Sport Specialization in Youth Athletes: Good or Bad?

Should your young athlete focus on one sport year-round, or play several? Sport specialization is one of the biggest debates in youth sports. Coach Chad here at Back In Motion Physical Therapy & Performance, and in this article we’ll look at specialization versus playing multiple sports, and how each one affects injuries, development, skills and a young athlete’s mindset.

What Is Sport Specialization?

Sport specialization is when an athlete plays only one sport, year-round, and gives up other sports to do it. Sport diversification is the opposite: playing more than one sport through the year, like track in the spring and football in the fall.

The Problems With Early Sport Specialization

Specializing too early can cause several problems:

• Higher injury risk: young athletes are still growing, and repeating the same movements over and over can lead to overuse injuries.
• Psychological stress: when it’s the only sport they play, a bad game or practice can feel huge, and kids can get down on themselves.
• Burnout: early specialization is hard on the body and the mind. Burnout often means worse performance and more injuries.
• Quitting: tired, frustrated athletes who have lost interest often walk away from the sport too early.

Quitting early is the one we hate to see most, because a lot of those kids had the potential to excel.

The research lines up with this. A review of the evidence found that for most sports, there’s no proof that intense training and specialization before puberty are needed to reach the elite level, and it linked early specialization with higher injury rates, more stress and quitting at a young age. A study of youth athletes found that highly specialized athletes were more likely to report a past injury, including overuse injuries, than athletes with low specialization.

The Benefits of Playing Multiple Sports

Playing several sports exposes kids to different movements, with the focus on playing rather than drilling. Benefits include:

• Lower injury risk: different sports load different muscles and joints, so no single area gets overworked.
• Well-rounded strength: athletes use more muscle groups instead of wearing out the same ones.
• More motivation and less burnout: variety keeps sports fun.
• Better skills and coordination: movement skills from one sport often carry over to another.

When Does Specialization Make Sense?

Some degree of specialization is needed to reach the highest levels. The question is when. We consider it only once a young athlete is ready mentally, physically and socially, which for most kids is well into the teen years.

Until then, playing multiple sports builds a broad base of skills that makes later specialization more successful.

Signs Your Athlete May Need a Break

• Nagging pain: aches that keep coming back in the same spot, like the elbow, shoulder, knee or heel.
• Falling performance: times, stats or skills getting worse despite hard work.
• Losing interest: dreading practice or no longer having fun.
• Always tired: poor sleep, low energy or getting sick often.

Pain that changes how your athlete moves, or doesn’t settle with a few days of rest, should be checked by a professional. Our article on overtraining syndrome covers the warning signs in more detail.

How We Approach It at Back In Motion

With younger athletes, we focus on diversification early and gradually shift toward sport-specific work as they get older. Building many movement skills early gives them a base that carries over between sports.

We work with young athletes one-on-one and in small groups, so we can focus on form and technique. Strengthening the joints, tendons and muscles helps prevent injuries while athletes get stronger physically and mentally. Our youth sports performance training is overseen by a Doctor of Physical Therapy, so your athlete trains safely and properly, and every program follows The Gray Method™.

Keep reading: youth athlete performance training, strength training for youth athletes and 5 ways soccer players can improve their performance.

Research

• Jayanthi N, Pinkham C, Dugas L, Patrick B, LaBella C. Sports specialization in young athletes: evidence-based recommendations. Sports Health. 2013;5(3):251-257. PubMed
• Post EG, Trigsted SM, Riekena JW, et al. The association of sport specialization and training volume with injury history in youth athletes. Am J Sports Med. 2017;45(6):1405-1412. PubMed

Build a Well-Rounded Athlete

Whether your athlete plays one sport or three, our sports performance training program builds the strength, speed and movement skills that carry over to every sport, at the right pace for their age.

Ready to get started? Inquire About Training →

Call our office at (239) 223-0484 to schedule your athlete’s first session.