Young athletes get hurt from nonstop intense competition, not from playing one sport. The fix is skill development first.
An ESPN article, These kids are ticking time bombs, has been making the rounds and adding fuel to the argument against youth sports specialization.
The article is about youth basketball, but its arguments get used against specializing in any sport.
The case against specialization has two parts. First, there’s little evidence that specializing early makes a child more likely to go pro or become great in their sport. Second, early specialization means constant wear and tear on young bodies, which leads to injuries as kids and later as adults.
Let me clear this up. The problem is not specialization. Focusing on specialization is either lazy thinking or a failure to understand the real issue.
Playing one sport early doesn’t cause injuries. Constant, intense use of the body does. Most sports use the same basic movements. You’re either using your legs a lot (running, jumping) or your arms a lot (throwing, swinging, hitting). Kids are just as likely to get hurt playing travel soccer in the fall, AAU basketball in the winter and travel lacrosse in the spring. Playing more sports won’t fix it.
The issue is intense, nonstop demands on the body before kids have built basic strength and balance. It’s the endless, highly competitive games in every sport.
Many of these kids can’t run correctly yet, and we think they’re ready to compete. We adults have built a youth sports world that copies professional sports without accounting for the fact that young people need to develop first.
The focus should be skill development. Kobe even pointed this out in the ESPN article. Kids should build layered skills in their sport. Once they have a baseline of sport-specific skills, which also comes with better motor skills and physical growth, intense competition is the natural next step. You don’t get a Kobe, Jordan, Messi, Tiger or Serena without a focus on skills as a kid.
Years ago, skill development happened naturally because youth sports weren’t so formal. Today it’s hard for parents to keep kids active without putting them in organized programs.
Once a kid is in organized sports, it quickly becomes an arms race to win at all costs. Parents aren’t interested in paying $1,000 for little Mikey to just work on his skills so he can be a skilled athlete with a strong body in five years. They want little Mikey to play and win as many games as the league can schedule. We want the championships now!
Step back, and you can see it: these kids are ticking time bombs not because they specialize, but because we’ve built an environment hyper-focused on early, intense competition.