Specializing early vs. playing multiple sports

[Anonymous]

Elementary school-aged DD is very athletic and has tried a number of sports (field hockey, soccer, lacrosse, gymnastics, ice skating, cross country, basketball). Only field hockey has stuck. She says she still likes basketball and running, but she is crazy about field hockey and wants to play it year round. She has bugged me to find summer camps, fall and winter leagues, etc. I have read a number of articles on the downsides to early specialization, particularly burnout and overuse injuries, but many of these articles focus on kids who were pressured to specialize early or did not have the opportunity to try other sports. Plus, the demands of field hockey at her young age are pretty low. Should I push her to keep doing other sports or let her focus on one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school-aged DD is very athletic and has tried a number of sports (field hockey, soccer, lacrosse, gymnastics, ice skating, cross country, basketball). Only field hockey has stuck. She says she still likes basketball and running, but she is crazy about field hockey and wants to play it year round. She has bugged me to find summer camps, fall and winter leagues, etc. I have read a number of articles on the downsides to early specialization, particularly burnout and overuse injuries, but many of these articles focus on kids who were pressured to specialize early or did not have the opportunity to try other sports. Plus, the demands of field hockey at her young age are pretty low. Should I push her to keep doing other sports or let her focus on one?

Let her pursue it but encourage other interests, especially in the off-season.

[Anonymous]

DS tried baseball as a tot and hated it. Tried soccer in early elementary and liked it as a social outlet but didn't love it. Tried track and liked being one of the faster kids but didn't enjoy the training. Tried basketball and loved it. Practices obsessively, never complains about going to practice, enjoys games, and works his butt off to get better.

I think it's great that he found something he loves. One downside is injury --- last year he missed most of a season with an injury that's caused by growing fast but probably aggravated by training so much in one sport. This summer he is dealing with another injury that I fear will have us back in the PT's office next week, this one totally caused by over training one specific thing (the jumping and landing associated with dunking a basketball).

This spring, his mom and school coaches talked him into also running track. He did well, had a ball and met a ton of kids he would not have hung out with otherwise.

I am a fan of kids doing multiple sports if you can get your kid to do them.

[Anonymous]

Ask any coach at a high school or college and they will tell you the kids that are playing multiple sports are the healthiest, most athletic, higher game IQ and good students.

The coaches who say they need to specialize in a sport are begin selfish and think the kid is going to bring his team the championship and they usually don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask any coach at a high school or college and they will tell you the kids that are playing multiple sports are the healthiest, most athletic, higher game IQ and good students.

The coaches who say they need to specialize in a sport are begin selfish and think the kid is going to bring his team the championship and they usually don't.

NP - I've seen those studies too. I always wonder whether that's because they play multiple sports or because they're naturally athletic and thus good enough to play multiple sports without focused training.

[Anonymous]

They like what they like. If it's what she wants to do .. I wouldn't overthink it, Op

[Anonymous]

I only played soccer.

I was a top D-1 recruit.

My club team was year-round from 4th grade on and a Nationsl championship team. It was the sport I loved and all I wanted to play.

I did run a few seasons of indoor track in the winter during HS--mainly as a trading adjunct for the spring HS season.

Never had an overuse injury. In my mid-40s and no knee, ankle, joint problems.

My siblings also were all-soccer. We played every chance we got because we loved it.

Some sports are heavily skill-based and somebody that only plays 3 months out of the year won't succeed at it.

I know multi-sport is like the catch phrase " I just love to watch play" and the Gladwell 10,000 step thing---somethings yuppies glom onto for awhile.

Let her do what she loves.

[Anonymous]

I was also a D-1 athlete (softball). I played softball three seasons of the year (spring was the main season, summer was travel ball, and winter I had indoor practices a few times a week). I was allowed (and encouraged) to do a different sport of my choosing in the fall, which was cross country. I too never really had any overuse injuries or issues. I had enough time to be plenty involved in other school activities like student council and planning committees and stuff so focusing mostly on one sport wasn't a bad thing. I'd note that I didn't go from one practice, to the next at an off-site, anything like that. I played on my high school team and one travel ball team and did extra work with my dad. That's it.

[Anonymous]

My DD fences and I can't imagine she would be able to compete against some of the top fencers in her age group if she didn't fence all year round. She also plays tennis for 6-8 weeks in the spring and fall. How do top athletes get to the top and stay there if they aren't playing all year round?

[Anonymous]

We have the same issue with soccer. We tried a bunch of sports too and she just loves soccer. I wanted her to try softball in the spring, but no, she wanted spring soccer. I will probably sign her up for basketball next winter, though I know I'll encounter resistance.

In our county, it's hard to stay on the soccer team if you just play in the fall - they need players in both seasons. So we adjusted to that for rec and now travel.

My daughter also does dance, so I figure that's a good compliment to soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was also a D-1 athlete (softball). I played softball three seasons of the year (spring was the main season, summer was travel ball, and winter I had indoor practices a few times a week). I was allowed (and encouraged) to do a different sport of my choosing in the fall, which was cross country. I too never really had any overuse injuries or issues. I had enough time to be plenty involved in other school activities like student council and planning committees and stuff so focusing mostly on one sport wasn't a bad thing. I'd note that I didn't go from one practice, to the next at an off-site, anything like that. I played on my high school team and one travel ball team and did extra work with my dad. That's it.

Asking this PP and the one just prior how old you both are? I am wondering if presently there is so much more involved and expected of the teen athlete who specializes in one sport than there was even ten years ago. Even in the prime season for a sport some years ago there may not have been as many mandatory practices a week? Just curious.

PP, I smiled reading that you did extra softball training with your dad!

[Anonymous]

Let her do what she wants to do. But still encourage other sports. If she wants to do year round field hockey, let her.

My daughter's similar with lacrosse. We let her play year round. But the winter season is light on practices, and her coaches emphasize how helpful basketball is for lacrosse, so she also plays rec basketball in the winter. She does summer swim, but very causally since when there is a scheduling conflict lacrosse wins.

Having coaches explicitly recommend the kids do other sports is helpful. I don't think my daughter would have continued doing rec basketball if her lacrosse coaches had not been so vocally supportive, to the point of suggesting that if a winter basketball game or practice conflicted with a winter lacrosse skills session, the kids should go play basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have the same issue with soccer. We tried a bunch of sports too and she just loves soccer. I wanted her to try softball in the spring, but no, she wanted spring soccer. I will probably sign her up for basketball next winter, though I know I'll encounter resistance.

In our county, it's hard to stay on the soccer team if you just play in the fall - they need players in both seasons. So we adjusted to that for rec and now travel.

My daughter also does dance, so I figure that's a good compliment to soccer.

We have found basketball to be a great complement to soccer. My high school aged son, who plays on a DA team, has played rec basketball in the winter with his friends since kindergarten. I'm no expert, but a lot of people have told me that much of how you move 1 v 1 carries over between the two sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was also a D-1 athlete (softball). I played softball three seasons of the year (spring was the main season, summer was travel ball, and winter I had indoor practices a few times a week). I was allowed (and encouraged) to do a different sport of my choosing in the fall, which was cross country. I too never really had any overuse injuries or issues. I had enough time to be plenty involved in other school activities like student council and planning committees and stuff so focusing mostly on one sport wasn't a bad thing. I'd note that I didn't go from one practice, to the next at an off-site, anything like that. I played on my high school team and one travel ball team and did extra work with my dad. That's it.

Asking this PP and the one just prior how old you both are? I am wondering if presently there is so much more involved and expected of the teen athlete who specializes in one sport than there was even ten years ago. Even in the prime season for a sport some years ago there may not have been as many mandatory practices a week? Just curious.

PP, I smiled reading that you did extra softball training with your dad!

PP here (softball). I'm 36. Regular season practices were 6 days a week (and they were more drill-focused rather than just standing around on the field fielding balls from batting practice). Travel ball was tournaments about 6 weekend of the summer. My travel ball team had girls from several counties on it so we didn't often have organized practice--so my dad would have summer practices for about 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. Winter indoor practices were also about 3-4 days a week. We had a small group of 6 girls or so that would practice together in summer and winter.

For what it's worth, I'm also a college coach (for cross country though). We don't really look at the volume of practices and stuff like that although XC is a different animal than a team sport. We'd look at times from XC and track and mostly just consistent participation in both. My dad was the softball coach at the same school. He wasn't so much concerned with how many teams you played on or how many times a week you practiced, but I know he did his research on what kinds of competition the recruits were facing in travel and high school ball and he would go to games to observe recruits in person. Volume of play was not as important to him as quality of competition and having sound skills and mechanics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was also a D-1 athlete (softball). I played softball three seasons of the year (spring was the main season, summer was travel ball, and winter I had indoor practices a few times a week). I was allowed (and encouraged) to do a different sport of my choosing in the fall, which was cross country. I too never really had any overuse injuries or issues. I had enough time to be plenty involved in other school activities like student council and planning committees and stuff so focusing mostly on one sport wasn't a bad thing. I'd note that I didn't go from one practice, to the next at an off-site, anything like that. I played on my high school team and one travel ball team and did extra work with my dad. That's it.

Asking this PP and the one just prior how old you both are? I am wondering if presently there is so much more involved and expected of the teen athlete who specializes in one sport than there was even ten years ago. Even in the prime season for a sport some years ago there may not have been as many mandatory practices a week? Just curious.

PP, I smiled reading that you did extra softball training with your dad!

PP here (softball). I'm 36. Regular season practices were 6 days a week (and they were more drill-focused rather than just standing around on the field fielding balls from batting practice). Travel ball was tournaments about 6 weekend of the summer. My travel ball team had girls from several counties on it so we didn't often have organized practice--so my dad would have summer practices for about 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. Winter indoor practices were also about 3-4 days a week. We had a small group of 6 girls or so that would practice together in summer and winter.

For what it's worth, I'm also a college coach (for cross country though). We don't really look at the volume of practices and stuff like that although XC is a different animal than a team sport. We'd look at times from XC and track and mostly just consistent participation in both. My dad was the softball coach at the same school. He wasn't so much concerned with how many teams you played on or how many times a week you practiced, but I know he did his research on what kinds of competition the recruits were facing in travel and high school ball and he would go to games to observe recruits in person. Volume of play was not as important to him as quality of competition and having sound skills and mechanics.