Winning the Game without Youth Specialization
By Gabrielle K.
Growing up he played many sports, and, when in high school, he played on three varsity
teams: football, baseball, and basketball. His baseball performance gained a lot of attention, and
he was even drafted into the MLB. However, it was not until his junior year of high school that
he received recognition for football. As he grew older, he found that football was his greater
passion, and he accepted instead to play football for the University of Michigan and then for the
New England Patriots. He lead the team to five Super Bowl wins and received three MVP
awards. Who is this diverse athlete turned football superstar? This man is Tom Brady, who many
consider the greatest quarterback of all time.
This superstar is proof that athletic success does not necessarily come from intensive
training in one sport during childhood. If he can achieve success like that, then your child can
too. Parents today think that having their child play one sport and do really intense training will
benefit their youth’s future. They figure that this specialization gives a better chance that their
kid will become the next “Lebron James.” However, this specialization is not right, and not just
for health reasons. I don't think it is a good idea because it doesn't work in the long run,
especially for achieving success. On the other hand, kids who play lots of sports actually have
better chances at becoming successful in an athletic career.
There is more to achieving athletic goals than hours upon hours of training and focus to
the point of boredom. What about sportsmanship? What about teamwork and fun? What
happened to youth sports; where is the fun if all that is focused upon is winning? This is the
problem with youth sports specialization. It is so focused upon training and the pressures of
winning that so many other important lessons and traits are taken away, forgotten about, or
minimized to the point of nonexistence. How are kids supposed to reach their goals if they end
up disrespecting others, won’t that hinder their future? Or how will they work with a team if their
childhood was so focused on improving themselves? Or perhaps most importantly, how are they
to develop a love for the game if they were never given the time to explore other activities or just
have fun playing as a kid? Specialization takes away opportunities, not just for success, but for
life.
It is important to recognize that they are still just children. They probably don’t know
exactly what they want to be when they grow up quite yet (or if they think they do it will
probably end up changing). They are children who enjoy having fun, playing with their friends,
and exploring new things. Let them be kids! It’s so clear to see that kids have carefree and
adventurous spirits. Is it really necessary for them to work on a possible career when they are
only 10 (or whatever the age may be)?
If a child wants to become really good at sport, the key is to have a solid foundation of
love for it. Without this interest investment, it is difficult to continuously devote hours of time,
and this ultimately leads to burnout. According to Daniel D. Arnheim, burnout occurs when
athletes focus so intensely that it is all simply too much, and they just find that they are bored
with the sport. Out of the approximately twenty-five million American youth who participate in
sports, around five percent quit their sport because of pressures that lead burnout. Although five
percent may not sound like a huge percentage, that would be 1,225,000 kids who quit every year
only for the reasons of stress and burnout (“Athletes”). That’s a ton of people. If burnout is an
evident problem with youth specialization, then how is it that the child has “high-chances” for
success? It seems to me that this would only decrease the odds. Any success at all is unattainable
if one decides to quit.
I play sports (although I don’t specialize or intensely train) and even still find that
sometimes practices can get repetitive or mundane. Just imagine if I were specializing and
devoting even more time to the sport. Instead of just being occasionally boring, it would be more
likely to get extremely boring. On top of this, I’m not even a young child whose interests and
experiences would be very different compared to mine as a teenager.
This is why parents should not have their children from roughly ages three to fifteen
specializing. If success is the objective, then don’t jump to conclusions that immediate
specialization is the answer. Specialization is not bad, and, to some degree, it is necessary for
success. My point is that it doesn’t have to, and shouldn’t have to, come in childhood. During
these years, kids should be developing their athletic interests and learning to have fun and
improve, but not quite hard-core training to be in the NBA. Wait until it is actually relevant and
necessary for the future. Who knows, maybe following this path will eventually lead your child
to be one of the few that gain massive superstardom and athletic triumph.
“Time flies;” so many people find themselves saying these words at some point in their
life, and it is important that we make the most of every moment. Childhood is just another part of
the whole, but it is just as important as any of the other parts. Our childhood begins shaping who
we are to become; it is important to remember that even the seemingly smallest of decisions are
key to winning the game of life.
Sources:
Arnheim, Daniel D. Essentials of Athletic Training. Second Version, Mosby - Yearbook College Publishing, 1991.
“Athletes and Sports.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale, 2015. Gale Cengage Learning.
“Tom Brady Biography.” bio., 25 January 2016.