HOT TOPIC FRIDAY: SPORT SPECIALIZATION IN YOUTH

In today’s society, there’s been an absolute explosion in youth sports participation. There’s been an emphasis on winning, leading to a fundamental shift - away from a youth-driven recreational activity - and more towards a coach and skill development activity emphasizing a single sport specialty. This sport specialization is defined as a duration of practicing for a specific sport greater than eight months per year, or, quitting all sports to focus on one singular sport.

We have seen the 10,000 rule play into effect in the sport realm. Coaches and parents, in increasing trends, are aggressively pursuing athletic success in one particular sport. Today’s schedules of practices and games is different from that of previous generations. Kid’s are specializing at earlier ages, as evidenced by the growth in AAU leagues.

But the fundamental question is, is this healthy, and what are the effects of this?