Multiple Sports Specialization Essay
Injuries Due to Sports Specialization Versus Participating in Multiple Sports
The Problem
The most popular sports to play in The United States are basketball, baseball/softball, football, soccer, and volleyball. Club teams, youth teams, or travel ball teams are prevalent in every sport across the country. Thirty plus years ago boys would play baseball in the spring, soccer in the summer, and went outside to played basketball and football with friends in the fall and winter until baseball started up again. As the popularity of sports increases, more money pours into professional sports and the popularity of professional athletes increase so does the pressure for kids at a young age to specialize in those specific sports.
Young athletes today have to choose between playing multiple sports and focusing on a single sport. More and more it is perceived that young athletes are not given a choice (to participate in multiple …show more content…
Also, when the body doesn’t have time to heal from the stresses incurred during practice or games, it breaks down and becomes injured. Doctors are seeing more overuse injuries related to specialization (O’Neill & Micheli, 1988). Young athletes like to have fun, but with the daily grind of practice and the pressure to perform they become both physically and mentally tired. This combination leads to burnout and the young athletes abandon their chosen sport because it is no longer fun (Brenner, 2007). A young athlete limited to one sport can take away from his or her social well being by not allowing for opportunities to interact with peers away from their sport or with peers in other sports (Hill & Simon, 1989). Specializing in a sport and having to continually go to year round practices and other athletic events for the same sport may cause the young athlete to miss social events and in essence takes away from his or her time to be a
The Problem
The most popular sports to play in The United States are basketball, baseball/softball, football, soccer, and volleyball. Club teams, youth teams, or travel ball teams are prevalent in every sport across the country. Thirty plus years ago boys would play baseball in the spring, soccer in the summer, and went outside to played basketball and football with friends in the fall and winter until baseball started up again. As the popularity of sports increases, more money pours into professional sports and the popularity of professional athletes increase so does the pressure for kids at a young age to specialize in those specific sports.
Young athletes today have to choose between playing multiple sports and focusing on a single sport. More and more it is perceived that young athletes are not given a choice (to participate in multiple …show more content…
Also, when the body doesn’t have time to heal from the stresses incurred during practice or games, it breaks down and becomes injured. Doctors are seeing more overuse injuries related to specialization (O’Neill & Micheli, 1988). Young athletes like to have fun, but with the daily grind of practice and the pressure to perform they become both physically and mentally tired. This combination leads to burnout and the young athletes abandon their chosen sport because it is no longer fun (Brenner, 2007). A young athlete limited to one sport can take away from his or her social well being by not allowing for opportunities to interact with peers away from their sport or with peers in other sports (Hill & Simon, 1989). Specializing in a sport and having to continually go to year round practices and other athletic events for the same sport may cause the young athlete to miss social events and in essence takes away from his or her time to be a