Comments on: Youth Sports- Early Specialization

By: Kara from Mama Sweat

Kara from Mama Sweat — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:20:21 +0000

Hi Michael, I’ve interviewed you in the past for an Experience Life article. With three young athletic and active girls I’m wondering what they’ll gravitate to. For now we’re trying everything (and holding off on soccer for as long as possible just because I’m contrary). I love what you have to say here and will likely link up to it in a future post of my own soon.

By: Peak Performance Camp

Peak Performance Camp — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:08:30 +0000

[...] Youth Sports- Early Specialization [...]

By: Karsten Jensen

Karsten Jensen — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:14:22 +0000

Hi everybody,

Growing up in Denmark and having worked for 8 years for the Danish National Elite Sport Institution I can provide a little bit of info on strategies and results in Europe.

Early specialization and parental pressure is a problem in Denmark as well, particularly in big team sports.

The company i worked for recently spent a couple of years investigating scientific literature to come up with a position on the matter.

In generel relatively late – depending on the sport – specialization is recommended and my former colleque spent lots of time travelling the country to educate the local clubs.

I have personally witnessed the result of early specialization in team handball and soccer. The athletes would enter our facility at age 16-17 with postural and flexibillity issues all over the place and VERY often suffer various overload injuries (shoulder, back and knees)

On the other hand many municipalities have something called “multi sport” which is a coorporation between local clubs and allow the kids to participate in a variety of sports.

One of the ideas behind the multi lateral development in a small country is that if a youngster fails as an olympic athlete in one sport he/she migth succeed in another.

The website of my former company is http://www.teamdanmark.dk they may have some material in english.

As a last note, my suggestion is a structured all round development that ensures ALL qualities of the body. Just doing a bunch of different sports may still leave the youngsters with weaknessess and imbalances.

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:41:51 +0000

I completely agree with this article, and I think John brings up another good point without realizing it. A lot of European athletes have had success in typically “American” sports, most recently basketball, and I think it is due to the training systems that their youth are exposed to. Even though they are entering soccer academies, the focus on training with the young athletes is on overall athletic and skill development. They are not simply over-exposed to intense competition with other “elite” level athletes worldwide. They are taught that sports are fun, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of their time in these academies are spent playing other types of games and sports. This type of balance will keep the game fresh and help to avoid any imbalances/injuries down the road.

By: John Gosling

John Gosling — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:29:17 +0000

Great article and I agree in principle. However, considering soccer in the UK many of the development programmes for talented kids are run by professional clubs and they force the hand of children and parents. The clubs recruit players at under 9 or younger as part of the Football Association player development scheme. The numbers who actually come through this system and play soccer for a living are tiny! That is not to say that those who do not play as their job drop out (no stats). My point is the early specialisation in soccer has been made almost essential for those who want to play at a high level. Individuals who stay on a recreational team will be disadvantaged when it comes to coaching opportunities and time with a ball at their feet. I assume that it has become far more difficult to play at the highest level without the systematic training offered by Football Academies and Centre of Excellences throughout the UK.