There is increasing pressure for children to start training a specific sport at an early age, focusing solely on that sport throughout the entire year. This is referred to as early specialization.
The motivation behind this is the desire to gain an edge over the competition through intensive, year-round training in a single sport.
According to LTAD (Long-Term Athletic Development) by the Canadian Sports Centres, early specialization before the age of 10 contributes to:
In addition to the overuse syndrome caused by repeating the same movements characteristic of a particular sport throughout the year, an additional problem arises.
Early specialization prevents the transfer of skills acquired in one sport to another.
Young athletes who specialize early struggle outside the narrow movement patterns of the sport they engage in, and they cannot coordinate unfamiliar movements or adapt to unusual positions.
This inability to coordinate unfamiliar movements is a likely cause of many sports injuries on the field.
Equally important, by engaging in only one sport from an early age, a young athlete may be deprived of the opportunity to discover the sport for which they have the greatest potential and inclination.
All of the above does not mean that we are unaware of the fact that specialization is necessary for success in sports. The question is at which stage of athletic development specificity should outweigh versatility.
How can this problem be solved?
If there is no opportunity for participation in diverse development through training in various sports throughout the year, young athletes should be allowed to practice skills from other sports during regular training sessions in a specific sport.
For example, young soccer players can occasionally play basketball indoors during the winter, and basketball players can play soccer on a grass field in the spring.
Alternatively, various exercises can be incorporated into training to simulate movements from other sports or force young athletes to perform typical movements from their sport in a completely different way. All of this is aimed at reducing the previously mentioned consequences of training in only one sport.
An example of such an exercise is the game "foot tennis," which can be played "1 on 1" or "2 on 2." Young tennis players can play it on a tennis court, while athletes from other sports can play on a surface where they can mark the court lines similar to tennis (it is possible to play with a net like on a tennis court, with a barrier instead of a net, or without any barrier in the middle of the field). The game follows tennis rules, and players can kick the football ball while it is still in the air, before it lands on their side of the court, using all parts of the body except the hands.
If training in a specific sport extends throughout most of the year, it is recommended for young athletes to engage in other sports (such as tennis, swimming, skiing, ice skating, rollerblading, etc.) during school vacations.
The goal of diverse development is to ensure athletic foundations through various stimuli provided by different sports. This approach when working with young athletes will enable a smoother transition to more demanding and specialized training in later years, without the acute risk of sports injuries and emotional burnout.
- Igor Macner
References: LTAD, Canadian Sport Centres, Ottawa, Canada, 2007
