Early Specialization vs. FMS and Multi-Sports

Parents and athletes seeking to make the correct choices for possible long-term athletic participation need to educate themselves to all the variables involved with LTAD (Long Term Athletic Development).

The best starting point for this would be to define the terms that researchers and experts on LTAD use.  First, EARLY SPECIALISATION is used Globally to describe youngsters who focus soley on a single sport AND undertake year-round specific sport training at a young age (5-12 years).

Risks include mental burnout, social isolation and overuse injuries. Research shows that 30% of the young athletic population experience overtraining in a variety of different sports!

Young athletes involved in multiple sports that overlap seasons REQUIRE adequate time to rest and recover so as to allow for the normal growth and maturation processes to take place.

Experts advise that, for most sports, specialization should be delayed until mid-adolescence (ages 15-17) to ensure young athletes are exposed to a wide variety of sports and sport training methods THAT SERVE TO DEVELOP the FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT SKILLS (FMS) before training focuses on specific sports skills or ATHLETIC MOTOR SKILL COMPETENCIES (AMSC).

The problems for parents of young athletes today is MORE sports are aggressively promoting EARLY SPECIALISATION AND Personal Trainers and Private Coaches are also pushing their “value” to parents so as to give their child/children an “edge” towards attaining either an Athletic Scholarship or Professional Sports contract.

My advice is to follow the experts and involve children in as many sport activities as possible AND make sure they also start FMS development very early in life. FMS (Fundamental Movement Skills) MUST precede AMSC (Athletic Motor Skill Competencies) for the best results when undertaking AMSC. If the elementary and Jr. High schools do not provide these on a regular basis, parents should take the initiative to find activities that provide as many as possible AND encourage their schools to replace "free play" for PE with FMS instruction.

For instance, starting children in Kinder Gym type classes and advancing them to Martial Arts  Classes, provides a wide variety of FMS. Martial Arts, in particular, provides development of unilateral and bilateral balance, general strength, core strength  (anti-rotation and bracing), upper body pulling/ pushing, lower body landing and jumping skills, flexibility and mobility. In addition, children learn CORRECT POSTURE and develop postural strength and learn discipline and respect towards teachers and opponents. High levels of spatial awareness and proprioception are developed in both Kinder Gym and Martial Arts classes.

At the high school level, athletes playing 2-3 sports per year for at least the first 2-3 years, have been shown to far surpass those athletes that specialize before or upon entrance to high school.

Since I have been coaching/ teaching for over 40 years now, I have been witness to the backgrounds of many of sport’s legends. Looking at great Quarterbacks from the past and present, for example purposes, reveals that most were multi-sport talents. Joe Montana (Basketball, Baseball), John Elway (Baseball), Terry Bradshaw (HS Javelin Record Holder) performed at the near elite level in at least one other sport. Present day QB’s like Colin Kapaernick and Russell Wilson, among others, starred in Baseball and were drafted by Major League Teams.

Many other sports stars like Deon Sanders, Bo Jackson, Bob Gibson (Pitching great for St. Louis actually played with the Globetrotters in Basketball), Gene Conley and Dave DeBuscherre played two pro sports during various stages of their careers. Olympic Shot Put Champion and former World Record Holder, Randy Matson, earned All State Honors in Football, Basketball and Track in Texas and received scholarship offers in ALL THREE. Despite competing only in Track and Field at the Collegiate Level, he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL.

There are many more examples of multi-sport athletes rising to fame in one sport after choosing to specialize at a later age but hopefully, my point has been adequately made.

In my next Post, I will endeavor to present the Youth Physical Development (YPD) Model and the importance of Growth Rate, Maturation Rate and Training Age, instead of Chronological Age, in determining the correct activities for the various levels of youth development to ensure a life of continual physical development and avoidance of burnout, overuse injuries and lack of what Daniel Coyle terms “Ignition”.

I would highly suggest that parents read Tim Elmore’s Blog HERE>http://growingleaders.com/blog/are-we-control-freaks/  and the article below from Brooke de Lench.

Kids Who Delay Sports Specialization More Coordinated and Physically Fit, Study Finds

Whether result of sports sampling or because better athletes play multiple sports is unclear

By Brooke de Lench

Boys participating in more than one sport before age 12 are more physically fit and have better gross motor coordination than those who specialize in a single sport early, says a new study by researchers in Belgium.¹

Whether they are more physically fit and coordinated because they play multiple sports or because the best athletes choose not to specialize early is unclear and requires further study. Researchers tested a total of 735 boys in three age groups (6-8, 8-10, 10-12) for body mass and height, muscular strength and strength endurance, flexibility, speed and agility, cardiovascular endurance, and gross motor coordination. 

Boys in the 10-12 year age group who played multiple sports performed significantly better on standing broad jump and tests of gross motor coordination than boys specializing in a single sport. 

Spending many hours per week playing sports was found to have a positive effect on explosive strength and gross motor coordination among all age groups, supporting the theory advanced in earlier studies.  "Submitting young athletes to a stringent training regime with many hours of sports per week" is therefore a "sensible choice," the authors concluded.

Delayed benefit 

The positive effect of early sports diversification on explosive strength, speed and agility, cardiovascular endurance, and gross motor coordination was found mainly in the group of boys aged 10-12 years.  The reason, wrote lead author, Job Fransen, a member of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Movement and Sports Sciences at the University of Ghent, is that, "when diversifying early, improvement in performance is slower than when specializing early.  Also, boys participating in more than one sport were exposed to a greater number of physical, cognitive, affective, and psycho-social environments than boys participating in one sport only." 

As a result, children who sample multiple sports before age 12, Franzen says, possess a broad range of physical, personal, and mental skills that allow them to be  successful when they do start specializing in a single sport during adolescence.

The study's findings, however, "do not necessarily imply that better physical fitness and gross motor coordination are the direct result of sampling.  It might also be that the best athletes choose to participate in more than one sport because their excellent physical fitness and motor coordination allows them to cope more easily with new and challenging environments." 

To establish a clear causal relationship between sampling of more than one sport before the age of 12 and physical fitness and gross motor coordination would, Franzen said, requires longitudinal research (repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time).

Sampling sports recommended for most

Based on their findings, the authors said it was "important that children before the age of 12 years [be] encouraged by their coaches, parents, and other training professionals to participate in sports other than just their 'primary sport', preferably in combination with many hours per week spent in their sports."

The study also recognized, however, that the fact that those who specialize early may experience a more rapid improvement in performance provides some support for those who argue in favor of early specialization, at least in the case of sports, such as figure skating and gymnastics, in which athletic careers are shorter and attaining peak performance at a younger age may be advantageous.  

It therefore concludes that "an awareness on the part of coaches, parents, and training professionals of the advantages and disadvantages associated with early specialization and early diversification" is essential.

Are We Control Freaks?