Sports Specialization and Intensive Training in Young Athletes

As a former three sport high school athlete to now a women’s college basketball player, I felt compelled to respond to the article, “Sports Specialization and Intensive Training in Young Athletes” published in Pediatrics, Volume 138, number 3, September 2016. Being a current college athlete who has suffered two ankle injuries since committing to just basketball, this article intrigued me to look further into the concept of sport specialization and the affects that it has on young athletes.
This article focuses on the fact that we see less children participating in free play outside and rather playing organized sports or in some cases one sport all year round. Although there are many benefits of youth sports, there is evidence that shows sports specialization has led to an increase in overuse injuries, overtraining, and burnout as Brenner mentions. Brenner (2016) stated, “Current evidence suggests that delaying sports specialization for the majority of sports until after puberty (late adolescence, ~ 15 or 16 years of age) will minimize the risks and lead to a higher likelihood of athletic success.” Later sports specialization still gives young athletes the chance to have other experiences with different sports before committing to just one.
A clinical case-controlled study was conducted in order to prove that sports specialization at an earlier age does in fact increase the risk of injury. Jayanthi et al. (2015) concluded that, “… There is an increased risk of injury and serious overuse injury among young athletes who specialize in 1 sport, independent of training volume and age.” The risk of injury and serious overuse injury is not something to just ignore when considering specialization in one sport.
Sports specialization also can lead to burnout as mentioned before. Livingston, Schmidt, & Lehman (2016) stated that “In addition, specialization is associated with psychological risks such as burnout, a one-dimensional self-concept, a pressure to perform, isolation from peers, overdependence on a regulated schedule, and behavioral issues.” Psychological risks are just as important to take into account as physical risks which further supports the idea that it is beneficial to wait until after puberty to specialize in just one sport.
I believe this article was well researched and overall well written. However, I would say there are limitations such as, there is still research to be done on exactly what age children are choosing to specialize in one sport and what/who is the biggest reason for early sports specialization. This article can also be further extended to include more on how much training is adequate to succeed versus too much. This idea was mentioned, but I am curious to find out more about this question.
By applying the idea that later sports specialization can cause less injury risks, a young athlete will hopefully be able to have a more successful sports career. However, it is important to take physical and psychological risks into consideration when deciding when to dedicate oneself to just one sport.

Emily Pinckney Health Study Student Utica College Utica, NY

References
Brenner, S. J. (2016). Sports specialization and intensive training in young athletes. Pediatrics, 138(3), 1-8.

Jayanthi, N. A., Labella, C. R., Fischer, D., Pasulka, J., & Dugas, R. L. (2015). Sports-specialized intensive training and the risk of injury in young athletes: A clinical case-control study. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 43(4), 794-801.

Livingston, J., Schmidt , C., & Lehman , S. (2016). Competitive club soccer: Parents' assessments of children's early and later sports specialization. Journal of Sport Behavior, 39(3), 301-316.