A Simple Answer to the Tough Question of Sports Specialization
Yesterday I shared an article and podcast with fantastic insights into navigating many of the biggest pitfalls of youth sports. One of these pitfalls is driving kids to specialize in one sport too soon.
As it turns out, many parents do this because they mistake early biological maturity for high potential and talent. As a result, parents feel like they must take advantage of this high potential by driving their kids to specialize with year round competition and private coaching.
The truth is, athletes who earn Division 1 sports scholarships are more likely to start specializing later in life than those athletes who wanted a D1 scholarship and didn’t get one. This is according to David Epstein, the author and investigative reporter cited in the linked article above.
Epstein states that elite D1 athletes started specializing around age 15, while those who didn’t make it started around age 13.
So the simple “rule of thumb” answer to the sports specialization question is simple. Athletes should not compete year around or get year around private coaching in a sport until at least high school. Otherwise you will increase the risk of burn-out and injury before a young athlete ever reaches his or her true potential.