Anonymous
11/17/2023 14:57
Subject: Re:On the off chance my sophomore makes varsity
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Another article talking about the harm from sports specialization at a young age:
https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/specialties/sports-medicine/sports-medicine-articles/kids-sports-injuries-the-numbers-are-impressive
I believe it, and agree with it- I think most people do. The problem is: without early specialization, a kid will not make any teams in high school. Volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball/softball, golf, tennis….the only kids that make the teams have played extensive travel/club or had intensive lessons/training. With very very few exceptions. If you don’t specialize by middle school or so, the only available sports will be football, wrestling, cross country and track. So most focus seriously on one sport only, and maybe play rec for others.
I’d love for things to be different but short of banning travel sports (ha! I wish) I don’t see anything changing. Trying to bravely buck the trend etc will just leave your kid with few or no sports options at all.
Most of the anti specialization articles take the prospective of national teams and professional leagues. That will never be my kid. They may play DIII if they get very lucky. They are trying to peak in high school because their goal is to play for their high school. That means the have to be very technically sound by the time they get to high school because they are a very good but not extraordinary athlete and there are far more kids trying out than there are roster spots. If they make the team over a better athlete who didn't specialize, I'm not going to feel bad- that literally is the goal.
