I have a D1 college freshman golfer, and an HS senior who is going to play tennis for an ACC school. The golfer started golf at the age of five, and tennis at the age of six. The tennis player started golf at the age of six and tennis at the age of seven. They practiced golf and tennis for two hours every day on weekdays. Both kids also had guitar and piano lessons. They were both home school, so they were able to play golf and tennis when regular kids were in school. It is not about specialization, it is about having a balance between sports and other activities. YMMV.

Go ask an orthopedic surgeon. Besides, good athletes don’t need to specialize early.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the above and bringing up the one award winning phenom start running back isn’t a great example of people playing multiple sports. It’s like 1/2500 kids in a school
and it’s notable because most are like PP described and need to focus on one thing to play in HS

There are over 20000 high schools in the United States. Most kids do NOT need to specialize in order to play multiple varsity sports.

Your highly competitive, overcrowded meat grinder of a high school isn’t representative of anything, other than the fact that you were drawn to a highly competitive, meat grinder of an environment in which to raise your family.

Agree with the above and bringing up the one award winning phenom start running back isn’t a great example of people playing multiple sports. It’s like 1/2500 kids in a school
and it’s notable because most are like PP described and need to focus on one thing to play in HS