As a part of this year's NCAA student survey, they included a section on youth sports participation.
It appears that many collegiate athletes were playing their sport competitively by age 9 and by age 12, specialization was starting to occur for some sports. What is interesting is that some athletes wished they had played other sports when they were younger, despite the success they enjoy in their primary sport. Other athletes thought that they played too many games when they participated in youth sports.
Many of the D1 athletes expressed expectations placed on them that they would play their sport at an elite level. These expectations may be contributing to their early specialization.
As I discussed in a previous post, early specialization does not in any way guarantee participation at a higher level. For lifelong enjoyment of movement, athletics and fitness it is more beneficial to participate in a variety of sports to learn different motor patterns and appreciate different ways of engaging your mind and body through athletic endeavors.
If you are one of the few elite athletes destined for Collegiate success and beyond, participating in different sports will not change your athletic ability, on the contrary, it may enhance it. Varying your participation can also decrease your risk of suffering certain injuries and lessen the impact of burnout.
Even though a lot of current College athletes specialized in their sport at an early age does not mean that the youth of today should follow suit. Let their interest, desire and skill blossom through changing the sport and when they get to high school look at doing more specialization. Even then, taking down time and following a strength program will offer greater yields then continuous sport activity.
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