Pitfalls of Early Specialisation for Young Athletes | AskThePro
Are there risks for early specialization in young athletes, and if so, is there a better developmental pathway?
Practice makes perfect – or so they say. However, when it comes to youth sport, can athletes have too much of a good thing?
When high levels of performance in a particular sport are desired, athletes need to spend more time training for that sport. In young athletes,
time constraints (due to the demands of school, exams etc) invariably means focusing or even specializing in that sport to the exclusion of other sports or physical activity pastimes. Indeed, researchers have suggested that the process of specialization is the key mechanism for attaining elite performance in a particular sport, due to the increased volume of time spent in intensive training for that sport.
Source: Sports Performance Bulletin August 2021
