Consequences of Single Sport Specialization in the Pediatric and Adolescent Athlete

Smucny, Mia; Parikh, Shital N.; Pandya, Nirav K.

doi:10.1016/j.ocl.2014.11.004

Cited by 53 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 78 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…Long-term engagement in a single sport is shown to increase participant dropout rates in sport prematurely46 47 and also increases the risk of injury, psychological stress and burnout 19 20. This is confirmed in a comparative study on the developmental characteristics between subelite and elite gymnasts 35.…”

Section: Deliberate Practice Deliberate Play or Early Engagement—is mentioning

confidence: 76%

“…The inherent need to win at the youth and adult levels of sport competition drives early specialisation towards a singular sport,16 which is highlighted as a potential limiting factor for eventual elite-level success in adulthood17 18 and is associated with a greater propensity for overuse injuries 19 20. Survey findings on Olympians on the effectiveness of TI and TD programmes in the USA reveal that athletes played on an average three sports per year until the age of 14, and only began to focus on a single sport after the age of 19 21.…”

Section: Early Specialisation the Relative Age Effect And Beyondmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detecting and developing youth athlete potential: different strokes for different folks are warranted

Suppiah

Low²,

Chia

2015

Br J Sports Med

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Sport talent identification and development (TI and TD) in youth continues to attract strong interest among coaches, sport scientists and sport administrators. TI for sport in youth with the anticipation of future elite level sport achievement is both an art and a science, and is strongly influenced by within athlete and extraneous-to-athlete factors (ecosystem of support or the lack of). The returns from investment on current TI and TD models of sport in youth are subpar in that few continue in the sport to achieve podium positions at the elite sport level in adulthood. Why, where and how one succeeds in sport, and what that success means to the athlete and stakeholders are dependent on the culture and context of the country. We advocate harnessing the power of sport to help in youth development, to be holistic in its nurturance, to allow for individual idiosyncratic expressions of the athletes, to provide for talent transfer across sport, and to facilitate key stakeholders to 'join' hands to work for the common interest and understanding for as many youth and adults so as to provide them with opportunities through support and coaching to compete at the different levels of competition in sport. Governments, policy makers and administrators of sport must decide, within their specific circumstances, if TI and TD in sport in youth is serving a meaningful purpose and is a viable return on investment; in short, is it mission possible or is it… a quest for the Holy Grail for a podium finish in elite level sport competition?

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Section: Deliberate Practice Deliberate Play or Early Engagement—is mentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Early Specialisation the Relative Age Effect And Beyondmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting and developing youth athlete potential: different strokes for different folks are warranted

Suppiah

Low²,

Chia

2015

Br J Sports Med

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“…Youth sports are becoming more competitive and demanding 7,11 such that many children specialize in a specific sport early on. 63 By describing in this study the natural course of early sport participation, we demonstrate that, in contrast to children who participate in a variety of sports, the trend to specialize in a sport may increase the risk of sport nonparticipation in adolescence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7,8 This shift toward competition increased the ratio of time spent in organized physical activity (OPA) relative to unorganized physical activity (UPA), or free-play, 7,9,10 which stems in part from the pressure to win and the desire to attain top status even at an early age. 7,8,11 This may lead some children to become early sport specializers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Sports Participation and Adolescent Sport Profile

et al. 2017

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“…Conversely, early specialization refers to the concept of a child participating in year-round intensive training within a single sport or physical activity at the exclusion of others (57,265). Concerns exist regarding the adoption of an early specialization approach in youth, largely because of the inherent associations with increased risk of injury (36, 78,79,104,119,120,187,192,235), the potential "blunting" of an individual's motor skill portfolio (57,144,176,186), a reduced standard of performance later in life (28, 84,96,174,268), an increased risk of overtraining or dropout from sport or physical activity (4,35,151,187), and the nonguarantee of achieving elite-level performance (28, 101,174).…”

Section: Encourage An Early Sport Sampling Approach For Youth That Prmentioning

confidence: 99%

National Strength and Conditioning Association Position Statement on Long-Term Athletic Development

Lloyd

Cronin

Faigenbaum

et al. 2016

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

329

354

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There has recently been a growing interest in long-term athletic development for youth. Because of their unique physical, psychological, and social differences, children and adolescents should engage in appropriately prescribed exercise programs that promote physical development to prevent injury and enhance fitness behaviors that can be retained later in life. Irrespective of whether a child is involved in organized sport or engages in recreational physical activity, there remains a need to adopt a structured, logical, and evidence-based approach to the long-term development of athleticism. This is of particular importance considering the alarmingly high number of youth who fail to meet global physical activity recommendations and consequently present with negative health profiles. However, appropriate exercise prescription is also crucial for those young athletes who are physically underprepared and at risk of overuse injury because of high volumes of competition and an absence of preparatory conditioning. Whether the child accumulates insufficient or excessive amounts of exercise, or falls somewhere between these opposing ends of the spectrum, it is generally accepted that the young bodies of modern day youth are often ill-prepared to tolerate the rigors of sports or physical activity. All youth should engage in regular physical activity and thus should be viewed as "athletes" and afforded the opportunity to enhance athleticism in an individualized, holistic, and child-centered manner. Because of emerging interest in long-term athletic development, an authorship team was tasked on behalf of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) to critically synthesize existing literature and current practices within the field and to compose a relevant position statement. This document was subsequently reviewed and formally ratified by the NSCA Board of Directors. A list of 10 pillars of successful long-term athletic development are presented, which summarize the key recommendations detailed within the position statement. With these pillars in place, it is believed that the NSCA can (a) help foster a more unified and holistic approach to long-term athletic development, (b) promote the benefits of a lifetime of healthy physical activity, and

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Consequences of Single Sport Specialization in the Pediatric and Adolescent Athlete

Cited by 53 publications

References 78 publications

Detecting and developing youth athlete potential: different strokes for different folks are warranted

Detecting and developing youth athlete potential: different strokes for different folks are warranted

Childhood Sports Participation and Adolescent Sport Profile

National Strength and Conditioning Association Position Statement on Long-Term Athletic Development

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