Frequently people ask about sport specialization and joining Club or AAU programs in addition to youth sports. Below is text removed from a sport specialization for children article. The link is below as well as a second link to another article.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, early specialization has some distinct advantages, but may have negative physical, psychological, and social effects on a child. “Specialization leads to repetition and repetition leads to increased risk of injury,” says Dr. Eric W. Edmonds, a Pediatric Orthopedic specialist at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, CA. “Injury leads to the inability to play that single sport that they have been training to participate. If they limit specialization, then they can be good at many sports, limit repetition by promoting cross-training and decrease injury risk.”
Parents also need to realize that when a child participates in different sports, certain skills carry over. The girl who plays basketball in the winter will likely have greater hand eye coordination for spring softball. The boy who runs track in the spring is likely to be faster on the gridiron when football season starts in the fall. There are tremendous benefits to challenging your body through various sports.
Dr. Edmonds believes a suitable age for young athletes to begin to specialize is 13 for girls and 15 for boys. “This is the average age at which girls and boys reach skeletal maturity,” he explains. “At that time, bones are no longer growing, muscles and tendons have a chance to catch up and focused training will be safer.”
Should children specialize in just one sport?
Early Sport Specialization Not A Good Idea