Everyday we’re hearing more and more stories of childhood obesity and the lack of activity of today’s youth. On the flip-side is a population of athletic youth at the other end of the spectrum. These super competitors compete and train year round. Their involved in “Early specialization,” the practice where a young athlete focuses solely on one particular sport. This is done at an early age rather than later in an athletic career. Sometimes it’s at the parents urging where they think they have the next Cy Young recipient or Olympic gold medalist. Other times it’s the child’s dream to pursue a narrow athletic path.

There are some “short lived”positives to a narrow focus of an athletic pursuit such as accelerated skill development and competency (which soon plateaus). As a professional trainer at Gamespeed for eighteen years, I feel they are outweighed by the negatives and aren’t necessarily an “iron clad” determining factor for success in later years.

Here are some reasons to avoid early specialization:

1. Early specialization can cause overuse injuries. Athletes who tend to specialize early also tend to play too often. The frequency and volume of repetitive athletic movements can result in overuse or repetitive stress injuries.  Tendinitis is […]