Search the Community

Is early sport specialization eroding youth? Part II by Karen Napierala, PT, AT, MS, CAFS(This is a continuation of last week's blog; click here to read Part I.)Specialization may increase the risk of injury. These kids seem to have more injuries. Just since 2010, there's been a 400% increase in sports-related injuries in girls ages 10 to 17 in North America. Shockingly, 57% of "Tommy John" surgeries—a procedure developed for professional baseball pitchers—are now being performed on kids aged 15 to 17! A survey of 200 NBA players showed that the single-sport athletes (who specialized at grade 8) had an injury rate 10 times higher than the multi-sport athletes! Let that sink in…10 times!The American College of Sports Medicine recently stated that kids should participate in sports no more often than their age in hours per week. For example, a 10 year old should not be involved in more than 10 hours per week of practice or game activity (not including regular play outside with friends). Injury or repeated injuries are one of the reasons that kids leave sports. It’s hard to have fun when something hurts all the time. We've even seen kids at Peak as young as 8 years old who are already having "overuse" injuries come up. Mental burnout during the teen years can be devastating (to parents also). The sport becomes more work than fun—and there is no guaranteed playing time—so many kids lose interest in the time commitment needed. And then parents also can lose their social group.So what can you do as a parent or coach?Take a note from the kids...sports are supposed to be fun! Some kids love the challenge of hard work and some don’t. Encourage...don’t push. Specialize by age 15 to 16 if necessary (as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics). Try to participate in at least two different seasons of sports in high school. Wait as long as possible to go down to a single sport in school or at the club level.Expose your kids to varied activity experiences: Rock climbing, kayaking, or hiking, for example. Don’t forget outside play—kids naturally make up games that suit the number and abilities of the players. Let them decide where they can excel and have fun. Often, body type will limit and assist where kids will do best. Who doesn’t want to be good at what they do? In general, doing something you're good at is just more fun.This has been our experience as the parents of four high school athletes. Henry and Jordan played three sports throughout their four years of high school. Henry is now playing semi-pro football with the Charlotte Colonials (come watch this summer!). Jordan played lacrosse and football in college and finished a bout of semi-pro indoor football last year.Kyle played three sports in high school, and remains active in basketball, soccer and volleyball competitions. Mandy specialized in her junior year to volleyball only and is now playing Division I volleyball at College of Charleston in South Carolina.Unless your kids have the drive and the ability, your job as parents or coaches is also to get them rest. Encourage them and be their biggest supporters. We want kids to play while in school and, more importantly, develop a healthy lifelong love of activity while avoiding injuries that interfere with continuing that activity.In that vein, a consensus statement from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine concluded that, "There is no evidence that young children will benefit from early sport specialization in the majority of sports," given the risk of overuse injury and burnout.My experience concurs with them.Karen

by Karen Napierala, PT, AT, MS, CAFSI vividly remember pick-up baseball. Hockey in the street. That one season where we were unstoppable. Maybe watching from the sidelines while the rest of the team slayed their opponent. Do those great memories of youth energize you? Have you thought about why you want your own kids to play sports?Are you looking to instill toughness, teach life rules? To buuild friendships, gain prestige? Maybe it's to keep them active and out of trouble, or maybe even earn a scholarship? These are all worthy goals. But why do our kids play sports? Simple...Because they love playing sports! Reality check: Only 6% of high school athletes go on to play college sports. The odds of winning an NCAA athletic scholarship are 2% and many of those scholarships are not full scholarships. Only 2% of all youth go on to professional sports.Why is it that 90% of parents believe that their child is in that 2%? And, a U.S. poll shows that 70% of kids actually quit sports for life after age 13. This trend is happening all around us. WHY? Here are a couple of possible reasons: The “adultifying” of sports. Many kids are being forced at a young age to play the sport for 9 to 10—even 11 months—a year. Even professional athletes take off 1 to 2 months from their sport every year to recharge mentally and physically! Parents can get caught up in thinking that their kids will be “behind” if they don’t play year round and on travel teams. A new study of more than 3,000 athletes ranging from high school to professional revealed that those who played only through high school began to specialize at an average age of 12.7, while collegiate and professional athletes specialized when they were over 14!Kids' sports are big business. Parents can and do drop thousands of dollars per year on travel sports. In 2015 it was a 15 billion dollar business!So, is early sport specialization eroding youth? Let me share my experiences and perspectives, both as a professional physical therapist and as a parent of four athletes. Kids who are self motivated may do well. These are the kids who are willing to go out and practice on their own just because they truly love the sport (maybe 10% of kids!). The ones who are shooting around outside until you make them come in when it gets dark! I have seen these kids, but they are far and few between and a coach's dream.Overall physical literacy has declined. Playing one sport develops a pattern of movement specific to that sport alone. For example, tennis develops specific muscles and patterns necessary for only tennis...which would not help with gymnastics or swimming. On the other hand, a sport like tennis can help with volleyball or throwing sports. Not only do they use complementary muscles, but the patterns between sports are similar, and the development of visual tracking can also cross over between sports. Coaches are calling for kids to just “play” or participate in multiple sports through the high school level to develop different muscles, hand-eye coordination, depth perception, and reaction times.Stay tuned...I'll share the rest of my thoughts on early sports specialization in Part II next week!Karen