Is early sports specialization hurting our kids? (Part II)

[Peak PT Administrator 0]

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