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[quote=Anonymous]This is an interesting thread and likely an issue that many of us are dealing with.  My sense is that there is likely very little correlation between young competitive sports and later success as an athlete in high school, college or beyond.  In talking (and reading) with athletes who were successful at a high level, some played competitively as kids and others didn't and I think if there were a large dataset, there would be no clear answer either way.  Some kids will certainly get burned out by starting too early and being frustrated by the competition while other kids are likely to thrive beyond their natural abilities.  The worst part of all of this is that a lot of the push for young competitive sports comes from the parents (no matter what they say).  Some see college scholarships in their future, others think it is good for the kids but for way too many, there are bragging rights among peers that is all too sad.  Oddly enough, this is rarely true for the kids themselves. and in my experience, the parents who push the most were typically not the most successful athletes, in fact, it is often the reverse because I think they understand that to be successful at a high level there has to be a passion and commitment that cannot be imposed.  As one poster noted, there seems to be a modest movement away from concentrating on a single sport early in a kid's life, and that has to be to the good.  Trying to select a child's athletic future when they are 8 or 9 seems crazy, and in terms of their development, playing multiple sports and using different muscles and playing with different kids is much better for them.             [/quote]

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