LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady, and Jordan Spieth are famous professional athletes that many young children aspire to be.  But how did these athletes become the best in their sport? Dedication, passion, and a lot of training. It is rational for children to want to specialize in a sport so they can be the next LeBron James or Tom Brady. Parents love the idea of supporting their child’s wishes, however they are unaware of the consequences of sports specialization. It is also easy to be blind-sided from the negative effects of specialization because of college recruiters and special training academies. Youth sports have become extremely intense and the high pressure to be the best in a sport is unbearable for children. I spent most of my childhood and teenage years training in basketball year-round. I traveled to different states around the country and attended multiple skill academies. My goal as a kid was to play basketball in college. I worked as hard as I could to achieve this goal. I suffered multiple injuries such as a strained wrist, fractured growth plate in my right knee, bone bruise, broken left ankle, dislocated jaw, bruised nose, and a pulled rotator cuff. My parents started to notice the negative effects of playing one sport all the time but they wanted to support my decision. After receiving multiple offers from recruiters, I knew that my goal was close. On April 18th of 2015 I was playing in an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) tournament. During the game I was hit from behind by a player on the other team, I collapsed to the ground grabbing my knee. I ended up tearing my ACL and meniscus. That incident changed my entire viewpoint on playing one sport year-round. After a year of rehabilitation, I realized that I did not want to continue playing basketball intensely. Playing the same sport caused me to have many injuries from over usage of muscles. I was also tired of playing the same thing and I wanted to try something new. Sports specialization is a controversial topic in regards to young athletes. Sports specialization can be beneficiary if it is done the correct way.  From my personal experiences and research, I have come to the realization that sports specialization at an early age can be detrimental to young athletes. Specialization leads to negative effects to the mental and physical health of children. 

Many children are quitting sports because of the high intensity. Youth sports are not meant to be fun anymore, instead children are competing against one another. Some of these children will resort to specialization in the off-season to become better than their peers. M.D. Joel S. Brenner claims that young specialized athletes “may become socially isolated from their peers and may have altered relationships with family” and many more emotional and social problems. When these young athletes are forced to train all the time they forget how to have fun and be a kid. It is proven that about “70% of children discontinue playing organized sports by age 13” (Brenner). These children become burnt out of playing the same thing. Playing a sport year-round at an early age can cause kids to leave a sport because it is mentally too much for them to handle. Author Julianna Miner, a professional in public health, shares similar ideologies with Brenner. The over use in one sport causes kids to quit even before they reach high school. Miner emphasizes that “playing one sport holds back different opportunities for kids”: They cannot participate in other activities because the sport takes up all their time. In the academic scholarly e-book Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture, author Hilary Levey Friedman analyzes the American culture. Children are living in a “competitive country that focuses on achievement” rather than enjoyment (Friedman). At an early age children are participating in highly competitive travel teams. Instead of having parent volunteer coaches, clubs are now hiring professional coaches that earn a salary. Children are tested and put into rigorous training. There is healthy competition and unhealthy competition. Unfortunately, unhealthy competition is more prevalent in youth sports. There needs to be a balance between competition and fun. Without this balance children lose sight of the purpose of being on a team. The obsession with winning is dangerous to the minds of young kids. Evidently this extreme degree of training in youth sports is negative to the young athletes because they either quit the sport or have other psychological issues.

The real reason why many children participate in sports specialization is because the elite skills academies and parents push children to their limit in order for the young athlete to receive a scholarship. Parents invest “time and money for their child to get specialized in one sport” in hopes of an admission boost into universities (Friedman). However, many parents are unware that most kids do not end up playing sports at the collegiate level. The biggest misconception is that in order to get to the collegiate level children must play a sport year-round. However, that is not true, according to Kelly Wallace author for CNN’s health and wellness series, “most college athletes excelled in multiple sports not just the sport that they were recruited for”. In fact, “between 3-11% of high school athletes compete in college, only 1% of them receive a scholarship, and .03-.05% of high school athletes reach the professional level” (Brenner).  In the video, Long Term Healthy Athlete Development vs. Sports Specialization, doctor Michael F. Bergeron has similar thoughts to Wallace. They both believe in multi sports for young children. Bergeron discusses the delusion parents have in regards to specialization. Parents believe that the earlier their child specializes in one sport the earlier they will succeed at a higher level. However, at an early age it is critical to have a diversity of athletic exposure. A young athlete should develop a multisport foundation to receive a variety of experiences which will eventually help the athlete in the future. If the athlete is not required to play one sport year-round, they will be able to appreciate more sports during the different sports seasons. The athlete will most likely enjoy the sport more if they get breaks from it. I realized that the elite basketball organization that I played for did not care about my mental or physical health. Instead they were more concerned with their business. They would compete with other organization trying to create and promote the better skilled athlete. It was a contest between organizations, which organization can get the most athletes recruited. When I got injured the organization wanted me to expedite my recovery process so I could come back on their team and eventually play in college. Practices would be 3 hours long 3 days a week. My weekends were spent traveling around the country and playing up to 5 games each weekend. My brain never got the time to relax or focus on other important things such as school. Specialization is not just the parents fault; but, they should be aware that the elite skills academies force the idea that specialization leads to scholarships. 

The most important issue in regards to sports specialization is that it is very harmful to the physical health of a young athlete. Expediting the process of recruitment has led to too many kids getting seriously injured. Serena Gordon, reporter and editor for Health Day News has researched that “4 out of 10 emergency room visits for children are for sports-related injuries”. The primary cause for injuries are over usage of muscles from specialization. Playing one sport year-round puts too much stress on the body. Children cannot physically handle the high demand that specialization requires. Instead children should focus on playing a different sport each season to give certain muscles a break. Children are more vulnerable to repetitive injuries because they are still in the process of growing. Gordon was able to interview Dr. Cynthia LaBella, medical director of the Institute for Sports Medicine at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Dr. LaBella states that “children are not getting enough time off from sports for their bodies to recover” (qtd. Gordon). Gordon was also able to interview Dr. Michael Kelly, chairman of the department of orthopedic surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. According to Dr. Kelly “children are most vulnerable to injuries in the growth-plate areas. Growth plates are soft areas of developing tissue. They're found at the end of the long bones and because these areas are still growing, the bone isn't completely calcified in that area” (qtd. Gordon). Therefore, children should not participate in specialization because their body needs more time to fully develop before muscles are continuously stressed. As mentioned before, I suffered a growth plate injury when I was only 10 years old. That was a hard time for me personally because I was so young and full of energy but my injury prohibited me from being active. It is proven that “at least 50% of athletic injuries are related to overuse” (Brenner). This percentage could easily be reduced if children stop playing one sport year-round. Doctor Michael F. Bergeron also states that “specializing prematurely can put a child in risk of an overload or repetitive injury. The athlete won’t be prone to injuries and will most likely enjoy the sport more if they are not specialized in it” (National Youth). Instead parents should think in the long term rather than trying to build a champion at the ages of 8,9, or 10. This evidence proves that specialization is damaging to the physical health of children because multiple doctors have similar ideologies when it comes to specialization. As stated before it is healthier for children to participate in multiple sports because each sport will work a different muscle group, thus eliminating the outcome of a repetitive muscle injury.  

On the other hand, sports specialization can be successful if it is done the correct way. Mike Reinold a professional physical therapist, strength and conditioning coach, and a performance enhancement specialist, discusses the benefits of early sport specialization. When young athletes specialize in one sport this gives them more time off season to focus on specific skills and techniques. For example, “during the off season in baseball there are hitting and pitching coaches, and in basketball there are shooting and position specific coaches”. Most young athletes who specialize in sports have a specific trainer that works on whatever the athlete need more practice on. Developing elite skills takes practice, time, and a lot of repetition. Therefore, the more time you spend practicing proper mechanic, the more likely you are going to succeed in that sport. Reinold also mentions that the off season is a great time for exposure. College recruitments usually take place in the off season because of highlight tapes and off season showcases. In the article, Sports Specialization in Young Athletes, multiple doctors discuss early vs late specialization. There is some degree of specialization that is necessary to achieve an elite level of skills. However, “specialized training should be delayed until the athlete is a late adolescent” (Jayanthi). This will increase success and lower injury risk as discussed in the previous paragraph. I believe that sports specialization is a great way to become successful in a sport because it allows you to focus solely on achieving one goal. However, I believe it should not be done with young children. Specialization should be postponed and should only be done when one has finished growing. There are too many risks involved when children participate in specializing. From my personal experiences, I can attest to the claims of these doctors. I wish I started specialization when I was older. As mentioned before I played basketball all year for many years and by the time I was an adolescent starting the recruitment process I was sick of the sport and didn’t love it as much as I used to. I suffered injuries which eventually wore my body down. I was a young kid but I had as many or even more injuries than some adults have ever had in their life time.

In conclusion, it is evident that specialization has a negative effect on a child’s psychologically and physically well-being. Children are not allowed to participate in sports for the enjoyment. Instead they are put in a competitive environment that focuses on self-success rather than team success. In order to become the best, children and parents believe specialization is the way to go to. Specialization allows children to get an opportunity to play a sport year-round and train in skills academies to get a jump start in the college recruitment stage. These parents and young athletes believe they will eventually make it to the next level. I do believe that hard work leads to success. If one is passionate in achieving a goal then the sky is the limit. However, there are proper ways to go about this process and through my research I have found that it is better to wait until you are older. This will help one avoid some of the negative aspects of specialization that young children all over the world experience. 
