age.
What is Our Advice with Early Sports Specialization?
Play team sports for fun. If you’re an athlete or the parent of an athlete we recommend 4 month breaks per year from any individual sport and to try to enjoy learning new skills for additional sports. Research is showing that this will reduce the likelihood of injury, reduce the likelihood of burnout, and in young athletes this will likely carry over to better performance later in their career.
We asked LWPT trusted physician Dr. Camille Clinton, MD added, “Several studies have shown that early sports specialization (esp <12) increases the risk of burnout and injury. Data also shows that many college and professional athletes were multisport athletes. these are the reasons the sports governing bodies, AAP, etc are against early sports specialization. There is also extensive data that shows the benefits of sports in kids -- improved health, self confidence, etc. That being said there is much more pressure now for kids to specialize early. As a parent with kids in different sports my outlook on this has changed a little. If a child is drawn to a sports and wants to participate it is difficult to say they can't do that (even if it becomes year round at an early age), but I think encouraging them to continue with other activities and sports as well is really important. Also they need breaks and rest to avoid injury and burnout. Ultimately sports participation is healthy and important, but it should be about the kids. The vast, vast majority of kids are not going to get a college scholarship, play professionally or play in college. What we hope is that they learn teamwork, discipline, the value of working hard, get some exercise, have fun, build confidence and make it more likely they will maintain activity and exercise throughout their life.”
While there isn’t a consensus on when exactly a devoted athlete should start to specialize, we would recommend that athletes attempt to continue in multiple sports all the way through high school. Nearly half of all collegiate and professional athletes did this in high school, and those who did were also injured less frequently.
AUTHOR:
CONTRIBUTORS:
Dr. Hank Pelto, MD
Team Physician with the Seattle Kraken and Seattle Mariners
Dr. Edward Khalfayan, MD
Team physician for the Seattle Seahawks
Dr. Camille Clinton, MD
Evergreen Sport & Orthopedics, Cross-Fire Parent
Dr. Dayne Mickelson, MD
Proliance Orthopedics & Sports Medicine
Ben Wobker, PT, MSPT, CSCS, CFSC, SFMA
LWPT Founder & Director
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References:
Popkin, C. A., Bayomy, A. F., & Ahmad, C. S. (2019). Early Sport Specialization. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 27(22), e995–e1000.
DiFiori JP, Benjamin HJ, Brenner JS, et al. (2014) Overuse injuries and burnout in youth sports: a position statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. British Journal of Sports Medicine; 48:287-288.
Post EG, Trigsted SM, Riekena JW, Hetzel S, McGuine TA, Brooks MA, Bell DR. (2017). The Association of Sport Specialization and Training Volume with Injury History in Youth Athletes. Am J Sports Med; 45(6):1405-1412. doi: 10.1177/0363546517690848.
Buckley PS, Bishop M, Kane P, Ciccotti MC, Selverian S, Exume D, Emper W, Freedman KB, Hammoud S, Cohen SB, Ciccotti MG. (2017). Early Single-Sport Specialization: A Survey of 3090 High School, Collegiate, and Professional Athletes. Orthop J Sports Med. 28;5(7)
Bell DR, Post EG, Biese K, Bay C, Valovich McLeod T. (2018). Sport Specialization and Risk of Overuse Injuries: A Systematic Review With Meta-analysis. American Academy of Pediatrics; 142(3)
Myer, G. D., Jayanthi, N., DiFiori, J. P., Faigenbaum, A. D., Kiefer, A. W., Logerstedt, D., & Micheli, L. J. (2016). Sports Specialization, Part II: Alternative Solutions to Early Sport Specialization in Youth Athletes. Sports health, 8(1), 65–73.